ACE 400 settings
ACE 400 settings for an old house site or homestead
Quick answer
Detecting on an old house site or homestead, the Garrett ACE 400 wants medium to high sensitivity, fast recovery speed and a coil smaller than the stock 8.5 by 11 inch. Good fit for this ground. The ACE 400 is capable on an old house site or homestead, and the coil matters more than the machine.
The ACE 400 is capable on an old house site or homestead, and the coil matters more than the machine. Everything on an iron-infested site comes down to whether two targets an inch apart read as two targets. A smaller coil and a faster recovery speed will change your results here far more than swapping detectors would.
Top pick
Garrett ACE 400
The top of the ACE line, adding iron audio and a higher frequency than the 300 for small targets.
Price was accurate when this page was compiled and changes often.
On this page
- What is an old house site or homestead actually like to detect?
- What should I set my ACE 400 to on an old house site or homestead?
- What can the ACE 400 realistically do here?
- How to calibrate this to your own ground
- Other machines that suit an old house site or homestead
- What else you need on an old house site or homestead
What is an old house site or homestead actually like to detect?
The richest ground in the hobby and the hardest to work. Old sites are saturated with iron nails, and the good targets sit among them, so everything depends on recovery speed and on a coil small enough to resolve two targets an inch apart.
The targets you are realistically there for are coins, buttons, buckles and household relics. That, plus how mineralised the ground is, is what decides every setting below.
What should I set my ACE 400 to on an old house site or homestead?
On an old house site or homestead the ACE 400 wants medium to high sensitivity, fast recovery speed and a coil smaller than the stock 8.5 by 11 inch.
| Setting | Starting point | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Sensitivity | Medium to high | Mild ground supports a high setting, so take the depth it offers. |
| Discrimination | Notch out the small aluminium band, but never blanket-reject it on a new site | Dense aluminium is the problem, but blanket rejection also removes gold, which reads in the same region. |
| Recovery speed | Fast, this is the setting that matters most here | This is what lets the machine report two close targets as two signals rather than one. |
| Ground balance | Balance at the start and again if the threshold changes | Balanced ground is quieter ground, which makes a faint signal audible. |
| Audio | Multi-tone, so a coin next to iron sounds different rather than just present | Tone information is how you judge a target before you commit to digging it. |
| Coil | Smaller than the stock 8.5 by 11 inch, which is too big to separate targets on this ground | Coil size changes separation more than any menu setting does. |
| Water | Not a factor on dry ground. For reference the ACE 400 is waterproof coil only, control box is not | Worth knowing before you are standing in front of water deciding on the spot. |
These are starting points, not specifications. Your machine's manual is the authority on what each control does and what range it offers, and the numbers that matter are the ones you get in your own soil. Settings also move between firmware versions.
What can the ACE 400 realistically do here?
Ground on an old house site or homestead is moderately mineralised, which means depth on a coin-sized target sits in the middle of whatever this machine manages in ideal conditions.
| Target | How it behaves here | What to do about it |
|---|---|---|
| Coin-sized non-ferrous | Reads clearly at moderate depth, less stably deeper | Check it from two directions before digging. A signal that holds from both is worth the hole. |
| Small gold and thin chains | Marginal, and easy to walk over entirely | A smaller coil and less discrimination is how you stop missing these. |
| Large relics and iron-backed targets | Loud, sometimes masked by nearby iron | Do not trust a single sweep near iron. Work the target from several angles. |
| Aluminium trash | Constant, and it reads in the same region as gold | Accept a high dig rate or accept missing gold. There is no setting that separates them reliably. |
No manufacturer publishes a depth figure in inches for these machines, and anyone printing one has invented it. Depth varies with target size, orientation, corrosion, moisture and mineralisation, so the only figure worth having is the one you measure yourself.
How to calibrate this to your own ground
- Bury known targets. Bury a coin, a small piece of gold or a thin chain, and a pull tab at measured depths in the ground you actually hunt, and leave them for a few weeks so the soil settles.
- Walk the test bed. Sweep it with the ACE 400 at the settings above and write down what you get: the reading, how stable it is, and at what depth it disappears.
- Change one thing. Move a single setting, walk the bed again, and record the difference. Changing several at once tells you nothing about which one mattered.
- Write it on the machine. Keep the settings that worked on a card in your pouch. A setup you can reproduce is worth more than one you found once and cannot remember.
Other machines that suit an old house site or homestead
Machines that handle this ground comparably well, for anyone still choosing.
Minelab Equinox 900
$999.00Ships with both the EQX 11 and EQX 6 waterproof Double-D coils, offers six single frequencies alongside Multi-IQ, and is submersible to 16 feet at 2.8 lb.
Best for: the one machine that covers park, field, beach and gold
Check price on Amazon
Minelab Equinox 700
$749.00The lower half of the current Equinox pair: Multi-IQ simultaneous multi-frequency, fully waterproof, with the EQX 11 coil.
Best for: most serious hobbyists who do not need the 900's extra modes
Check price on Amazon
Minelab Manticore
$1,499.00Minelab's high-power Multi-IQ+ platform with a two-dimensional target display, and the deepest machine the brand sells outside gold-specific models.
Best for: an experienced detectorist chasing depth in mineralised ground
Check price on Amazon
Nokta The Legend Pro Pack
$659.00Ships as a Pro Package with both 6 inch and 11 inch DD coils, with two simultaneous multi-frequency profiles plus 4, 10, 15, 20 and 40 kHz single frequencies.
Best for: the most machine per dollar in the multi-frequency class
Check price on AmazonWhat else you need on an old house site or homestead
The machine is rarely the limit. Recovery speed and the right recovery tool decide how many of the targets you hear actually end up in the pouch.
Garrett Pro-Pointer AT
$109.99Submersible to 20 feet, made in the USA, and the pinpointer most often recommended without qualification.
Best for: nearly everyone, including water hunters
Check price on Amazon
Lesche Sampson Pro-Series T-Handle Shovel, 31 inch
$89.40The 31 inch Sampson is the standard relic shovel: a serrated blade, a T-handle you can put your weight behind, and a length that suits most people.
Best for: relic hunting and deep targets in hard ground
Check price on AmazonHow we chose
We did not test these machines in person and we publish no find claims. Picks are researched from manufacturer specifications and owner manuals, published listing features, waterproof ratings and warranty terms, and the recurring themes in verified owner reviews. We favour the established detector brands because coils, shafts and control boxes have to stay available years after a model is discontinued, and we place every pick in the tier where its price and capability honestly belong.
Sources
- Garrett ACE 400 instruction manual and published specifications
- Manufacturer product listing features for this model
Frequently asked questions
What sensitivity should I run on the ACE 400 on an old house site or homestead?
Start at medium to high and work from there. The rule that matters more than the number is that a machine running so hot it chatters is a machine that is hiding faint deep signals in its own noise. Turn it up until it becomes unstable, then come back down a step, and re-check whenever the ground changes.
Is the ACE 400 a good choice for an old house site or homestead?
Yes. Everything on an iron-infested site comes down to whether two targets an inch apart read as two targets. A smaller coil and a faster recovery speed will change your results here far more than swapping detectors would. The settings above are a starting point rather than a prescription, and the work worth doing is calibrating them against buried known targets in your own soil.
What coil should I use on an old house site or homestead?
Smaller than the stock 8.5 by 11 inch, which is too big to separate targets on this ground. Coil choice changes target separation more than any menu setting, so it is the first thing to reconsider when a site is not producing. Coils are machine-specific and often series-specific, so check the compatibility chart for your own detector before ordering, because a coil that does not fit is an expensive mistake.
Can the ACE 400 get wet on an old house site or homestead?
Not a factor on dry ground. For reference the ACE 400 is waterproof coil only, control box is not. This is the one specification on the page that is absolute: sensitivity and discrimination are preferences you can experiment with, and a waterproof rating is not. A waterproof searchcoil and a fully submersible machine are different things, and confusing them is how control boxes die.
Do I need permission to detect on an old house site or homestead?
Almost certainly, and you should assume yes. Get the landowner's permission before detecting on any ground you do not own, in writing where you can. Many public parks and recreation grounds prohibit detecting outright, national parks and protected archaeological sites are off limits in most jurisdictions, and the rules vary by country, state, county and individual parcel. Check before you go.
Researched, not professional advice. This page is compiled from published specifications, manuals and owner-review consensus, not hands-on testing. Target ID numbers, depth figures and settings vary with soil chemistry, moisture, target size, depth, orientation and firmware version, so treat every figure here as a starting point and verify it against your own machine's manual and your own ground. As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases.