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Garrett Ace 250

Price: $250
Avg. Score: 4 stars 4.2
Based on 260 reviews

Avg. Durability: 4 stars4.05
Avg. Ease of use: 4 stars4.50
Maximum detection depth
Submit your review for Garrett Ace 250

No better detector for the price.

November 30, 2009
This is the first and only detector I have. Yes, it has a learning curve, this is the only drawback. Wanted to sell it after the first week of using it, then it started to make sense. I dug over 2500 coins and 6 rings the first year I had it. No, it's not great in wet, salt water beaches but it doesn't claim to be. Very lightweight. I have no desire to upgrade, even after three years of use.

Overall Rating 4 stars

3693

Could be better though

November 09, 2009
This machine does not live up to all the review hype. I find next to no coins when using it all day long. When I re-hunt the same area with my BH sharpshooter, I find several dollars in clad. I have let my newbee friends use either one and they always prefer the BH and have much better luck with it. Also the constant bell tone gets old quick. This md is def overpriced for its league. Don't put too much trust in the reviews and hype over this model.

Overall Rating 1 star

11673

Still frustrated....

November 05, 2009
I own several detectors, including a white, a fisher and a tesoro. I bought the ace 250 for the new technology it proclaims. I took it to the beach on its maiden voyage only to be frustrated with so many false signals, I tried lowering the sensitivity, changing the discrimination etc.. I finally took it back to the car for my fisher cz5..which is a great beach detector.

I recently went to north ga. and walked a stream that had all the markings of gold, but only found trash and a lot of false signals..I read that the 4.6 coil would be better for gold and eliminating trash, I bought one, but I have yet to use it, but I have my hopes up...any tips on the false signals would be appreciated...I also modified the unit a little, based on my cz5 so I can remove the head from the shaft for better storage...garrett might look into this....I have great hopes for this machine, but.........

Overall Rating 3 stars

2398

Love My Ace 250

October 18, 2009
I have two of these machines. One I keep a sniper coil on and the other the larger coil. The sniper coil is awesome and I have found many great items with it including an 18K/950 gold plat ring. But as you know depth is limited. I find that the larger coil that you can get seems to pinpoint better for me than the stock coil and I get a couple extra inches of depth out of it (8 plus inches with the larger coil)and about 6 inches with the stock coil. I actually have a Garrett 2500 and the first time I took it out I think I found a couple pennies and pull tabs.

Granted I did not give myself enough time to learn the machine and it was much heavier than the 250 (I have a small frame.) So I went back to my Ace. I have found so much with my 250 it is hard to take the time to learn the 2500. I have been metal detecting for about a year and a half. I have found about 500.00 in clad, a standing liberty, indian head cent, gold rings, several pieces of silver and lots of misc stuff. I had not been to any great older sites. This is just stuff in a few local parks and schools. The Ace is awesome.

Overall Rating 5 stars!

5990

Ace 250

September 20, 2009
I got one of these for the wife, and as backup to minelab sov GT. Different machines, different money! The ace is a good little detector, honest in price and honest in performance. I would not sell it on, I am very fond of it and it works. Sure it gives maybe 6/7 inches on your average sized coin, can be fooled by large iron, id is not 100%, so it is the same as most other detectors. Before pressing 'pinpoint' hold the coil away from the ground, press your button then return the coil to the ground and proceed,works fine.

The machine has 3 tones, low(iron), beep, middle non ferous, and 'ding'bell sound for coin /high conductivity. All the bad reviews are from non readers of the manual, those not inclined to learn the machine, or people who think 'detector' means 'fortune teller', they have a good reputation for good reasons. My sov GT will out work the ace, but what do you expect, It won't put it to shame though!

Overall Rating 5 stars!

8378

Newbie On The Beach

September 18, 2009
I have used this model a total of 8 to 10 hours and am new to the hobby. So, from a newbie standpoint, I like it. I watched the instructional DVD prior to going out with it. I have only detected on a saltwater beach, so my experience is very limited. Having said that, I am getting good hits up to surf line. Pinpointing is limited, I think, by the saltwater. I like this unit and purchased it based on other reviews in this forum. I wanted something "entry level" to get acquainted with this hobby, and the Ace 250 does the trick.

Overall Rating 4 stars

2476

Garrett Ace 250

August 30, 2009
I have been detecting over 20 years and used all the big makes out there. My son (23) wanted to get into the hobby so on what I'd read I advised him to get an Ace250. Before he picked it up I used it against my Minelab and was amazed by it's performance.
As a result, for the price, I bought the Ace250 that came as a kit with two coils, cover, bag, headphones and pinpointer (which is superb in itself). I have now used the Ace250 for a few sessions and love it even more.
The manual advises using for 100 hours to get to know the machine, but I'd say half this time.
The Ace is quick to adjust any function.
Sometimes the indicator does jump about over the icon but as you sweep the coil listen for a tone as you sweep each way. If a double tone is sounded, just dig! I notice the bell tone seems to have a different pitch depending on the item detected.
The Ace is very sensitive and I had some minute signals that I chased around with the pinpointer probe.
The depth is excellent depsite the fact I had the small coil fitted.
The only two small negatives are that the stem has a little movement occasionally, and there is no volume adjustment which is overcome by having headphones with such a control. The overall build quality is top notch.
For the money this is a phenomenal machine and I would say whatever your experience you should get one, even if only as a back-up for another brand. The battery life on 4 AA's is fantastic too.
I can't comment on how this machine would perform on an ancient site littered with iron, and maybe it wouldn't be my first choice. Having said that I have the feeling this machine wouldn't shame itself against the big boys. It's light and well balanced so you could detect for hours without fatigue.
As for the grumbles about the pinpointing, it has a pinpoint button and pinpoint graph. If you can't pinpoint using this it's because you haven't spent the time and learned properly!
To sum up, this is an AMAZING machine for the price. I know some using £1000+ machines who have the Ace as well so this should tell you something.
I have no connection with any dealer or manufacturer. I just can't understand the small minority who criticise this machine.

Overall Rating 5 stars!

16191

Ace 250 ,Give it time

August 29, 2009
I was super frustrated using it my first time. Really don't blame the ACE 250, It was all me the operator! After about 40 hours detecting I absolutely love this thing. My buddy with the tesoro silver Umax, is now is a bit jealous of the Ace 250 because of all extra features I have. It is a great detector for the money!! NO Regrets

Overall Rating 5 stars!

5892

Garrett 250

July 27, 2009
I am new to the sport of detecting so I decided to rent one while on vacation in Cocoa Beach, Florida. The only model available at Nations Rentals was the Garrett 250. I never used one before, but it didn't take long to figure out how to use it. I even downloaded and read the manual!. Here are my initial observations: 1. Unit decerns well with tones between silver-copper clad coins and iron, but it can't decern between coins and aluminium flip tops. 2. It worked fine in the dry beach sand but it went crazy when the sand was wet from the salt water. I found that it had trouble to focus on targets. Suspects were too wide to be of any value, unless one wants to excavate the entire shoreline.

On an interesting note, I meet a gentleman who recently purchased a White detector and complained that he hasn't been able to find anything because it was too complicated to use. Cocao Beach is pretty much a party beach and there is a lot of beer bottle caps. In my three days of using the the Garrett 250, I found about $4.00 in change, a cheap earing, an allen wrench and hundreds of bottle caps. He had yet to find a penny. If I were to purchase one, I think that I would like buy something that is simple to operate like the Garrett 250 and has the ablitity to operate in the wet beach sand. Any suggestions?

Overall Rating 3 stars

9926

Snipper Coil is Key.

July 07, 2009
If you are hunting on a Rocky Beach with sand and stones the sizes of your foot lets say, 100% use the Snipper coil. I "outsearched" my buddy during our last hunt. He was using an excalibur.

Hint Hint.....look under the rocks as well. Most hunters go "around" the rocks. shhhhh it works

Overall Rating 5 stars!

2785

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