New Garrett Ace 350

[ohiochris]

I think its probably not smart to buy one right away. Companies that make everything from electronics to swiss cheese have in the past been in such a hurry to produce their latest model that they forgot to make it better than what they already have on the market , making all sorts of claims. Best possible scenerio.......its a great detector and even though its really not much of a step up from the 250 it still is better at some things , worst possible scenerio.......... because of their tweaking of an existing model and rush to produce something new yet affordable , you wind up with something that is even less functional ( in the field ) than the 250 , with a whole new set of annoyances added to the existing ones with the 250 , you wish you would have saved the extra $100 , and you cant even sell the detector to make some of the cost back since after all the hype was over nobody wanted them.
It may be a great detector , I dont know , but it makes sense to wait and see actual reports from real people using them in the field before laying down the extra money for one

[SkiWhiz]

Originally Posted by ohiochris

I think its probably not smart to buy one right away. Companies that make everything from electronics to swiss cheese have in the past been in such a hurry to produce their latest model that they forgot to make it better than what they already have on the market , making all sorts of claims. Best possible scenerio.......its a great detector and even though its really not much of a step up from the 250 it still is better at some things , worst possible scenerio.......... because of their tweaking of an existing model and rush to produce something new yet affordable , you wind up with something that is even less functional ( in the field ) than the 250 , with a whole new set of annoyances added to the existing ones with the 250 , you wish you would have saved the extra $100 , and you cant even sell the detector to make some of the cost back since after all the hype was over nobody wanted them.
It may be a great detector , I dont know , but it makes sense to wait and see actual reports from real people using them in the field before laying down the extra money for one

Very good post & makes alot of sense but my take on it is - even if the 350 isn't that great people will still buy them. When you weigh out everything the 250 isn't great its ok but people bought these things up like wild fire and are still buying them.

[Dflan83]

What I'm trying to figure out is if the ace 350 is going to ship in october or in mid september. I really want to start detecting but if it's going to be october before shopping I will get the 250 instead

[hawkinlugies]

Bout time they came out with something new! But how new is it really? Only thing I see as being different from the 250 is the coil. The face on the box looks really similar, everything Fogcity listed from the email from Garrett was very generic, they could have been describing the 250 for all I know.
The features listed on the the link provided, didn't really brag about any new features in particular. No new fancy gizmo that'll find wabulator valaves better than the next detector, so it probably uses the same identical innards as the 250. I was a little dissapointed with the advertisement (Someone at Garett dropped the ball there) as I didn't feel any "Wow factor" making me think I have to go out and buy one right now. Yes I agree with those that mentioned to not buy right away. I know how things work, production pushing Eng. departments to get things done quicly, get stuff into production as quickly as possibe (Forget about testing it first)
I'll be holding off on the 350, till some reports start showing up.

[sandtrout]

now could this mean that people will rush out to buy and try the 350 and there might be a bunch of Ace 250's that could be had for a pittance? Sounds like it might be a great way to break into the hobby!

[SkiWhiz]

Originally Posted by sandtrout;58106[RIGHT

8]now could this mean that people will rush out to buy and try the 350 and there might be a bunch of Ace 250's that could be had for a pittance[/RIGHT]? Sounds like it might be a great way to break into the hobby!

Quote- people will rush out to buy and try the 350 and there might be a bunch of Ace 250's that could be had for a pittance - I am thinking the same thing.

[Silversmith45]

I never buy anything when first released. It takes a while for them to discover thngs that need changed.

[ohiochris]

Originally Posted by sandtrout

now could this mean that people will rush out to buy and try the 350 and there might be a bunch of Ace 250's that could be had for a pittance? Sounds like it might be a great way to break into the hobby!

The vibe I am getting from reading about the 350 on other websites is that there really is a large number of gullable characters out there wanting to sell their 250 so they can get a 350. Seems like a lateral move to me and not much of an upgrade , but there ya go....may be plenty of used 250's on the market. I use and like the 250 , not that its such an awesome detector but for its price it really is a decent machine. The best possible upgrade from one though is not to another almost identical machine , this just makes no sense no matter how you look at it. If you have outgrown your ace 250 , the next best choice is to move up the scale and go with a mid to upper level detector. Thats why I am calling these people " gullable " , not as a personal insult.

[FL-Hunter]

For those interested parties, I have spoken to one of the knowledgeable techs at Garrett today about the Ace 350.

The electronics in the 350 are completely different than the Ace 150/250. It is more sensitive and is able to pickup deeper than the same coil put on the Ace 250.

The coil will NOT give you any greater horizontal footprint than the Ace 250 however it will give you greater depth. If you encounter multiple targets within the coils footprint, the ACE 350 will be able to differentiate the multiple targets better than the Ace 250 did as the 350 slices up the ground into vertical sections and mostly detects straight down more than to its sides so its detection beam pattern is a bit more narrow than the Ace 150/250 which is better for people wanting to go deeper.

The housing for the electronics is very similar to the 250 and weighs approx 1-2oz more than the Ace 250. The 350 will use the same sniper coil as the 250 so that is interchangeable and it uses the same 4 'AA' batteries.

You will be able to use the 350 in wet sand at the beach and not be subject to the salt mineralization as the 250 had problems with this. The 250 can detect up to about 3" in the saltwater wet sand when you decrease the sensitivity while the 350 should be able to go 8" or more without have to decrease the sensitivity.

My personal opinion here: Don't buy the Ace 350 if you want it specifically to hunt salt water wet sand. In my opinion, I don't feel that this would be a good unit for this, although I feel you will get very acceptable results from what the tech had told me. Again, this is just my opinion and not based on any tests, data or factual information. Just basing my opinion on what I know about other detectors and what their claims were in that price range. Let's face it, there is no BEST detector out there, only what is best for the job you will be using it for. If your hunting beaches only, you will want one optimized for that, if your under water, you will want one for that, if your hunting mineralized soil, you will want one for that, hunting gold, you will want one specifically for prospecting etc.

All in all, the 350 seems to be a promising machine to replace the 250, however I don't think I would throw away my 250 to get a 350. I don't see enough enhancements to make me go out and buy it just to have the latest and greatest. I think if your trying to cut some costs, you would be better staying with a 250 and leave the extra $100 for some accessories like a scoop or digging tool etc. If money is no object that's another story, but then again, if that were the case, you would be buying something for over a grand right?

Hope this tells you a little more about the Ace 350.

If I decide to get one, I will give a review, but for now, my 250 works awesome!

[bobbiemallon]

The garrett git1500 is king

[SkiWhiz]

Originally Posted by FL-Hunter

For those interested parties, I have spoken to one of the knowledgeable techs at Garrett today about the Ace 350.

The electronics in the 350 are completely different than the Ace 150/250. It is more sensitive and is able to pickup deeper than the same coil put on the Ace 250.

The coil will NOT give you any greater horizontal footprint than the Ace 250 however it will give you greater depth. If you encounter multiple targets within the coils footprint, the ACE 350 will be able to differentiate the multiple targets better than the Ace 250 did as the 350 slices up the ground into vertical sections and mostly detects straight down more than to its sides so its detection beam pattern is a bit more narrow than the Ace 150/250 which is better for people wanting to go deeper.

The housing for the electronics is very similar to the 250 and weighs approx 1-2oz more than the Ace 250. The 350 will use the same sniper coil as the 250 so that is interchangeable and it uses the same 4 'AA' batteries.

You will be able to use the 350 in wet sand at the beach and not be subject to the salt mineralization as the 250 had problems with this. The 250 can detect up to about 3" in the saltwater wet sand when you decrease the sensitivity while the 350 should be able to go 8" or more without have to decrease the sensitivity.

My personal opinion here: Don't buy the Ace 350 if you want it specifically to hunt salt water wet sand. In my opinion, I don't feel that this would be a good unit for this, although I feel you will get very acceptable results from what the tech had told me. Again, this is just my opinion and not based on any tests, data or factual information. Just basing my opinion on what I know about other detectors and what their claims were in that price range. Let's face it, there is no BEST detector out there, only what is best for the job you will be using it for. If your hunting beaches only, you will want one optimized for that, if your under water, you will want one for that, if your hunting mineralized soil, you will want one for that, hunting gold, you will want one specifically for prospecting etc.

All in all, the 350 seems to be a promising machine to replace the 250, however I don't think I would throw away my 250 to get a 350. I don't see enough enhancements to make me go out and buy it just to have the latest and greatest. I think if your trying to cut some costs, you would be better staying with a 250 and leave the extra $100 for some accessories like a scoop or digging tool etc. If money is no object that's another story, but then again, if that were the case, you would be buying something for over a grand right?

Hope this tells you a little more about the Ace 350.

If I decide to get one, I will give a review, but for now, my 250 works awesome!

Quote - The 350 will use the same sniper coil as the 250 so that is interchangeable I wonder how this can be when the 250 and the 350 operate at different frequencies .

[FL-Hunter]

Originally Posted by SkiWhiz

Quote - The 350 will use the same sniper coil as the 250 so that is interchangeable I wonder how this can be when the 250 and the 350 operate at different frequencies .

That is directly from Garrett. They are interchangeable.

[baoluo]

An interesting thread here about the Ace350. For a newbie like myself who doesn't have either one yet, would it be better to enter with the ACE 350? After all, I'm not in a position where I have to sell an ACE 250 or anything to upgrade, just whether it would be good to enter the market with the 'latest and greatest'. Any feelings on this?

[FL-Hunter]

Originally Posted by baoluo

An interesting thread here about the Ace350. For a newbie like myself who doesn't have either one yet, would it be better to enter with the ACE 350? After all, I'm not in a position where I have to sell an ACE 250 or anything to upgrade, just whether it would be good to enter the market with the 'latest and greatest'. Any feelings on this?

If I were getting my 1st detector right now, I would take into considering the amount of money I had to spend total first. Are you buying one of those nice Lesche digging tools, a hand scoop or a long handle scoop, a pin pointer etc. Think about all that. If you have enough money for all that and the Ace 350, I would go for the 350. If you don't have enough, you can get the Ace 250 and still be getting a darn good detector.

The 350 is not replacing the Ace, they are just adding another model in the mix between the 250 and the 550. The 350 if it does not have any bugs in it and does everything it claims it will and does it well, I would think would be a good choice. Do you want to be the product tester or would you rather wait for the first round of people and see if there are any issues and then wait for them to be fixed before you buy one? That is really the main question you should be asking yourself. If I were in your shoes, I may take the plunge and go with the Ace 350 after talking to Garrett tech department on this. Previously my answer was I would rather wait and let the product be tested by the public first.

Good luck and let us all know about your purchase after you start using it. Availability for the Ace 350 is expecting to be mid to late September, but don't be surprised if it's October (my opinion here).

Hope this helps.

[baoluo]

Good advice FL-Hunter. Only time can answer this one for me I think. No, I don't really want to be a tester for this one. I think I need to wait for some feedback on the Ace350 and then make up my mind. It's a bit of a conflict between the heart and the head! Hopefully things will run smooth for it; sounds like they are testing it out big time and I guess they would want to. They wouldn't want hundreds coming back into the workshop for repairs. I wonder if there were any issues for the 150 or 250, where they had recalls?

[FL-Hunter]

Originally Posted by baoluo

Good advice FL-Hunter. Only time can answer this one for me I think. No, I don't really want to be a tester for this one. I think I need to wait for some feedback on the Ace350 and then make up my mind. It's a bit of a conflict between the heart and the head! Hopefully things will run smooth for it; sounds like they are testing it out big time and I guess they would want to. They wouldn't want hundreds coming back into the workshop for repairs. I wonder if there were any issues for the 150 or 250, where they had recalls?

As far as I know, there were no issues with the Ace 150 or 250. I'm sure they had some internal refinements over the years but if so, they were not publicized that I can find. My best guess is that the Ace 350 will be a rock solid detector without any issues, but with new design etc. you never know. A company can test a product internally all it wants to, but the real test is having tens of thousands of different people using their detector all over the world and seeing what happens in the real world. Lab tests are one thing, and they are a great start, but the real world is the real test and that's the only one that matters.

I used to be a beta tester for software and was tired of those issues, then I was a beta tester for various different products for many manufactures. That was always nice because they let me keep the product in most cases when I was done. You would not believe all the products that had issues, at least with me. Many of them never made it to production, others were produced with little or no changes even though there were issues in my book. Garrett is a rock solid company and I'm going to guess that they will have a really great product. I'm a buyer for the 350 but probably not for a few more months at the earliest. I'm going to upgrade my sons 150 to a 350 and still keep my 250. I figure the economic loss on the 250 is not worth the few upgrades to get another 350. I will let the little treasure hunter use the 250 everywhere and the 350 in the wet sand at the beach. For me, I'm still an Excal II guy in the Surf.

[RWJR13]

Garrett has several local testers here in Texas......Several of our club are former or current employees.......Of course the world wide test will come....

[SkiWhiz]

I don't think that Garrett would release a detector that wasn't tested 1st. and had the bugs out. The only thing that I would worry about is the belltone sounds it makes (I am guessing that the 350 uses the same belltone as the 250) and this is enough to keep me from owning one. Some people like the belltone and some don't, just something to be aware of. Steve.

[FL-Hunter]

Originally Posted by SkiWhiz

I don't think that Garrett would release a detector that wasn't tested 1st. and had the bugs out. The only thing that I would worry about is the belltone sounds it makes (I am guessing that the 350 uses the same belltone as the 250) and this is enough to keep me from owning one. Some people like the belltone and some don't, just something to be aware of. Steve.

It has nothing to do with testing first, all manufactures test their stuff before its released, but the real true test is when the masses test it and use it in different areas, under different conditions with different levels of handling. Some people are rougher on equipment than others etc. Of course Garrett tested their equipment before they release it, but there is only so much you can test and for only a certain time frame under laboratory conditions etc. That's all I'm saying.

[SkiWhiz]

Originally Posted by FL-Hunter

It has nothing to do with testing first, all manufactures test their stuff before its released, but the real true test is when the masses test it and use it in different areas, under different conditions with different levels of handling. Some people are rougher on equipment than others etc. Of course Garrett tested their equipment before they release it, but there is only so much you can test and for only a certain time frame under laboratory conditions etc. That's all I'm saying.

Got ya & you are correct. Thanks.