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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

A great machine for the price

November 17, 2008
Having read so many good reviews and some mixed ones about this machine I couldn't resist the £87.00 price tag on e-bay to see for myself. After all they are easy to sell again.

Firstly, I was surprised at the small box it came in and it looked a bit of a toy when opened. It beeped at everything-ding, ding, ding on the kitchen table and I wondered what Id let myself in for. The Prizm 2 which is the one in the same price bracket on here could be left on max sens. For the air tests but not this one which needed knocking down a couple of segments. Depths were similiar-10" for an old penny remembering of course that the 250 wasn't on max.

Out in the fields, I tried a grassy park/play area. The machine was going mad till sens was again backed off a couple of notches and a slower swing employed. I had to use coin mode because of the amount of rubbish but even then large bits of foil and tins cans came through with the bell tone. There is no option but to dig these as they sound just like coins but perhaps a bit louder and wider. I had to leave as I was getting fed up digging small "copper" with just the odd £1 coin.

By the way does anyone know how to clean this nickel brass properly so I don't have to put it in parking meters? If so Robonceagain@aol.com.
Next stop was a country park/field where locals walked their dogs and have bonfires. This was much more like it. I ran in relic mode and found very little rubbish but lots of pre-decimal coins including three Georgelll halfpennies not in great condition. These all registered with that sharp clear repeatable bell tone signal. I could virtually tell 8/10 or so that I had a coin. The exceptions were bits of lead and large lumps of iron which thankfully were rare.
A small military type button appeared at about ten inches(yes it is true)for those who say the 250 will not go deep. I didn't really use the notch facility as relic mode suited me. However the option is there and you can notch till your hearts content or just switch on chose your mode and off you go.

With practice you will grow to like this machine and be able to tell with the combined tone id/meter about 75% of the time whether you have something worthwhile under your coil.

Pinpointing has been an issue for some but it works fine on mine the only problems being that shallow/large objects may read nearer the front of the coil and that if the object is deep the signal will disappear. I have a £5 charity shop made in China kiddies machine with a 2"coil which I stick in the hole-cheaper than a pinpointer and just as effective so it doesn't bother me.

In summing up I think this is a great value machine which is easy to use and I cant wait to get the 9x12 coil. I'm told it can compete with much higher priced machines with this addition but I'm satisfied with the depth already. By the way has anyone managed to work out how a 10yr old coin can be deeper than a 200yr old one on ground completely unsuited to ploughing?

Overall Rating 5 stars!

4390

Learn the Machine

November 15, 2008
I've had an Ace 250 for over a year now and have hundreds of hours detecting with it.

I read in some reviews that this is not a beach detector or it is no good in water.. Well I'd agree with you if I did not know how to set the darn thing up correctly.. All my detecting and I mean all is done on one of many beaches at my disposal here in Spain. If you are on dry sand turn your sensitivity right up and if you get chatter turn it down until you don't, it's that simple, start swinging and if you get lots of ghost hits turn it down, only one notch at a time. If you are in the water you can still detect BUT at much reduced detection depth because you HAVE to turn the sensitivity right down to 1/2 but it does work but NOT at the same settings for dry sand. UNLESS you have the 10 x 14" Power DD Searchcoil which is designed for high mineralized soil in which case you can increase your sensitivity. This machine can take four coils, the standard 6.5 x 9 which is OK but not one I'd go for if you can afford the 9 x 12 which is my preference due to the extra coverage and 1 to 2" extra depths it gives me, the 10 x 14" already mentioned for mineralized search areas and the sniper 4.5" for the high trashy areas which is not a problem I have so I cannot comment on this coil but those that I do know who have used it speak very highly of it.

This machine even with the 9 x 12" search coil rarely finds clad coins below 6/7", it is a cheap shallow detector which does it's job very well indeed. Test the discrim thoroughly as gold rings are found right in the region of pull tabs. Personally the only thing I discrim out is foil for which this machine is very good at doing. High trashy areas you may need to be a little more aggressive in your discrimination. As I said I've had this machine a year and have learnt a great deal and will shortly be upgrading for the deeper objects that this machine just cannot find for me, other than that I'd highly recommend this machine for the price..

Overall Rating 4 stars

5160

Great detector

November 06, 2008
I have owned two ace 250,s .the first one was stolen from the back of my pick up on my 4th outing but it got me $400.00 worth of profit in the short time I used it. I found a cache of old coin from a historical site and was paid $400.00 by the historical society locally. I have just purchased a second one and have all ready found $70.00 in coin and a lot of neat relics. To all that complain about the ace 250 I say learn your unit and how to detect right before bad mouthing it.

Overall Rating 5 stars!

3974

Not One Regret!

October 25, 2008
I gave this puppy 5 stars because I can't come up with any consequential criticism. I'm really a rookie (that's changing fast) so I've proved how you can hit the ground running with this one.

I've seen some negative reviews, and I'm totally befuddled by them because none of it seems to be true with my experience. I think it just helps to do some homework studying after some vets out there.

The pinpoint is RIGHT ON. You may have to lift it up a few inches off the ground or press it again to clear it, but even that is just due to inexperience at first on the part of the operator. At least my unit, if you have a coin it is not a MILLIMETER off. Actually the only time it's slightly off center is for junk. The seasoned vets will tell you your always gonna have a few junk targets here and there regardless of the model. I learned quickly that when I don't find the target within seconds it's gonna be junk. Of which, are few since it discriminates foil and iron impeccably. It comes down to, if you have a really solid repeatable tone, you have something.

Other than my own property, I've been to only four public places. I found primarily modern clad. My wife and I covered this very small non-prestigious river swimming area today. We found some pennies, a toy, hoop earring... We were finishing up. I was literally two steps away from hitting the power button to turn it off. Then... BOOM BABY! I got a strong solid tone hitting steady in the gold range on the nickel icon. It's gives the same tone for gold and nickel (separate for other coins) which doesn't bother me cause I'm gonna dig them both... right? Anyway, It was a sweet gold diamond ring! We didn't even have time to cover the whole beach. Not only that, but I haven't gotten water scoops and hip waders yet. It's the start of something great here. I don't know what else a $400+ machine can offer me to justify it.

One thing that sold me up front on this unit was watching youtube videos by a guy who goes by "Crackbadger". This dude could open a pawn shop in Beverly Hills! He says about 90% of his finds are from the ACE 250. Check his video review and finds... must see!

Overall Rating 5 stars!

6782

I may as well throw in my two cents, and give my opinion

October 21, 2008
Throughout the years I used White's Quantum II, White's IDX, White's Prizm 5, Tesoro Vaquero, and I finally decided to try a Garrett's Ace 250.

Are they all good?
Yes, but each one has faults, and each one has benefits.
Someone wrote and I always remembered it.
Metal detecting is 90% user and 10% machine.
I would swing a White's machine, and I was constantly changing sides.
My arms could not take long periods of swinging.
The White's Prizm 5 had a lag time, and only two coils, and cost $500.00. The Ace only cost $212.00.
With the Tesoro Vaquero that machine could locate someone lying on the beaches of China.
Soon I got tired of all the digging, and found I was walking over stuff that might have been good. Plus I was use to a VID machine. Sure you can roll the discrim knob but I wasn't enjoying it.
Is the Ace without faults? NO!
But with each machine you have to learn what it's telling you.
Can you run the sen higher then normal? NO.
Does it beep a lot? YES. But I'm out there having fun, so I just go back over. It only takes a second, and many times there was something there. Plus try lowering the sen a notch or two.
So you just need to make adjustments, and except the Ace for what it is.
A good and fun machine.
I've use mine in upper New York and traveled to Well's Maine and even to Clearwater Beach Florida, and it did just fine. Sure it doesn't like the wet salt water beach sand, but either did the White's Quantum II, or the IDX. I had more trouble with the Tesoro Vaquero in Florida then I did with the Ace. Just lower your sen and enjoy your time there. Large coil is great for beaches!

So if someone asked me about buying an Ace I would say go for it, and start digging.
Like I said earlier each one has faults, and each one has benefits. It's not a thousand dollar machine, buy many that use a high end machine will grab for their lightweight machine due to the weight, and many with Explorer's have bought the Ace as a back up.

You need to read the manual. (Which most don't?)
Watch the FREE video, and Practice, practice, and practice.
Once you learn what the machine is telling you, you'll be digging your own treasures. Remember swinging is the fun, and what you dig up is your rewards.

Have I gotten my fare share this year? Just under $75.00 and lot's of trinket.
Including rings, necklaces, ear rings, Matchbox toys, and all the other junk we all dig.

So if your thinking about one. Buy it, and if you don't like it you won't have any problem selling it.

Read on the forums and see what others have to say.
On this site read the reviews of the other lightweights , and you'll be suprised. So far for the Ace there's 105 posting. Read the others and come to your own decision.


Happy hunting

Overall Rating 5 stars!

9380

Great machine for the price.

October 14, 2008
I have had the machine for about 5 months. I have to admit I didn't like the spider coil. I really had trouble pinpointing and had trouble tightening it enough so the coil wouldn't drop. However, I bought a sniper coil and the machine is awesome. Yes I know my depth is limited but the machine is right on in every respect. If I get a very strange signal I will dig because it may be something like the Fendi watch I found.
I haven't used a thousand dollar machine so I can't compare. I certainly have gotten my money back. About 120.00 in clad, 2 gold rings, one 18K/950 plat ring, 4 silver rings, large silver pendant, several tokens, 10 wheats, and other misc. Well worth the money spent.

Overall Rating 5 stars!

2274

Garrett Ace 250 is a good value

October 07, 2008
I used a Garrett detector with my dad back in the mid-1970s. It was simple and easy to use. I purchased an Ace 250 this past weekend and was surprised by the inexpensive price of the unit. This machine is packed with features compared to the one my dad owned. Yes, there is a slight learning curve, but if you read the owner's manual (which most people that complain refuse to do for some reason) and watch the included DVD, you can quickly learn to operate the Ace 250 properly. It does require a litle practice, but all detectors of this nature do.

For those who have written negative reviews, I recommend that they adopt realistic expectations and actually take the time to learn how to use the machine and not expect it to do all of the work for them (including the digging). The Ace 250 is an excellent value and the people at Garrett are great to deal with and they offer excellent support.

Overall Rating 4 stars

2772

Ace 250

September 14, 2008
The ace 250 is a great machine, I have had mine for about 3years maybe more. There are a lot of faults but if you can resolve them the machine isn't that bad its just that the people at garret didn't bother to test the machine before they sold it I'm guessing but they could have at least fixed a major pinpoint problem.

Pros
Good price for a decent detector
Light weight
Easy to setup
You can usually buy this detector with lots of accessories from kellyco or ebay mine came with a case a trowel 2 magazines headphones a pouch and a root cutter knife. All of that together would have cost over 400 dollars but I got mine for 250 with free shipping
The modes on it are great

Cons
Pinpoint isn't accurate
No volume adjustment so you might want headphones that adjust volume, if you go to kellyco.com mine do and you can get them there
It does make different sounds you just gotta get used to them

If you take the detector to the beach it works great in dry sand but if you go close to wet sand it will work but it will get really false so you have to lower the sensitivity and then you wont get as much depth.

To pinpoint all you have to do is hold it down and make an x over the target and it will work.

Its a great detector it can outperform many

My finds so far
1 silver necklace
Like 60 pennies
5dimes
3quaters
Some bottle caps
Pull tabs
and other stuff

Used it at the beach twice and my backyard once, I have to go out with it more often.

Overall Rating 4 stars

2899

ACE 250.....Chip price don't spect too much!!

September 06, 2008
First of all, sorry for my bud English, I'm Spanish Speaker.

I had ACE 250 for half season in CYPRUS island and I tried this detector on the beach an also inland for too much hours.

My conclusion is that according with the price is a good detector maybe one of the best but..... Take care, do not expect too much of its performance. The GARRETT Company says that it has good metal discrimination, but to be honest this machine only discriminate iron very well.

On the beach works too fast (very). The aluminium is a big problem for it also pull tabs. So you will find a lot of phantoms rings. The wet sand, close to the water, make him crazy, so better to keep far away from the shore. On the dry sand works great!!. In "All metal", detect perfect all the coins and very fast. Deep? Well is not really deep detector but if you use the biggest coil 9' x 12' will be better.

I tried to detect with the coil into the water but it was impossible. The machine reject the water and became to be very unstable.

The Pinpoint for coins is very accurate (amazing)

The volume is so high!!!, no volume control so you have to hold out this terrible volume all the time except if you put a piece of tape on the speaker.

Inland works terrible!!! Keep away of Hot rocks and keep away also from trashy areas because ACE 250 loves aluminium and other rubish. A piece of wire sounds like gold or valuable things.

I was lucky using the ACE 250 on the beach full of tourists and full of EUROS, and it pay buy itself in only four nights. So I changed the ACE 250 by "Explorer SE" and it was like to get down of an old car and get into a combat plane.

If you are a beginner and you have only $250 so buy it till you learn, then go to a real detector (expensive $1000 o more).

If any doubt, please send me an EMail to: sanchezaramayo@hotmail.com

HAPPY DETECTING!!! :-)

Overall Rating 3 stars

8720

A Lot of Hype

September 03, 2008
I have had an Ace 250 for more than two years now and have used it a lot in all types of soil conditions. I have never seen in my years of MDing (about 12 years now) a machine with as much hype as the Ace 250. That is not to say that it's a bad machine, it's not bad but it sure isn't as great as all the hype on the internet forums make it out to be. That is true to the point that the forums are all but worthless as to someone making a choice about buying the Ace 250.

The Ace 250 is an entry level machine and as such it performs like a entry level machine. Don't believe the forums that state the Ace 250 will find coins at 8-10 inches. It simply will not do that. It will find coins at 4-6 inches max and a lot of detectors will do that. It is also too sensitive and must be turned way down or all it will do is chatter and give false signals. This decreases the depth even more.

Those who say the Ace 250 outperforms machines costing 3 or 4 times what the 250 cost have either never used those more expensive machines or are just not telling the truth. Really now, do you think Garrett would be so dumb as to make a $212 machine that performs better than their $1,000 machines or that a $212 Garrett machine would outperform machines from other companies that are in the same $1,000 range???

If you do get a Garrett Ace 250 expect it to act and perform like an entry level machine. If you expect more from it than that you will be very disappointed.

Overall Rating 2 stars

13251

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