Sphelt
Senior Member
Well, after much reading these forums, soul-searching and penny counting I finally decided to go with a Ace 250. I decided to give the hobby a good try before spending a ton, and I figure if this is something I really enjoy the ACE 250 would be an excellent back-up to a future upgraded machine. It arrived today!! 
I have read on many posts about the Ace 250 that folks seem to have trouble pinpointing. :!: I decided to create a pinpoint trainer to use. I found a piece of 3/4 inch particleboard roughly 2'x2' square and drilled a tiny hole dead center in it. On one side I used a sharpie and drew a highly visible black dot around the tiny hole. on the other side I taped a quarter directly on the tiny hole (the hole is make sure the quarter is directly under the black dot. After I assembled the detector, did some air test and read the manual I placed the trainer, quarter side down, and proceeded to practice pinpointing with the quarter. I observed where the dot was under the coil when the readings were the highest on the meter while making the "X". After a couple of minutes of practice I felt that I had a pretty good idea where the hot spot under the coil is. (I found that for practicing turning down the sensitivity to one bar really helped)
Now I live in NE Ohio in the snow belt and we have ~3 in of snow right now...but I had to try it. Walked out into my backyard and started to swing, maybe two swings and I had a hit! decided to try my pinpointing skill out and cut a 3-4 in plug in the sod. the meter said the coin was down 6-8 inches so I started to dig. so I dug 6-8 inches! First lesson, check you spoils pile often!
By the time I checked with the Ace again the hit was in the spoils pile not the hole. After squishing much mud I found a 1975 penny, my first find. Not old or valuable, but it made me happy.
By this time my hands were covered in mud and freezing so I decided that the test was a success and went back inside to admire my new riches.
Think I will buy a pinpointer soon.
I have read on many posts about the Ace 250 that folks seem to have trouble pinpointing. :!: I decided to create a pinpoint trainer to use. I found a piece of 3/4 inch particleboard roughly 2'x2' square and drilled a tiny hole dead center in it. On one side I used a sharpie and drew a highly visible black dot around the tiny hole. on the other side I taped a quarter directly on the tiny hole (the hole is make sure the quarter is directly under the black dot. After I assembled the detector, did some air test and read the manual I placed the trainer, quarter side down, and proceeded to practice pinpointing with the quarter. I observed where the dot was under the coil when the readings were the highest on the meter while making the "X". After a couple of minutes of practice I felt that I had a pretty good idea where the hot spot under the coil is. (I found that for practicing turning down the sensitivity to one bar really helped)
Now I live in NE Ohio in the snow belt and we have ~3 in of snow right now...but I had to try it. Walked out into my backyard and started to swing, maybe two swings and I had a hit! decided to try my pinpointing skill out and cut a 3-4 in plug in the sod. the meter said the coin was down 6-8 inches so I started to dig. so I dug 6-8 inches! First lesson, check you spoils pile often!
By the time I checked with the Ace again the hit was in the spoils pile not the hole. After squishing much mud I found a 1975 penny, my first find. Not old or valuable, but it made me happy.By this time my hands were covered in mud and freezing so I decided that the test was a success and went back inside to admire my new riches.
Think I will buy a pinpointer soon.
