What do you think about ACE 250?
I'm an absolute beginner so I was searching
for a cheap, easy-to-use (but with good performance) md.
Thanks in advance

Krusty senior uses one and swears by it! Very light to use, depth is good 
for the price, enough info on the screen to give you an idea what you're 
digging for and easy to interpret. If any disagrees with this I shall insist 
the old man reburies his Roman and hammered silver!! Seriously, a great 
starter detector....

As a footnote, anyone tried one of the larger coils available for this 
machine? We'd be interested to know if there's any benficial increase to te 
already good performance...

I am also new to this hobby, and like you, did not really know what metal
detector to start with. However, I did a lot of research with all the brands
that I could find, including Bounty Hunter, Detector Pro, Fisher, Hays,
Minelab, Whites, Tesoro, Garrett, etc., on-line and through others who knew
far more than myself. I wanted good detector, but did not need or want the
top of the line at this point. I am a novice and beginner, so needed a
detector that would fit my needs, yet without costing an arm and leg.

I know there may be others on this newsgroup who will disagree, and I also
noticed this newsgroups seems to be in the UK, so that may make a difference
as well. However, I purchased a new Garrett Ace 250 Metal Detector.

It works great, does everything I need or want - plus far more, and was
under $250. However, 95% of my detecting will be on the beach, with maybe 5%
up in the lower Southern California mountains looking for gold. This
particular detector is Garrett's most popular detector, and the new Ace 250
metal detector has won much praise amounts metal detectorists not only for
its aggressive good looks, but also for the technology used in theses new
machines. From custom notch discrimination, pinpointing, adjustable
sensitivity and depth settings to the newest addition of the PROformance
coils series, the 6.5x9" Ace coil.

Since the Garrett Ace 250 has interchangeable coils, I did get the bigger 
9x12" coil as well. However, since I am still field testing the marching 
itself, I haven't even tried this bigger coil yet.

I hope this helps.
John Sisker
jsisker@sprynet.com
(714) 536-3850
"Krusty"  wrote in message 
news:GbMKf.58606$mf2.20648@newsfe6-win.ntli.net...
> Krusty senior uses one and swears by it! Very light to use, depth is good 
> for the price, enough info on the screen to give you an idea what you're 
> digging for and easy to interpret. If any disagrees with this I shall 
> insist the old man reburies his Roman and hammered silver!! Seriously, a 
> great starter detector....
>
> As a footnote, anyone tried one of the larger coils available for this 
> machine? We'd be interested to know if there's any benficial increase to 
> te already good performance...
>