Another Infinium beach hunt!

Yeah, silver is using the pinpoint button, really needs to be fitted with a proper switch vs a momentary button, but if it had true all-metal, it should also have a threshold control (like on the Vaquero).

I usually run in jewellery mode, sure I will pickup foil and pull tabs, but will also pickup on any gold jewellery as well. Anyway, went down to the beach with the missus today, she only managed 30c and a lot of rubbish, but I managed to pick up a few different items for a change. Found a nice Shimano filleting knife which should clean up ok, a Nokia smartphone which had gone for a fatal swim, a dog choker chain, charles kingsford smith $1, and a silver jubilee 50c coin, amongst other crusty looking decimal coins.

My bin is getting rather full of rubbish I pick up from the beach, should send it to the council to show what service we detectorists do for the community!

We've brought drowned phones (saltwater) back to life by(very carefully) cleaning them in methylated spirits, I take the battery out first and clean it separately, then use the Metho to drench the phone and wash all the salt out of it(no smoking or flames with this), any stuck sand I remove with a safety pin. Let it all dry out thoroughly and only then replace the battery. Then put it on charge and see how it goes.
I returned a high quality phone that went through the floods(freshwater) and was a couple of inches under the ground for six months. Fired it up and contacted the owner.
And a salt water find that people had written of as lost, just the next day. Maybe worth a try(makes people happy to get their stuff back).

silver said:

Never say shouldn't Nugget,https://www.prospectingaustralia.com/forum/img/member-images/1953/1393981604_sam_0981.jpg that's just the good crap from last years speed scans !!!
At least you never said cant(ha-ha).

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I don't know what you mean by speed scans. It puzzles me how using the detector incorrectly can be quicker? PinPoint mode is not a search mode :/

Are you able to explain your reasoning behind doing it this way?

Not having a stab or anything, just trying to understand exactly what you're doing.

I think the reasoning behind it is due to the unreliability of relying on detector discrimination alone to decide whether to dig or not. As with most discriminating detectors, they go by the conductivity of a target to decide what to class it as, leading you to possibly discounting targets as junk, just because the detector tells you so. When you detect a target at a greater depth than what the machine is capable of accurately discriminating on, you use the pinpoint mode similar to an all-metal mode with a threshold, hence he able to get a clearer signal to judge what the item is. It's not intended for that purpose on the Ace 250, but you still can do it regardless.

Similarly with TDI numbers, they are great to a point, but hit a target deeper or at a different orientation than what the detector is used to, or set up from the factory to operate at, then you may simply decide not to dig the target due to fluctuating TDI numbers, or incorrect ones altogether. For that reason you are better off relying on the all-metal mode for initial detection, especially if looking at deeper targets.

This is why I like detectors like the Vaquero, the signals achieved in all metal mode provide a lot of information for the detectorist to make a call on a target, and in that mode it goes really deep. That's usually when you change over to discrimination mode to see if you can null out the target as you increase the discrimination through the different ranges. I think this is similar to what Silver is doing with the Ace 250, if that is the case, I'm sure he would feel right at home with one of the Tesoros with the proper controls and fuctions.

Am I on the same line of thinking Silver?

Interesting, and do you feel this method is just as (or more) effective than operating the Ace 250 in All Metal Mode, locating a target then only Pin Pointing when necessary?

It's just another way of looking at things Nugget, a bit like that bold stuff, hard to tackle at first glance.
Luckily the pinpoint button(I call scan button) when held in makes the ACE250 work just like the proximity detectors of olden times. The closer the coil moves towards a target the louder the noise the detector makes, this also has the most wonderful effect of increasing the working field that you are hearing. So instead of having to go low and slow to allow the tech to analyse the target and give you the relevant information, you can utilise the bigger field(hearing targets deep and out on the outer edge of the field) to speed scan(I so want to use bold) a wider area and cover more ground faster. Especially when you are in good ground with fewer signals, but even in noisy ground when you have the advantage of knowing what the field is telling you(which is what we had to do in the old days, analyse it manually/ mentally), a quick check with the ACE250 tech gives you a good analysis of the target so you can make an immediate decision to dig or not. Does this help get you through it Nugget(do you realise it makes it a real job for me to do this without bolding, I have to keep going back over everything so much more just to get there).........

understandingly, cheers
Silver.

I have the Ace 350 and the main difference between pinpoint and the three tones is it is one sound and doesn't have a recovery time like the other indicators do so you can go a bit quicker but it gives no target identification and I bet you dig a lot of junk targets.

I find it interesting in the detecting styles we see in Coin shooting - some dig every target with the logic that if you don't you might leave a treasure behind. There is another school of thought that says you can only detect for a certain length of time so the more time wasted on digging junk the less time you have to find the treasure targets. You can't find what you don't walk over so if you spend the majority of your time digging tent pegs and bottle tops the less time you have to cover the area where the treasure lies.

Since going to a better detector I can already see we spend less time digging trash and we are finding more treasure - partly because we can detect deeper targets but also because it is easier to determine what the target is likely to be and leave the trash to others so we can cover more sand. Also can cover areas that the Ace would not behave in - and it is that area that the real treasure lies.

silver said:

It's just another way of looking at things Nugget, a bit like that bold stuff, hard to tackle at first glance.
Luckily the pinpoint button(I call scan button) when held in makes the ACE250 work just like the proximity detectors of olden times. The closer the coil moves towards a target the louder the noise the detector makes, this also has the most wonderful effect of increasing the working field that you are hearing. So instead of having to go low and slow to allow the tech to analyse the target and give you the relevant information, you can utilise the bigger field(hearing targets deep and out on the outer edge of the field) to speed scan(I so want to use bold) a wider area and cover more ground faster. Especially when you are in good ground with fewer signals, but even in noisy ground when you have the advantage of knowing what the field is telling you(which is what we had to do in the old days, analyse it manually/ mentally), a quick check with the ACE250 tech gives you a good analysis of the target so you can make an immediate decision to dig or not. Does this help get you through it Nugget(do you realise it makes it a real job for me to do this without bolding, I have to keep going back over everything so much more just to get there).........

understandingly, cheers
Silver.

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I've never seen or heard of anyone using an Ace 250 this way before hence all the questions. All I can say is it seems to be working for you and the next time I take the brother in laws out for a spin I'll give it go. Who knows, it might become my new favorite "search" mode

BTW, great work on holding back on the bolding, I know how hard it would have been for you to resist the temptation :lol:

I like seeing all those photos Goldpick, it's like being in on the adventure !

I hope you enjoy it Nugget, just try to make sure you've got headphones with volume control !

Yes, despite digging a lot of junk, it still keeps me occupied, especially if there weren't actually any "good" targets around. It would be pretty boring detecting on a dead quiet detector, checking every few minutes to see whether it was actually working. But in saying that, if I knew I was working in a fresh area that was producing, it would definitely be an advantage having a sovereign or an excalibur. Once again, this is just a healthy hobby for me to get out into the fresh air, and get get some exercise, whilst picking up the odd coin or trinket to keep me going. When I get a bit more financial, I will probably look at a gt or excal for beach detecting, but still keep the infinium as an all-rounder, the missus will hold on to the Ace 250 due to ease of use and its light weight.

By the way, she loved the pinpointer holders I added to the detectors, a very convenient spot for it vs dumping it back into her finds bag.

On another note, I took to Ace around to a couple of parks at night, and gave the small garrett shooter coil a go, it's fantastic in those really junky sections that drive you up the wall with multiple signals on a larger coil!

The main thing is you are having fun Goldpick and I think that is best outcome no matter what you find! I am also enjoying the mental aspect of working out where the goodies are likely to be and the joy of occasionally being correct. . I think I have already spent more time on the beach in the last few weeks than I usually do in a year or two so you are also correct in the fresh air healthy exercise time you are spending on yourself. On Australia's wonderful beaches - we are very lucky.

I call it Passive Exercise, good for the heart.
I don't have the small coil, I look for window holes in the junky areas that let you peek in to the deeper spots beneath the trash.
Or I (if it's way trashy) use the five(5) right hand notches and let the Ace250 tech analyse it all and listen for even a hint of a high tone, if I get one that's even a one blipper just one way I might decide to open up the plug and reanalyse the hole. With the hole open if the signal gets better I dig, if no change or it disappears I quit on that one and move on to the next.

silver said:

Still,.....don't throw that dirty old 1930 penny into the copper bucket without a closer look, ....someone might want it.
It could be worth more than copper price at the scrappos, although I'm sure they'll take it off your hands,....along with all those filthy old 1923 halfpennies we are all digging up. As bad as ones and twos hey.

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Detect old pennies and an old battery with a zinc casing and you can make a new battery from the finds by making a volta-stack when the detector runs low

Ohh... I'm a page short of reading..oh well.

Dobyou have a discriminator or digging all signals on the beach?

This is a pretty old thread now, though as for your question, being a PI detector you tend to dig all targets when at the beach. You do have reverse discrimination for checking on iron, though I would never trust it 100%.