Metal Detecting

Hi guys,
When I first started detecting I bought myself an ace 250 because all the forums & reviews said that "they are a great starter machine" but to bee fair I don't think they are!

I nearly gave up detecting after buying it because the signal jumps all over the place & the des descrimination is horrendous it wasn't until I tried my buddy's explorer se that I realised how enjoyable detecting should be.

Now I know you are all going to say you have to get to know your machine blah blah and I may be facing myself up for the forum firing squad but let's be brutally honest here 95% of the experienced detectorists on here wouldn't use one at least as their main machine!

Also I see a lot of frustrated 150 & 250 owners on here thinking the same thing now I have a better detector & have never looked back I just wished I had one from the start.

Now I know price can come in to it so I just think when someone comes on here & asks us what a good starter machine is instead of automatically saying "the ace 250" we should encourage them to spend as much as they can afford on a second hand machine that will make the hobby more enjoyable from the offset !!

Only my humble opinion anyway

Stu

Hi stu
I own a 250 and after taking time to get to know it I'm fairly happy.
I have no doubt that a mine lab is far superior in every respect, but I simply didn't want to shell out that kind of money until I was happy that I would stick with it. I don't like to buy second hand, and I think the key advice I was getting was that it was the best machine FOR THE PRICE.
At the end of the day it detects metal in the ground.
I will however, like you, trade it in for better when I'm comfortable that it's not going to be gathering dust in my shed
Three

I am not going to slam the 150 because for a starter machine it's a nice little detector, I've found some nice things with it, I would question whether it should not be targeted at a younger age group.

I think the only thing I can say is that if I knew what I know now I would not have purchased it and would have gone for somthing a little more forgiving.

I've only been detecting five months and I bought an Ace 250, which I was pretty pleased with, and so my lad who I go detecting with bought one as well.

Sure, they take some getting used to, but we've both done that long since, and although we've not had any significant finds (both still chasing that first hammy), we've felt pretty comfortable with them, finding £50 in modern coins in the last month alone from one of our permissions.

I can't comment on other detectors as I haven't experienced them. However, as a starter machine, tell me what the alternatives are. You say encourage noobs to spend as much as they can afford on a second hand machine, but in all honesty, what can you get for £150? - that's what each of ours cost second hand. And worth every penny, I say.

I think it wrong to encourage folk to spend more than perhaps they otherwise would, to purchase a better machine when they might not take to the hobby. Particularly when you see so many noobs on here complaining that they can't get permission and getting disgruntled and losing interest. For that reason, I believe the Ace is a good starting point.

Having said that, I've just bought myself a Tesoro Cortes today, with an added 11" widescan coil.

I always advise any new member to buy the 150 as its the best detector on the market for its price rang I feel as you could pick one up for well under £100 second hand I paid £70 and also the 3 tones are really easy to read and learn the dull low tone is for iron then you av a mid range bell tone and a high double bell tone I found lots with my 150 never had any problems with it also know alot ppl who own them and av found hammys gold coins and alot nice items:-) I would say if its for beach detecting any new member is thinking of doing alot of then the Garrett is brilliant on dry sand but would advise you to buy a different machine as if you wanted to get the best from beach detecting then you will need a detector that also works on the wet sand really well unfortunately the Garretts are not made for wet sand detecting..I av upgraded to the euro ace and love it as I only detect on land its perfect for me and the depth it can get on the smallest of finds is amazing also I always find as much or more when out detecting with friends who av the top of the range high end machines

The Garrett ACE250 and the CScope CS3MX have proven to be great starter machines within these forums over the years and the vast majority of posts are generally positive towards them
May people starting off in the hobby don't want to pay £500+ for a machine and understandably so.
There are also the people that purchase a machine and quickly realise finding treasure is not quite as easy as first expected and just give up
Unfortunately there are not many machines that drop in this price range that can match these two machines performance.
Thanks all
mrix

You dare to contradict the wolf....outrageous !!!!

[youtube]-koq2J1rYT4[/youtube]

threemiles wrote:Hi stu
I own a 250 and after taking time to get to know it I'm fairly happy.
I have no doubt that a mine lab is far superior in every respect, but I simply didn't want to shell out that kind of money until I was happy that I would stick with it. I don't like to buy second hand, and I think the key advice I was getting was that it was the best machine FOR THE PRICE.
At the end of the day it detects metal in the ground.
I will however, like you, trade it in for better when I'm comfortable that it's not going to be gathering dust in my shed
Three

Hi Mate

I had a 250 to start with, great machine, but soon went to a Explorer SE, brill machine but its a very technical machine and very noisey, very heavy and most people cant get away with it, i soon got fed up and bought an AT Pro and absolutely LOVE IT!!!!

threemiles wrote:You dare to contradict the wolf....outrageous !!!!

[youtube]-koq2J1rYT4[/youtube]

What's noticable in that video is he stays away from the 150 as it does not achieve the same result as the 250, there are just not enough options for discrim.

150 and 250 are great machines for the money and chuck a c scope in the mix great starter machines, the garrets can be hard machines if you do a bit of beach work as they don't like wet sand .i brought an old whites coinmaster off flea bay for 30 quid in working order just to see if i liked it not a bad machine i bit dated but still found stuff found my first roman coin with it .then moved on to a minelab ,still have the coinmaster thou and still take it out on occasions . at the end of the day you buy what you can afford

Quote:"tell me what the alternatives are"
The Fisher F2 is a very competent rival to the Ace250. There's more choice of cheap search-coils for it, too. Then there's the Bounty Hunter Tracker 4, very simple to use, reliable, even handles the beach OK. And for kids, the Bounty Hunter Junior is worth a look - the designer rates it as one of his favourite machines, and he has the Fisher F75 among his many design credits.

My 250 came with instructions for sawing down the stalk to make it suitable for kids. Apparently this does not invalidate the warranty.
Three

the ace is a great machine and i hated mine at the start but since trying other machines that cost alot more money i realise how good it really is if its in its depth range it will find it im 100% confident in that i dont go by the screen i go by tone ive yet to see a machine that had solid target id so much can effect that especially the depth of an item or the ground its self forget price the ace is one of the best full stop it just dont have all the bells and whistles the more expensive detectors do but it does all it claims to and more and its so easy to use just my opinion of course happy hunting everyone what ever you swing

Any newbies out there thinking of getting a Garrett entry level, don't be put off by any negative comments about them.

I got the 250 as a starter after reading up on it on here and elsewhere and speaking to MD suppliers that it was the best machine on the market in its class for the price. I chose the 250 over the 150 as it has pinpointing function and more discrim options and for £50 more it was worth it in my opinion. But the 150 is still a very adequate machine for the price.

I have been detecting 5 months now and have mastered the 250. It's simple to use, I get very little falsing and what it tells me is there usually is. The pinpointing is very acurate, have not felt the need to invest in the Garret pro pointer yet because of this.

Like anything technical you have to learn it, don't expect to go out the first time and master it in a couple of hours, it takes time and digging rubbish to know what to dig and what to avoid. Any machine on a trashy site will be difficult to master at first. The best advice given on here was to practice in the garden, burying different metals and testing it to get used to what it's telling you and to learn the pinpointing

I have thought about upgrading but I really don't see the benefits just yet as after finding many things from copper coins to hammy's and silver Romans, I still think it's got a lot of potential left in it so I won't be just yet.

They are a brilliant machine to get into MD'ing with little outlay and the beauty of them is if you want to upgrade after deciding MD'ing is for you, they are always in demand so you can sell them for not much less than you bought them for, if looked after. A win win situation in my eyes

Happy huning!

Hi Stu, do you want a blindfold for your firing squad
the obvious is the more it costs the more you get ( normally ) the Garrett 150 & 250 are brilliant for the money & they re-sell at very little loss, probably £20 to £30 less than new cost.
if a newbie buys a detector for say £600 & then the detector is too complicated for them, they then want to sell it & will probably loose £100
hence the recommendation of the Garrett
ps I loved my 250 even if it was dayglo yellow.