Garrett Ace 250
Street Price $250 - Beginner, coin
Number of Reviews: 148
on 15 pages.
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Also in this price range:
Whites Prizm II
Garrett Ace 250
Nice attempt, But poor pinpointing capabilities
Chris in La Verne, CA USA -
I guess I just must be spoiled by my MXT, but I just can't seem to make this machine work very well. I keep trying, but it seems to find a lot of targets and half the time I dig and they are ghost targets or not even close to what the target indicator say's it's supposed to be. The pinpointing is really all over the map, I have tried and tried and the target seems to move around(at least according to the pinpoint mode).
I bought this machine as a back up for my White's machine, but I guess I should have saved up a little longer and bought another MXT or similar machine.
Jun 18, 2009
12 Yes
23 No
Ace 250 is a great little machine
C. Spencer in Findlay, Ohio -All detectors have good points and also things we would like to change about them, including all the high end detectors out there. I have been in the hobby for many years and owned a few detectors in that time including bounty hunter, tesoro, and whites models. Of course none of them had a graphic target display but none of them even came close to the ace 250 I am using now , as far as being easy to use and easy to find things with. It has increased my finds quite a lot, even where my last detector said there was nothing worth digging. To those who have so much negative to say about it ,...you either didnt read the manual, have a defective unit that your warranty will fix, or you didnt give it enough time to get used to the machine ( which you need to do with any detector ). There are some minor negative things I would change about the ace 250. I would like to see the shaft assembly redesigned to eliminate minor movement between the sections that happens now and then while swinging, and add some sort of manual ground balance to avoid having to turn down the sensitivity in some areas. In a nutshell , the ace 250 gives you a huge amount of performance and quality for the $200 pricetag. I highly recommend it for beginners as well as seasoned pros.
Jun 11, 2009
57 Yes
1 No
OK MACHINE
HunterDave in South Carolina -I'm on my fourth set of batteries with my Ace 250 and it's certainly a coin finder (it loves aluminum cans too). I've been detecting for about 15 years and have three other machines. The Ace does not out perform the more expensive machines but it a great machine for the price. The only real downfall I've found is the pinpointing function, maybe it's just me, but I do just as well with sweeping the machine and listening to the normal tones as I do with the pinpointing function.
As with any machine you're going to dig up trash, it's just an evil of the hobby. Personally I don't mind digging up questionable targets. You just never know until you dig them up.
All in all the Ace 250 is a good machine with some good features, battery life is good, price is good and dependability is good. It lost a star because of the pointpointing feature and lost the second star over the depth. But I would still recommend it.
May 27, 2009
25 Yes
4 No
Awesome Daddy "O"
Coolio in Brady Bunch, USA -
Dude below me from Actionville is "dead on" .. Can you dig it? .. He brings up some righteous points.. This is the lightest machine at 2.7 pounds and you get the most bang for your buck.
If you want a fantastic machine and your afraid to ask your wife to charge the $1200.00 for a more expensive machine... go with the ace250... at $199.00 you wont be upset... Afterall .. these things hold they value soo well you can turn around and sell it on on ebay for darn near the same amount you paid for it new... Like the cat said below.. Do your research, and you will realize what we are preaching is truth the whole and nuttin butt.... word.
May 04, 2009
22 Yes
2 No
Very Happy
Thinking about an Ace 250 ? in Actionville, Florida (Jax) -First Off let me state .. I am not an expert .. I am a newbie.. So take my advice for what it is worth.. I am very Blessed, I have the ability to purchase the most expensive common brand metal detector without it creating any "setbacks" .. I purchased the Ace because of the many hours/days of research I first conducted on the internet.. The Ace is by far the most "favored" detector on the detector review websites. I have used it about 10 times now and I am extreemly happy with the performance.. I was skeptical about the depth reviews until I got it in real soft sand at the beach. I have no trouble reading coins at 8 inches.. The very few negatives about this machine was in reference to the salt water conditions... Well.. I live in Florida and I only hunt the beach and I have not had one second of trouble with reading wet salt water sand conditions ( I just turn the sensativity down a coot hair). It is a known fact if you do your research you will realize the Metal Detector that will cost you over $1200.00 operating on 15 different frequencies is no more sophisticated than a scanner/radio you can purchase at radio shack for $55.00!!.. That being said ,.. the hype , marketing, name brand, arguments over reading a penny at 8 inches versus 10 inches is (in my opinion) not justiification for an additional $1000.00 bucks on a detector.. Sooo keep your negative resonses about my opinion to yourself and meet me on the beaches of Florida and I will show you how to find a deep coin with my economical $199.00 Ace 250 while you search with your $1200 over priced, HEAVIER machine (do the research ) ...
May 03, 2009
91 Yes
5 No
Noob review; entry level early 80s vs today
jsandin in Merriam, KS -I got interested in metal detecting and bought an old used Garrett American S2 for $50. I had fun with it and found a few coins and nice relics. I thought I had found every target, including junk iron, in my yard.
Then I realized that the American S2 is old technology (early 80s). I began doing some research, and bought the Ace 250. After a day of using the Ace 250 I realized that if I dug every piece of junk iron in my yard, I would have to destroy the yard. In other words, it was like a semi-blind man receiving a pair of glasses for the first time. The Ace 250 sees much more, and discriminates much better than the old one. I found many coins in my yard that the old one hadn't seen.
I have no experience with any other detectors, but I can tell that it will be a while before I need to upgrade. An old pro at a dealership here in K.C., MO recommended this to me as a no-brainer, and I went with his recommendation and I'm glad I did.
Apr 06, 2009
58 Yes
2 No
Great machine!!
steve in hampshire uk -Been out every weekend for the last month with this machine and found 2 roman 5 victorian and modern coinage. It may not sound like much but I was over the moon when I found the first roman bronze, it was only a small coin about 17mm dia and also quite deep in the ground about 7 inches but it picked it out nice and clear short sharp bleep!! Second roman was a larger coin 25mm this one was only 2 inches. When you get a good signal sweep the coil every direction if its still giving the coin beep then its a good sign luckily for me im on a ploughed field so if you are too, sweep some of the soil away with your foot if the signal changes to iron its junk trust me.
Apr 04, 2009
17 Yes
1 No
Not a Bad little Machine for the money
jo in ca -Have had the Ace 250 for several weeks now. Real good at finding coins. That seems to be its strong point. Modes are simple and easy to use. Pinpointing and sweeping takes a little getting used to because of the none round coil. Seems like its a little bottom heavy too. Have found some jewlry with it but not anything real pricey yet. Battery life is real good, overall decent machine. Improvements would be faster sweeping ability, easier targeting ability and beach mode plus manual ground balance.
Mar 22, 2009
17 Yes
0 No
Easy to Use
Patrick J in Georgia -Well, let me first say that this is my very first metal detector, and I am impressed with its ease of use. I was able to use it within the first 15 minutes, and found an old toy car in my backyard from the 1960s. I then went back and watched the instructional video and found out how to fine tune and use the pinpoint feature. I have nothing to compare this to as this is my first metal detector, but I don’t think that I will need upgrade anytime soon, as this is only a part time hobby. Some of the other features that I found very useful are that it is very lightweight, the pinpoint feature is very useful, it has long battery life, you’re able to set the discrimination mode to avoid on wanted things, it has a varying tones depending on the object, its own built and speaker and it has a headphone jack for noisy areas. Some of the things that are not good about it are that it has no volume adjustment so when you use headphones it is very loud on your ear, and that the strap was unnecessary because you will be putting the metal detector down many times to dig.
I would make a recommendation on the digging utensil, as I live in Georgia and the soil is very hard from all the clay in it, that you find a tool that will not destroy your hand when digging. And remember that you will be doing a lot of bending over and time on your knees digging those treasures out. Also plan on getting your hands very dirty so an option may be to wear gloves and a pouch to put all of your junk and treasures in.
All in all this is a well rounded and easy to use device. I would recommend it for a beginner, it seems that you get a lot of bang for your buck and before you go hunting to watch the video on how to use the device before you start using it, if for nothing else it shows you the proper use of the pinpoint feature, but some of the pluses in watching it are that it will show you how to set the device properly.
Mar 10, 2009
43 Yes
0 No
My neighbor thanks you!
Doug Aldridge in Indianapolis, IN -Having purchased the Garrett 250 late last fall, I haven't spent a extreme amount of time with the unit. I believe we have found about $1.75 in change, a muzzle loader shot, and old a button from a WWII jacket, nothing old, but it has been fun digging for our treasures. But the unit showed its value when our neighbor lost his wedding ring in the snow while building an igloo with our son. Figuring the ring was either in our yard or along his driveway, we started at our location. My 15 year old son fired up the detector and was able to locate the ring in about 5 minutes. My neighbor was so relieved that he didn't have to go out and replace a $2,000 wedding band. For the price you can't go wrong.
Feb 01, 2009
30 Yes
8 No