How important is a depth gauge to you? (Ace250 vs Prizm II)

Bruce_B

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Jul 29, 2007
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I've been thinking about getting an Ace250 but I'm also looking at the White's Prizm II. The Prizm II doesn't have notching or a depth reading though. I don't think I would use the notching anyway but I'm not sure about the depth gauge. How much do you Ace250 users look at the depth reading? I'm leaning toward the Prizm because I think it has better pinpointing and you can leave it in pinpoint mode without holding the button down. The Prizm III does have a depth reading but it's $100 more and I'd probably go with the Ace250 if I had to have depth.
 
I think you would be happy with either the Ace 250 or the Prizm II. And you are right the Prizm has "dead on" pinpointing. I have had both units and I find them equal in performance. I now have a Fisher F4 and it has the depth reading and is very accurate. But with me it doesn't matter, if it says a coin at 2 inches or 6 inches I am going to dig it. So the depth gauge isn't that important of a feature to me, but it is nice to have. Steve.
 
I can't help you with the Prizms, but I don't believe you would be disappointed with the ACE. Depth reading is pretty accurate (no depth indicator in any detector is 100% all of the time). My preference is to have it, but there are others that don't. For someone just beginning, I think a depth reading is a plus, for experienced MDer's it's not as critical. So the choice is yours. Pinpointing with the ACE takes a bit of practice, but there are a couple of threads here in the forum that help with it.
 
I keep going back and forth. I decided to get the Ace, then I decided no, I'll get the Prizm. Maybe I should flip a coin :lol: If only the Ace had the pinpointing of the Prizm :roll:
 
I think I know what the deal is Bruce, you really do want to get the Ace but are alittle bit skeptical about the pinpointing. Well this is what to do: Order the Ace and get it over with. It is "not" hard to pinpoint with the Ace. Each one has a different sweet spot on the coil (area where it pinpoints) mine was not in the exact middle of the coil it was alittle bit above the middle (center). After you get the Ace throw some coins on top of the ground and practice pinpointing them. You will then find the spot where your Ace pinpoints and won't have a problem once you find out where that spot is pinpointing buried coins,jewelry,etc. Don't let any post scare you off from purchasing the Ace because of the pinpointing. It will make you a very good detector & you will be happy with it. If not they hold their value very well and you can sell it for almost as much as you paid for it. Now go and order that ACE!!! Steve.

P.S. I have had several detectors over the years and once I found the spot on the coil where the Ace pinpoints, it pinpoints as good as any of them.
 
I think you're right Ski, I'll probably get the Ace. If all it takes is a little testing to find the pinpoint spot then that doesn't sound bad.
 
Hi
I have actually found the depth guage quite handy. The other day I went to the local school tot lot and forgot my darn digger. As I was too far to justify the drive home to get it, I found a sturdy stick and decided to just scratch around for the shallow targets with the stick. Well it worked a treat, I was unearthing plenty of coins just below the surface.
It seems there are plenty of goodies for me to dig next time i'm there which will be tomorrow afternoon when the kids go home from school...;)

steve from NZ
 
The ace is easy to pinpoint just takes a little of pratice. The ace will do you a great job
 
A new Ace250 user's opinion...

I bought an Ace 250 a couple of weeks ago and my impressions are as follows: The build quality is fantastic. It is dam easy to use. I had a find in my garden within a few minutes of using it for the first time. I have been using it each weekend on the beaches local to me and I have concluded that if there is something to be found the Ace 250 will find it.

I have been using it on wet sand and it has performed better than I thought, after reading various reports. I have had the odd false signal in wet sand but I feel confident with it.

Pin pointing has been reported as an art form, I disagree it works for me every time. Practice on a few small coins at home before taking it out.

I am amazed at the battery life. I have been using it for quite a few hours now and the battery monitor hasn't moved yet!

Gripes: I bought a coil cover. It doesn't have the same hollow contruction as the coil, just on hole in the middle, hence it does tend to fill up with sand.

I would be interested to know what other members think of coil covers - do you use them or not?

In conclusion I feel that the money which I spent on my Ace 250 was well worth it, although I haven't used other detectors I can't imagine that there is an easier machine to use.


Regards... wOoLiE.
 

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Well, with all this and all the reviews and other posts about the ACE 250, I don't see how I could not buy one ;)

I'm sure the Prizm is a nice one too but the Ace just has too many more features. I also noticed there is a smaller coil available for the ACE and they don't have one for the Prizm.

I hate to buy another "entry level" machine but the Ace looks so much better than my 10 year old Bounty Hunter and I don't want to spend more than that right now. So I'm going to get an ACE 250 and start saving for a surf PI machine.

Thanks for the advice all.

Cheers,

Bruce
 
Bruce,
I made the mistake of picking out the detector I wanted before I started reading the forums. The Ace 250 was my first choice but a used BH Quick Draw II won out because it was half the price. Now that I've been reading the forums for a couple of weeks I'm sort of kicking myself because I didn't get the 250. Overall the 250 is probably the most popular and most talked about machine around. Based on that, and the fact that there are few used ones for sale on eBay, I will not hesitate to make it my next detector.
 
My only problem with pinpointing was in the beginning when I was hunting in an area with lots of iron. When you pinpoint, you're in all-metal and the junk makes it hard. Otherwise the pinpoint is right on. It's especially nice when you get that real sharp pinpoint signal, which tells you the target is coin sized.
Woolie, I use a coil cover on the Ace, but it must be different from yours, because it fits the coil exactly (like a glove). I've only had to take it off a couple times to clean out dirt. Some use silicone goop to seal the cover on, but I haven't. I bought mine from Tony at TC.
On depth, the Ace manual tells you to sweep 1 to 2 inches above the ground, and the depth reading must be calibrated for that distance. I sweep right on the surface (if possible), and the depth reading is usually a little higher than the target turns out to be.
 
Garrett coil cover Garrett G69CC

Woolie, I use a coil cover on the Ace, but it must be different from yours, because it fits the coil exactly (like a glove). I've only had to take it off a couple times to clean out dirt. Some use silicone goop to seal the cover on, but I haven't. I bought mine from Tony at TC.

The coil cover which I have is the: G69CC. The coil supplied with my Ace 250 is the Garrett 9" x 6" Coil.
G69CC.jpg


Description: 6.5" x 9 inch coil cover for the Garrett Ace range of metal detectors, Ace 150 & Ace 250

As can be seen it turns the coil into a sand/muck trap. :(
 
Bruce,
I made the mistake of picking out the detector I wanted before I started reading the forums. The Ace 250 was my first choice but a used BH Quick Draw II won out because it was half the price. Now that I've been reading the forums for a couple of weeks I'm sort of kicking myself because I didn't get the 250. Overall the 250 is probably the most popular and most talked about machine around. Based on that, and the fact that there are few used ones for sale on eBay, I will not hesitate to make it my next detector.

I have a Quick Draw II but it's an old style with the flat control box. I think the newer ones have more features. It's not a bad machine but mine doesn't have pinpointing or notching. I plan to keep it around for a backup/loaner. In fact, it's on loan right now and I'll probably have the Ace before I get it back. :roll:
 
Don't trust depth readings

Metal detectors are easily fooled. Don't trust or rely on depth readouts. Small targets near the surface can look just like large, deep targets to a detector. The detector's operating frequency will be a determining factor in how deep it can detect. Typically, lower frequency machines will go deepest, but a LOT depends on the quality of the machine's components. The trade-off is that lower frequency machines will not be able to find very small (less than coin-sized) targets, and usually don't do quite as well in iron-infested areas as higher frequency machines. Hope this helps.
 
A different view

Contrary to bdoubleds post, I have found on four different machines I've had through the years the depth "gauges" to be pretty accurate. None of them are 100%, 100% of the time, but accurate enough that they can be depended upon. This is on a Garrett,s GTI 2000, GTI 2500, ACE 250 and now the Whites DFX. All of them were very close most of the time. Large iron and Soda/Beer cans can fool them at times, but in my experience, they are usually pretty close.
 
I agree with FXDiz, they're pretty accurate and the very large targets fool them occasionally. I'd hate to start digging and not have a clue how far I was going.
 
I find that depth indicators come in handy when you're digging dirt.

Convenient, but not necessary if you know how deep your detector detects.

Most detectors won't go more than 6 inches, so if you get a target and start digging then you can check the hole after 1 scoop, 2 scoops, etc, till you get the target out of the hole. Most targets are right beneath the sod.

Once you have experience with your detector, you can tell how deep the target is from the target signal.
 
The depth reading to me is just another tool that I factor in in a variety of situations, I personally would not want to do without it.
Especially for solitary coin shooting [or any small metal object, like a gold ring], the depth reading is very useful.
The ability to notch is likewise a very useful function at times, don't sell yourself short. In various situations at various places in a variety of conditions you will make use of everything a machine offers, and then some.
If you don't, you are not getting your moneys worth, and are limiting your options and chances of succes.
 
Yeah, SkiWhiz hit it dead on. I was trying to talk myself out of the ACE 250 because I was worried about some things I've read about the pinpointing. I really do want a depth gauge and notching though. I'm sure I'll be happy with the ACE and I'll get the pinpointing figured out. I did okay with my Bounty Hunter and it didn't even have pinpointing. :roll:
 
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