Garret's Ace 400 Reviews???

ironman05

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Hello. Friends wanted to see if anyone has hunted with the Garretts Ace 400. I started withe the Ace 250 a few years back. Just wanted to see if anyone has any positive words on it. Thanks group.
 
I have logged many hours on mine and would have to say that it is probably the worst machine in my arsenal. I purchased the smaller coil to help try to eliminate the nose heavy nose problem with this machine. The arm cuff is very short and very much resembles a youth machine cuff. The lack of ground balance also is a big negative and in many areas the sensitivity has to be set very low to keep it from squalling.

For the same money I believe you could do much better and would be much happier.
 
Thanks guys

Thanks for he info guys. I kinda share the same feelings towards the Ace 400 . I just wanted second opinions before I buy one.
 
Don't know anything about the Ace 400 but I had an Ace 250 that I used as a backup machine and I hated the darned thing. I managed to sell it and recover some of my money. That said I'd never give thought to buying a 400 or even a 300.
 
I have been using my Ace 400 for over a year now. And I would have to say that I like it very much. One downfall is that in heavy iron such as lots of nails it does not do as well. But if you can get a yard or a farm field it seems to do pretty well. I will admit that I'm considering a different detector so I can have better separation then I currently do. But if you look at my signature below I don't think I have done half bad at all. Just my two cents worth.
 
I would skip it,just a 250 with iron audio.

With all due respect to your overall experience, I don't think that's accurate. The Ace 400 operates on 10.5 kHz vs 6.5 kHz on the 250. The 250 displays a 12 segment target ID graphic while the 400 shows a numeric VDI scale from 0-100. Average detection depth on a US quarter for the 250 is about 7", while the 400 averages about 10" for the same (depth data from metaldetectorreviews.net). An elliptical coil is stock on the 250 vs a DD coil on the 400, although these are interchangeable on both detectors. And yes, the 400 has Iron Audio while the 250 does not, but I'll freely admit that I'm not convinced that Iron Audio is a selling point. Personally, I tend to treat Iron Audio as a curiosity - I always check it to see what it has to say, but I often find it unreliable and contradictory in my soil, and ultimately base my "dig-no dig" decision on other factors.

As a beginner (just started in April 2017), I've been extremely happy with my Ace 400. I've found the Ace 400 to be an remarkably user friendly detector - very easy to learn and quite capable. For someone starting out in metal detecting, I can attest to the fact that you can get comfortable with the features and use of the machine very quickly and start making nice finds almost immediately out of the box. And I personally make those finds routinely as deep as 8" with confidence, as the VDI has been reasonably accurate to those depths. With experience, maybe I'll learn to make deeper finds - I just don't know if the VDI is accurate on the Ace 400 beyond 8". The depth indicator for the Ace 400 essentially stops at 8", with only 8+ indicated beyond that - I rarely encounter signals that deep on the sites I've detected so far, and frankly I'm reluctant to dig deeper than that in parks and occupied home sites anyway. With the Ace 400, I've found some great artifacts as well as a couple coins that are considered bucket listers for more experienced detectorists - but as we all know, that's often more a function of hunt location than detector capability anyway.

Ground balance is fixed, and that's certainly a drawback for more experienced detectorists, or for certain soils or site conditions. On the flip side, fixed ground balance means that a beginner has the benefit of one less layer of complication to worry about. If ease of use is more important to you, this can be considered another benefit of the Ace 400. For me, I've rarely encountered or identified a serious mineralization or other ground balance issue that's affected my enjoyment of a hunt in NW Ohio or the other locations that I've hunted (PA, MI, IA, WI, NJ).

I've not swung any other machines for a significant amount of time, so I have a very limited perspective of the weight and balance/nose heaviness for the Ace 400 compared to other machines - I'm sure there are other machines that are better balanced. Regardless, I've never had an issue swinging the Ace 400 for a long period of time - I'm almost 47, and I've spent 4-6 hours swinging the Ace without having any perception of a terrible "nose heaviness". The overall weight of the Ace 400 is listed as 2.9 lbs - at the risk of sounding like Arnold Schwarzenegger, the machine weight has always seemed pretty negligible to me.

Are there better machines out there? Absolutely. It may even be the worst machine in some people's arsenal. The Ace 400 is not nearly in the same league as a CTX3030, Deus, E-Trac, or even a Garrett AT Pro. But it's definitely far better than an Ace 250. The type of detecting you want to do plays a large factor as well - the Ace 400 does great for me as a land-locked dirt fisherman. This is definitely not the right machine for beach or water use.

Overall, the Ace 400 is intended, I believe, to be a higher end beginner's machine. For the OP, who appears to have several years of detecting experience that includes the Ace 250...yes, he should skip the Ace 400 and look at a more capable (and probably more expensive) machine. But for someone who is just starting out who is looking for an affordable machine that is easy to use and quite capable for its class - I'd highly recommend an Ace 400. It's easy enough to use that a beginner won't get frustrated and it's capable enough that a sophomore detectorist will keep having fun even while he might be saving up to purchase a more advanced machine.
 
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I totally agree with AirmetTango. Also, the cuff length is adjustable if that matters to you. Great with coins, good with relics, ok with mixed targets.

Now if I had $350 to spend on a 400, I'd just grab a used ATP instead. But the 400 is a good machine.
 
I totally agree with AirmetTango. Also, the cuff length is adjustable if that matters to you. Great with coins, good with relics, ok with mixed targets.

Now if I had $350 to spend on a 400, I'd just grab a used ATP instead. But the 400 is a good machine.

Even at its longest length the cuff is a good 4 inches shorter than an ATP and the stock coil is heavier. If I had $350 to spend I would grab a LRP. Sweet soil the fixed ground balance is exceptable but in rough soil the sensitivity has to be ran very low and you loose most of your depth. The LRP will fly much better in those conditions. As I stated I feel that there is much better choices for that price than the 400.
 
Even at its longest length the cuff is a good 4 inches shorter than an ATP and the stock coil is heavier. If I had $350 to spend I would grab a LRP. Sweet soil the fixed ground balance is exceptable but in rough soil the sensitivity has to be ran very low and you loose most of your depth. The LRP will fly much better in those conditions. As I stated I feel that there is much better choices for that price than the 400.

"Better" being totally subjective of course. If you want to argue over a 1" difference in cuff length between the ATP and ACE400, knock yourself out.
 

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Theres a whole lot more to this Sport than simply the gear...."It aint the bow, its the Indian" kind of dynamic going on..If you like the 400, get the 400...

Theres a few guys here that we would all swear could find a Peace Dollar with a paper plate taped to the end of a broom handle! Not kidding in the slightest!...They could! Study them! See if you can Pattern it yourself!
 
Hello. Friends wanted to see if anyone has hunted with the Garretts Ace 400. I started withe the Ace 250 a few years back. Just wanted to see if anyone has any positive words on it. Thanks group.

I've used it. I can say it's positively better than the ACE350, with the VDI, but because it has the bell-tone, it's really not THAT big of a step up.

It's a capable machine, but you'll dig a lot more trash than a variable sound setup.

If you're looking at a beginner rig, though, you can't go wrong with the ACE400 to start with. Simple design, simple to operate and the VDI makes it fun (and adds to your ability to discern what is underground, over simple notch detection).

Expect to either love the hobby with it and want an upgrade rather quickly, or realize you just saved a couple hundred bucks because the hobby wasn't for you.

That being said, buy a used model, to save even more! Plenty of them out there from folks who started, and are upgrading within a year.

The higher frequency is a bit better for finding jewelry, but again, the belltone means you'll dig plenty more trash, too.

No matter what you choose. Have fun, and don't ever worry that you could have purchased "better" Most machines are plenty capable of finding "stuff" and the 400 is a nice coin magnet. It'll pay for itself with enough time in modern parks and schools.

Cheers,

Skippy
 
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Putting the new Garrett ACE 400i together was just like meeting an old friend. About 10 years ago, Garrett released the New ACE 150 & ACE 250 models. The new ACE Series at that time became an overnight success. It turned out to be one of the (if not the) best metal detectors sales of all time. It received cult status. It got nicknames the "Yeller Feller" and some converted it for water hunting, calling it the Aqua Ace." Most loved the new bright colored machine, as you could never ever really lose it. But some despised the color also. They went as far as to spray paint it a new color or cover it with camo tape

Well, fast forward it to 2016, and a new Garrett ACE Series has been released. The Top of the ACE line, the "Ace 400i" has even more improvements over it's earlier production models. The new ACE 400i now has cam-locks, a request many have made to Garrett and they listened. The front of the screen now has a large digital target ID, using numbers plus target probability numbers suggesting ferrous/non ferrous conductivity. Also new is the "iron Audio" feature, available only on higher, more expensive metal detectors. This helps eliminate junk targets by designating them with a distinguishable low tone in the iron range, which might be junk, depending on what type of targets you are searching for. To help eliminate EMI (electro-magnetic-interference) Garrett has given you the option of hunting with different frequencies. This will also allow you to hunt close to your buddy by elimination his metal detector interference. And....the coils off the older ACE's work fine on the new ACE Models. So hang on to your sniper coils!

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Garrett still has maintained the notching system, which is also available in the higher end AT Pro/AT Gold Series. This allows you to selectively remove junk targets so you won't hear the audio, or set it up to just hear one particular target. This comes in handy when searching for a lost earring. You can remove all notches except the one(s) sounding off on the remaining earring, then search with ease for the other earring. And......you do NOT lose more depth removing notches for unwanted targets like on other metal detectors with knobs to add discrimination, where as you advance the knob to remove further targets, where you do in fact lose depth.

To those considering the New ACE 200, 300 or 400, it is simple to use. It's well balanced and only weighs 2.9 lbs. (1.32 kg.). The length of the rod can be adjusted, depending on a persons height. It comes pre-programmed for your choices of coin mode, relic mode, jewelry mode, a custom mode (you create it, it saves it) or a setting with no discrimination so you can hear all targets. It is so simple to operate or sequence through the different programs. It operates on 4 x "AA" Batteries and readily excepts rechargeable batteries. I managed about 27 hours on the set of batteries which came with the metal detector.
To maintain a high degree of reliability with consistent results, I used the unit for 10 hunts. Anyone can go to a site not previously hunted before with any detector and do well. I chose to put on about 50 hours on it, so as I can properly learn it, and learn it's strengths and weaknesses.

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Here are the results of my 10 hunts. This machine is a Super coin magnet! I started hunting in relics mode, hunting a lot of schools and sports fields. As I learned where my (Canadian) coins were reading with the VDI, I began to remove some notches. I pretty well ended up using the coins mode, as it also maintains notches where most (but not all) gold rings will read. I used my old concentric 9" x 12" coil from my old ACE 250 mostly. Bottles caps often read as good copper/silver coins, so using the iron audio can help to eliminated them. I discovered that deeper bottle caps read higher compared to more shallow ones. So......bottle caps and aluminum pull tabs remain the "Curse" for metal detector users. The square pull tabs often tend to give a strong double beep, whereas nickels have a softer single beep sound. It got so I could guess a nickel would pop up with a good probability. Hey....these things happen when the hours accumulate on a detector. One thing for sure....the ace BANGS hard on coins. Because the weak signals on the ACE are amplified so you can easily hear them, (unlike the modulated volume on the AT Series) hunting without headphones becomes easy in a quiet environment. Wireless headsets not required!

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I did manage to dig up 4 rings during my hunts. You can't miss them. They hit hard! The older ACE models were very good for hitting rings, including gold ones. I didn't find any gold rings, however, I did get a solid gold football charm in a sports field! That was a first!

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Here are some pieces of jewelry I dug up. If the jewelry is there, the ACE will find it no doubt.

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My last 3 hours metal detecting were done in a freshwater lake. Because only the coil is water proof, I hunted just the beginnings of the freshwater lake. I notched out nearly everything except where gold rings might show up. That left only 4, sometimes 5 notches left on the screen. I had built up my confidence with this machine that any old silver coins/rings or older copper coins would easily be hit on. I got pennies in the 40's on up, but no rings today.

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My thoughts.......A great detector for coin/jewelry hunting. It also performs well hunting relics. It has too much power! I could not hunt with full sensitivity....a first for me. All my other detectors could operate with full sensitivity in the woods, but not the new ACE! It bangs hard on targets....even very tiny ones. This machine would do well on the beaches dry sand or shallow fresh water searching for micro jewelry. When hunting in shallow water, PLEASE remember to tether the machine so it can not accidentally fall in the water if you drop it.

The depth indicator id fairly accurate with coin sized targets. I did pull out an old tag at bout 8 inches. It performs well for depth in my soil. I wish I could try it on a wet salted beach in/out of the water, but the nearest beach is 14 hours away. I hunted an afternoon without using any headsets, and I could easily hear the audio and distinguish the soft signals from the loud double beeps. I didn't like detecting with the iron audio left on, rather, I used it to help identify a target. Running the iron audio on all the time and getting a good audio on a target added confusion as to dig or not. A little trick I learned was that trying to pinpoint a large target is very difficult. Pop cans were easy to ID because of this. This allowed me to just move on to a better target saving time.

It is an excellent entry level detector, with lots of bells & whistles seen on many higher priced detector. It's simple to use, easy to learn, and depending on your goals for metal detecting, may be the only machine you might ever need, yet, you can easily move up to a more elaborate expensive model in the Garrett line. For a metal detectorist with over 20 years of experience, the ACE 400 is an excellent machine for coin and jewelry hunting! And......it will not sit in the closet collecting dust. Every metal detector I own has it's strengths in certain niches.

Some Actual Field Hunt Videos To Compiment The Garrett ACE 400i

ACE 400i Water Hunt https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8npfSWLvnlI
How To Increase Your Finds https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DoLvboex7sM
ACE 400i Relic Hunt https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aNAA8PcJssA
 
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