just purchased garrett ace 150. any pointers?

keith73

Junior Member
Joined
Feb 1, 2006
Messages
92
I just bought a ace 150, so I finally can MD this spring. I'm a beginner, anything in particular I should know?
 
I am new to this hobby also, but I can tell you to just get out and detect! I have a brand new x-terra 50 I've only used once in the past month due to weather. If you can though just get out there and like Poptop said learn what the machine is telling you.
 
Like any machine, it will take a little while to get the hang of it. At first you will probably get frustrated, and dig up lots of scrap iron, we all have (or still do :D )

Keep the coil as close to the ground as possible, and swing slow. I haven't had my Garrett long, so can't offer too much advice, specific to the settings to use on the 150 .

Good Luck.

P.S. Don't leave any holes ;)
 
Keith, welcome to the forum. Congrats on the 150 too, its a great little machine, you'll have a lot of fun with it.

Advice??? I'll give it a shot. Keep your disc low until you learn the machine, putting it higher will save digging a lot of trash but you won't learn the machine as well as you should and will miss some good targets.

To start I'd suggest you do beaches or tot lots (sand or bark chip playgrounds). The reasons for these as starter spots are simple. They are easy to dig in and the large holes you make as a beginner won't matter as you can kick the dirt or chips back in without having done any harm. As you go you'll find you learn to pinpoint better and better until you are making very small holes, then you know you are ready to hit grassy areas. And last..both beaches and tot-lots are very likely spots to find goodies so you won't be as likely to go home disappointed and hang up the detector.

Good luck and most of all.. Have Fun!

Oh...neat avatar, where are you from?
 
More basic advice.

Keep the coil level and close to the ground. Don't swing it like a pendulum the coil must stay near the ground . Swing it relatively slowly, although I think the 150 and 250 Garrett can go faster than some. Use earphones, you'll not only hear the signals better but you also won't annoy everyone else in the area and best of all... you can pretend you don't hear their remarks or attempts to ask such bright questions as..

"does that thing work?" ----"nah, I just do this to look cool"
or
"have you ever found anything good?" - define good...
or
"what did you lose?" ----- "my pistol, got to find it before the cops do...."

Just Kidding!!! Be polite, that person may be a town councillor. Piss them off and you could find detecting banned in local parks.
:lol:

Another tip, wear something to put your trash in (i use an old army shoulder pack). When someone stops to talk, show them all the trash you are removing from the park/tot-lot/beach or wherever. It never hurts to make a good impression for the hobby. I've used this twice to change the minds of disgruntled busybodies who felt I should not be detecting. Once on a beach where my pile of rusty fish lures, bottle caps, nails etc convinced one upset local lady that I was actually doing a public service. And, another time where a lady yelled at me for being in a playground, she felt it was for children and parents and I should not be there. Afer showing her my pack full of bits of glass, foil, tin cans, nails, pins and best of all a hypodermic needle she was very pleasant to me indeed.

See the point?

Good luck.
 
scott-devon

Oh...neat avatar, where are you from?
from Scott-Devon.

Thanks for the info Scott.

I am from Montreal, Canada. I will only begin detecting after the ground thaws.
 
Keith,

First, let me welcome you aboard! Here's my 2 cents:

Start out slowly. Practice with your machine in places like your own yard, or at parks and schools in woodchip type playgrounds until you get a basic understanding of the machine, and for digging holes.

Learn the basics of your ACE150 by reading the manual. Ok, I know the ACE manual isn't all that great, but read it anyway. Read it over and over again, until you can recite it by heart. You'll be making cool finds before you can recite it.

Start off by running it in All Metal, Relic, or Jewelry mode, and get used to the different sounds the ACE makes, and how they correlate with the type of metal found. I make it into a guessing game. Before you begin digging, try to guess what the target is by the type of belltone it makes. After a few weeks, you'll find yourself getting more accurate, and you'll learn which targets you want to dig, and which ones you probably don't (although it pays to dig them all anyway!) Once you become familiar with the different sounds, you can then decide when to use more discrimination in high trash areas.

TRY to remember that the target ID feature is an accessory. It's great for IDing coins at shallow depth, but once you get to 5" or 6" and deeper targets, it looses it's effectivness quickly. So don't be dissapointed when the target ID reads $1.00 at 6", and you dig 10" and come up with a beer can or a pipe!

Make sure you have a good, comfortable set of headphones. I prefer the large, dual volume adjustable type. These are a must!!

Last, but not least, read up on local regulations regarding the hobby, and learn where you can and cannot hunt. Always fill your holes, and haul out any and all trash you find (and it'll be a lot, trust me!) And make sure you're friends and family understand that once you are hooked on this hobby, there is no turning back!!

Hope that helps some!
 
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