Is anyone familiar with this detector from costco?

lcoopie

costco detector

I have never detected (if thats the correct grammar) but it sounds like a nice hobby for me (like my wife wants me to have another hobby )

thanks

madmacabre

Ive heard bounty hunters are good BUT I know these are better. Might as well buy this if your going to spend that amount of money for a detector

ACE 250

ricko

Both detectors (costco and the Ace) are good detectors... there are many good detectors available right now - from cheap to very expensive. I would recommend considering how you would use it.. i.e. coin hunting, beach, fields, relic hunting... woods, foundations, yards, water hunting... wading, diving. How much time you will devote to the hobby - it is necessary to 'learn' your machine. Frequent this forum and other MD forums (www.dfxonly.com) (thoam) and others. Each brand has it's following and ardent supporters. LordMarcovan should chime in here soon - and he is our resident guru of MD'ing... listen to his advice - always helpful and solid. Welcome to the forums.. Cheers, RickO

lcoopie

thanks for responding madmacabre and ricko
the reason I was considering it is because it came with other stuff like a dvd (I am sure I need some kind of education), so if the detector is OK I thought it may be a wise choice, but I would defer to the knowledgable, especially the "holy" one
best wishes and thanks

Includes: Metal Detector, Pouch & Digger Pack, Carry Bag and Video

lordmarcovan

You rang?

Bounty Hunters are good cheap machines. Cheap in both the good and bad sense of the word. "Cheap" meaning perhaps not quite as solidly built as some other brands, but lightweight and easy to use. "Cheap" meaning inexpensive, with lots of bang for the buck. I had pretty good luck with a $199 Bounty Hunter Quick Draw back in the mid-1990s, and today's cheap detectors can do stuff that it took a middle of the line or upper tier detector to do, ten years ago.

(And that's not a bottom-tier Bounty Hunter, either- it's a model or two up the scale.)

Compare the features of the two. Certainly the Ace 250, from all I have seen, has what it takes to find the goodies and is yet one of the most inexpensive starter machines out there. That Bounty Hunter would probably perform well as a starter machine, too, but for the extra money on it, I would check the features to see what it has that the Ace 250 doesn't. If it doesn't have that many more features, or it has features that don't make that much difference to you, go with the Ace- it's a good little machine. If, on the other hand, the Bounty Hunter has an extra bell or whistle or two that you like, go with it. I will say that my old Quick Draw used to perform in one park area here that was so strewn with trash I couldn't work my more expensive Garrett in it, but the cheap Bounty Hunter did fine. They seem to have "cleaner" discrimination than the Garretts.

A lot of this talk about features might go over your head, but that's why we're here to answer questions.

lcoopie

thank you Lord

really, thanks

Les

intocoins

I cannot speak for the Bounty Hunter as I have never used one. The Garrett Ace 250, which I just received in Feb. and have only used once , has impressed me. Once I get used to using the eliminate and discriminate features better I think I will be able to cut down alot of junk detecting e.g; pulltabs,cans,etc.... One of the few things that I do not like about it though is the tone rings, they all sound the same to me?? Maybe, I just need to get used to them. Anyway for $200 and some change I dont think you can go wrong.

madmacabre

intocoins maybe theres an option to turn on discriminate tone on? I dont know about ace but my dfx comes with presets that have it turned off.

Tdec1000

Get an Ace 250 you will not regret it. For under $200 bucks you can get one used that has just about all of the bells and whistles that it's big brother has. Very nice machine. I gave mine to my brother who went to italy. (army) I have a garrett gtax 550 and it is a few steps up from the 250 and works like a champ and I have a spider coil to move around the trash.

lordmarcovan

I'm a veteran of the GTAx-550 myself, and its predecessor, the older GTA-500 that it replaced. Great midlevel machines. In fact, the vast majority of my finds were made with the Garrett 500, and in the past few years, the 550.

If you can afford to step up into the midlevel with something like the GTAx-550, and you think you'll be serious about using it, then you should do so, by all means.

But the Ace 250 is a really impressive "little brother" to the 550. We Garrett folks are sometimes referred to as "Green Machine People", since most Garrett detectors are a signature green color. The Ace 150 and 250, however, are yellow, earning the popular 250 its affectionate nickname of "The Yella Fella".

ricko

Let's see... 'Green Machine'... Yella Fella'.... what do we call the White's units? Black Whackers??? Cheers, RickO