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Went out for the first time with my detector today. Took a trip down the beach and although I did not find anything of particular interest (fishing weights and ring pulls), i really enjoyed the time I spent on the beach.

Unfortunatly my detector was bought for me as a birthday present and it is not great at all. The comments in the forum suggesting 'you get what you pay for' sound like it could be true.

My wife bought me the Precision Gold from Maplin for £90, She had read that it was an OK machine for a beginner.

I have found it very vague when using it in Discrimination mode. The sensitivity appears to be a bit hit and miss. The depth meter is a bit misleading and pinpointing was very difficult and not very accurate.

I know that being a beginner, I may still need to get used to the settings and detecting itself.

It has not disheatened me and I have definatly got the bug and will be out again with it tomorrow trying to learn and discover more, The anticipation of what may be under the ground is such a buzz,

I would like to get a better detector, something that is a lot more accurate and definate in what it is detecting. I have around £250 and I have been looking at the Garret Ace 250. Second hand I think that I should be able to get one of these with a few accessories and be well within budget.

Hopefully I may be more succesful tomorrow, but if anybody started out with an ACE 250 or use one now, I would like you views.

ZeD

It depends where you were detecting on the beach. Wet black sand can play havoc with most detetcors
so a Maplins special could well struggle.

The Ace 250 will also struggle somewhat on wet sand. It's all to do with ground balance, a function which
is adjustable on more expensive machines.

Many of the cheaper machines have fixed ground balance......so this may be your problem.

Good Luck!  :)

Hi zedex and welcome to Detecting Wales.

Cant help with advise on 250 but I'm sure some one will help. I have a Whites M6 which is a pretty good all rounder with beach setting as well as sensitivity, discrimination and ground balance.

Theres a lot to take into account when choosing a new machine so be patient and take on board what the others say, then make up your mind. In the mean time get in some practice and happy hunting.

Val

Hi mate, personnally i will get a ace 250 its a good machine start the hobbie this time last year i was using the ace 250 and i had some very interesting finds gold , silver and more  but to be honest its not  the best machine to use on wet sand i did struggle with it but if you plan to go on farms or dry soil its a very interesting detector and easy to use  i will defenet recommend the ace 250 and beleive or not i still got mine at home, even using a minelab explorer xs i still enjoy the garrett ace 250 very much . Hope this can help as a feedback and feel free to ask any questions and will try to help Zed if i can.  ;D.Good luck . Nap.

Both myself and Faymous have got 250's, they are incredible machines for the money. Faye has had 2 silver rings off the wet sand and we have both found stacks of coins and artifacts on land.......it is very simple to use and is pretty much a switch on and go machine.!!! try and get the larger coil with it if you can as this gives you a bit extra depth.
if you need any help when u get one then let me know!! good luck !!

Hi Zedex, Don't get disheartened with your first outing, all of us dig ring pulls and all of us will dig large chunks of iron regardless of the cost of our machines, in fact if we aren't then we have our discrimination up to high and will miss some of the good stuff.
So keep going and remember "you have to walk over it to find it".
Good luck tomorrow

Hi. Thanks for the replies.. Will have a good think before i do anything

whereabouts are you?????

Dont worry matey, I was out today in freshwater east in pembrokeshire. I found lots of foil and ring pulls and a short piece of an aluminium strap. And thats with an etrac. I packed it in when I couldnt move on the beach without walking over someones towel.

Give yourself a chance and get a good pinpointer like a garret. It will save you a lot of searching in mud and sand.

When it comes time to change your machine, I would get onto some rallies when they are going and try other peoples machines. You will find that most fellow ralliers are helpful and will advise you what their machines are good at and what problems you can expect.

I started with a non motion machine, a CScope 1220xd. Cost £360 a year and a half ago, and I still have it as a spare in case the etrac cant handle the beach signals. It was a good machine to start on but when I graduated to a motion machine there was a steep learning curve to get over. When the etrac is in all metal mode and pinpointing it becomes a non motion machine.

Non motion just means you get a stronger signal when you hover over the target, motion machines need to be moving to receive a signal back from the target. Just think of the CScope as an enormous pinpointer and you will get the picture.

Eric