First Hour With the New Ace 350 - Damn, I 'm Tired...

Music Junkie · Apr 3, 2014

Just received my new Garrett Ace 350 in the mail today. Nice little unit. Took my son out into our back yard to get a feel for it. Got several hits right away. Found a corroded penny and some old aluminum ingot or something. We got several hits, but could not find most of them. I figure I just need some time to figure out the pin-pointing on the unit. It registered the ingot as a $1 at over 8". It was indeed at nearly 10-11" down. Took forever to find it...lol

I am flat wore out from digging in the fat black adobe clay we have here. That mixed with the palm trees and all the roots makes for some difficult digging. I think I will head down to the beach tomorrow and dig in the easy sand for a bit, at least until I get the pin-pointing down a bit better. The pin-pointer that came in the accessory pack is really a bottom end unit. It won't register unless it is actually touching the object. Even then it is a very weak signal. If I stick with this, I will probably get a better pin-pointer....

O.K., off to have a pint of porter and wash down the clay and dust....

jww311 · Apr 3, 2014

get a pinpointer it will make finding targets so much easier! Happy Hunting!

Music Junkie · Apr 3, 2014

jww311 said:
get a pinpointer it will make finding targets so much easier! Happy Hunting!

Any recommendations? The accessory pack came with a Garrett Accu-find. I assume this a low-end model.... :?:

It BARELY makes any noise even when the tip is touching the object. It really was not much help today. How well should they work?

Any info would be great.

Dirtfishn350 · Apr 3, 2014

jww311 said:
get a pinpointer it will make finding targets so much easier! Happy Hunting!

Agreed! You could also place some random coins down on an (All metal free spot). Than pinpoint that, helped myself learn where my hot spot is... Pretty much is dead on now. GL

jww311 · Apr 3, 2014

Well I just got a Vulcan 360 sold at kellyco.com. Wont break the bank, I like it alot gets pretty good depth. Costs 119 but using coupon code (coupon10) or (cache10) without the parentheses you can get 10 bucks off and get it for 109.
http://www.kellycodetectors.com/accessories/index.php?model=n64-8852v

If your feeling cheap. Get the Harbor Freight pinpointer for 17 bucks. Never used it but heard good things. Obviously not going to be as good as a $100+ model pinpointer. http://www.harborfreight.com/metal-detector-97245.html

Others swear by the Garrett Pro Pointer. Tried and trusted pinpointer. However is does have some falsing issues.

Overall from all the issues I have heard from the Garrett I would go with the Vulcan 360. Everyone who is getting one seems to like it alot.

Dirtfishn350 · Apr 3, 2014

Music Junkie said:
Any recommendations? The accessory pack came with a Garrett Accu-find. I assume this a low-end model....

It BARELY makes any noise even when the tip is touching the object. It really was not much help today. How well should they work?

Any info would be great.

If you can afford to spend around 100.00 probably a tad more. I picked up a used one, still working!
Garrett propointer
Whites just came out TRX
minelabs pro find

bluebird · Apr 3, 2014

Im jealous- i hope mine showd up tomorrow.

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penzfan · Apr 3, 2014

xpointer is a great pp for $99. gl and hh

http://www.deteknix.com/detectors/pinpointer/xpointer-pinpoint-metal-detector.html

metaladdict · Apr 3, 2014

Do you have a sharp digging tool with serrated edges for plant roots?

Fishninja · Apr 3, 2014

I don't ever dig the $1 signals unless in sty an old site. Those signals are always trash for me

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Music Junkie · Apr 3, 2014

metaladdict said:
Do you have a sharp digging tool with serrated edges for plant roots?

Yes, I have a Gator with serrated edges on both sides.

The problem I have in the back yard is that the palm trees suck all the moisture out of the fat clay and the soils get VERY hard. When I put my fence posts in some years back, I had to rent a jack-hammer with a spade bit. The powered post auger just bounced of the stuff.

It's doable for sure, I just want to wait til I get a better pin pointer so I don't end up digging through so much!

All of the models that are being recommended here seem to get very good reviews. The videos I find on them show them to read quite loudly with a decent amount of distance. Certainly much better than what I experienced today.

Thanks!

bluebird · Apr 3, 2014

Since its your yard just wait until you get a good rain.

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Music Junkie · Apr 3, 2014

bluebird said:
Since its your yard just wait until you get a good rain.

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Would LOVE that! Unfortunately we are in the middle of a drought!....

Southern California is dry and looking to stay that way.

It's all good though. Ill just save the back yard for later....

bluebird · Apr 4, 2014

Music Junkie said:
Would LOVE that! Unfortunately we are in the middle of a drought!....

Southern California is dry and looking to stay that way.

It's all good though. Ill just save the back yard for later....

Im still jealous you got yours first!

I've got about 5 spots that should be good. Picked up some good ideas on here.
Rain will come....all droughts end. Then it will be mudslide time.

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Ice Scratcher · Apr 4, 2014

Music Junkie said:
Would LOVE that! Unfortunately we are in the middle of a drought!....

Southern California is dry and looking to stay that way.

It's all good though. Ill just save the back yard for later....

Keep at it!! As far as diggers go for rough soils...

Get a Sampson 31, you will thank yourself by the second hole!!

<*)))>{

Music Junkie · Apr 4, 2014

Ice Scratcher said:
Keep at it!! As far as diggers go for rough soils...

Get a Sampson 31, you will thank yourself by the second hole!!

<*)))>{

Oh, man, that looks awesome.... I think I will check those out a bit more. The blisters on my hands this morning are already telling me to stay away from the clays with that little trowel.... :lol:

GroundSweeper · Apr 4, 2014

As you learn your machine you'll get better at pinpointing with it, at least to the plug level. I don't use a pinpointer, have in the past (modded HF) probably will in the future (better one). Would speed things up, but it is doable without once you get the knack.

Walker614 · Apr 4, 2014

When I got my 350 started out in my yard I was digging holes and looking for what seemed forever and got frustrated as he** after the third crater I dug with no find I went and bought a PP. Went back to my previous digs and found the items (which were trash) in about 3 minutes. Well worth the investment.

Chris W.

Music Junkie · Apr 4, 2014

Walker614 said:
When I got my 350 started out in my yard I was digging holes and looking for what seemed forever and got frustrated as he** after the third crater I dug with no find I went and bought a PP. Went back to my previous digs and found the items (which were trash) in about 3 minutes. Well worth the investment.

Chris W.

"Crater" is certainly an appropriate term.... My wife was just shaking her head at my son and I. I will not be heading to any parks until I get that figured out! That's why the beach will be a better place to start, I think.

Music Junkie · Apr 4, 2014

Well, we made it out to the beach this afternoon for about an hour and a half. I just set the Ace 350 to Zero discrimination and full sensitivity. We started off in the wetter sand and seemed to get a lot of false tones, so we moved up to the drier sand. We found lots of old junky iron and a weird clip of some sort. Only had four holes where I just could not find the object. I still don't like how big the holes are to find the object, so I know I have to get the pinpointing figured out a bit more. I am assuming that the center of the coil is where I should be looking. I usually find a tone, and then turn 90 degrees and locate it again. Then I use the pin pointer on the machine to zero in on it. On a few, it worked perfectly. On others, it was off by 6-8 inches in distance. At least the digging was a lot easier!

First Hour With the New Ace 350 - Damn, I 'm Tired...

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