Garrett Ace 150 in 2023 review
Garrett Ace 150 Reviews
While researching other Garrett Ace 150 reviews I quickly learnt that it is probably THE most popular beginners budget metal detector. A very simple to use, lightweight metal detector equaling the power of others twice it’s price.
The Garrett Ace 150 is super simple to assemble it comes in just a few parts, the brains of the detector, the pole, the coil, the coil wire, and a little wingnut to fix the coil to the pole. It will literally take you 2 minutes to put together and you can be off!
The settings on the Garrett Ace 150 are very simple to understand and are self-explanatory. With just 3 buttons, Mode, Sensitivity and the power switch.
There are 3 different modes you can use, All metal mode, Coins, and Jewelry.
- The mode button changes through the 3 modes.
- The power button turns it on and off, and powers up instantly.
- The sensitivity button changes the sensitivity of the machine.
The LCD display has a battery indicator but unfortunately, it does not work for the 150 it was only ever added to the software ready for it’s successor the Garrett Ace 250 which is a shame. A display which shows the modes you have selected, a depth of target indicator which shows you roughly how deep your item is, and a sensitivity bar to show you how sensitive you have set the machine.
The Garrett Ace 150 is lightweight but durable and it does feel very comfortable to hold, it has grip padding and padding on the armrest at the top of the machine as you can see in the pictures. It is a machine you could be out with all day and not feel the strain on your arms, which is great for beginners, children, and the elders.
Battery life on the Garrett Ace 150 is another great feature of the machine, I personally have had between 25 – 30 hours of metal detecting from it but some users have reported more, this will depend on the quality and age of the batteries you are using. It takes 4 AA batteries to power it. I would always recommend purchasing rechargeable batteries as this will save you money in the long run.
The tones of the 150 detector become very easy and clear to understand after a few hours of getting used to the machine. Just keep an ear out for the “double dinger” you will understand when you hear it!
The machine performed very well in some field tests I performed and according to other sources from around the internet performed the same for them.
In all metal mode, the machine picked up everything with Iron giving a low tone, small coins giving a short clear tone and larger coins giving a bell tone (the double dinger)
Jewelry mode rejected the Iron gave no signal whatsoever. Coins and other metallic items were still picked up by the machine
Coin mode rejected, ring pulls, Iron and picked up coins with ease, including pennies, sixpences, crowns, florins, and some modern coinage.
In the depth test, the Garrett Ace 150 could pull out targets from approx 6 – 8 inches. However, it is worth noting that this depends on ground conditions as some people have reported having pulled targets with the 150 from deeper.
The 150 does not have a pinpointing feature so if you do not own a Garrett Pro-Pointer then finding the target in the hole can take forever. Although it is accurate within a 9-inch diameter it can still take some time finding the target, so I would recommend buying one to complement the machine it will literally save you hours of time.
The machine is not waterproof and if you are planning on being out in the rain you will need a waterproof housing cover for the control panel. To my understanding the rest of the machine is OK.
Overall the machine I feel would be the perfect starter, and I can see why it is recommended as one of the best beginner detectors. If you are working with a budget and want to know if metal detecting is for you then this machine is a very low price, simple, effective machine. If you have a little bit more money to play with then perhaps it would be worthwhile reading the review for the successor of the 150 the Garrett Ace 250 model.
Check out the below video of the Garrett Ace 150 metal detector in operation.
- Clear tone Speaker
- Great battery life!
- Push button controls
- All metal, coin and jewelry modes
- Sensitivity control
- The visual depth and target indicator
- Interchangeable coil
- Large LCD display
- Perfect for beginners
