Garrett ACE 300 Metal Detector with PRO-Pointer AT Pinpointer

The Garrett ACE 300 bundle combines the ACE 300 detector and its 7 x 10 inch PROformance concentric searchcoil with a Garrett PRO-Pointer AT pinpointer. We recommend the ACE 300 to beginners and occasional detectorists searching parks, yards and relatively mild ground. Garrett's ACE 300 runs at 8 kHz, and its searchcoil is submersible, while the control housing is not.

What is in the box with this Garrett ACE 300 bundle

Garrett's standard contents for the ACE 300 (Garrett part 1141150)

• Garrett ACE 300 control housing with S-shaped stem, upper and lower stem with camlocks
• Adjustable arm cuff and arm strap
• 7 x 10 inch PROformance concentric searchcoil (submersible)
• Coil cover
• Searchcoil hardware: bolt, nut and mounting washers
• 4 AA batteries (installed)
• Owner's manual

This Garrett ACE 300 bundle also includes

• Garrett PRO-Pointer AT pinpointer with woven belt holster, 9-volt battery and owner's manual (Garrett part 1140900)

What the add-ons in this Garrett ACE 300 bundle do

Garrett PRO-Pointer AT pinpointer: the ACE 300's electronic pinpoint narrows down where to dig, and the handheld PRO-Pointer AT finds the target in the open hole. The two serve related but different purposes, and accurate recovery means less unnecessary digging in maintained parks and lawns. Single-button operation covers power, retune, sensitivity and Stealth Mode (vibrate only), with three sensitivity levels, a fast retune that tunes out the surroundings or narrows the detection field on large targets, proportional audio and vibration, an LED flashlight, a ruler in inches and centimeters molded into the side and a scraping blade for searching soil. A lost pinpointer alarm chirps after 5 minutes without a button press, and the pinpointer powers off after 60 minutes of warning chirps. Garrett rates the PRO-Pointer AT waterproof to 20 feet (6 m), IP68, a separate rating from the ACE 300, whose control housing is not submersible. It operates at 11.5 kHz, runs on one 9-volt battery (up to 30 hours with an alkaline battery), weighs 6.5 oz (0.2 kg) with the battery and carries Garrett's 3-year limited parts and labor warranty. See our Garrett pinpointers.

About the Garrett ACE 300

What we like about the Garrett ACE 300 is its straightforward operation: numeric target identification and useful discrimination, plus five search modes and electronic pinpointing, without overwhelming a beginner. The controls are easy to understand, so a first-time owner can concentrate on target responses and search technique. We would choose the ACE 300 for affordable, straightforward recreational metal detecting.

Garrett ACE 300 search modes and key settings

• Five search modes plus Pinpoint: Zero-Disc, Jewelry, Custom, Relics and Coins. Garrett designed Coins mode to find coins and eliminate common trash such as iron, foil and pull tabs, and the manual warns that medium-sized jewelry may be missed with that discrimination pattern. Jewelry mode is designed to find rings, bracelets, watches and necklaces while ignoring most iron trash, and Relics mode eliminates small iron pieces while detecting good targets in the lower conductivity range.
• Digital Target ID from 0 to 99: with three audio tone ID levels and a depth indicator for a coin-sized target. Target ID can vary widely with a target's size and thickness, and mineralized soils can cause Target ID errors, especially on small targets.
• Iron Check and discrimination: four iron discrimination segments within a 12-pixel discrimination bar, an adjustable notch and Graphic Target Analyzing, which shows a target's conductivity alongside the discrimination pattern. To keep iron from masking a good target next to it, Garrett's manual recommends using just enough discrimination to barely reject the iron trash, so the coin and the nail are detected together.
• 8 kHz with frequency adjust: four minor adjustments (F1 to F4) help reduce interference from power lines or another detector. The ACE 300 remains an 8 kHz detector; the adjustment manages interference and does not select different operating frequencies for different targets.
• Eight sensitivity levels: Garrett's manual recommends higher sensitivity for very small or very deep targets, and lower sensitivity when the detector behaves erratically because of heavy trash, highly mineralized soil, electrical interference or other detectors nearby.

Water use with the Garrett ACE 300

The ACE 300 is not a fully waterproof detector. Garrett's manual says the searchcoil is submersible, but the control housing and connectors are not, and it advises protecting the control housing from heavy mist, rain and blowing surf. On a freshwater beach you can work the shoreline and put the coil in shallow water while the control housing stays dry. For someone regularly searching wet saltwater beaches, we would recommend the Garrett ACE Apex, the Garrett Vortex VX7 or the Garrett Vortex VX9; see also our beach metal detectors.

Where the Garrett ACE 300 works well, and where it does not

Picture a teenager searching the backyard for lost coins: that is typical ACE 300 ground. We would start in Coins mode at a moderate sensitivity and teach them to investigate each repeatable signal from different directions before digging. It runs at 8 kHz with a 7 x 10 inch concentric coil and adjusts automatically for ground minerals, without the ground balance adjustments of Garrett's AT series. Garrett's searchcoil guidance says a concentric coil is the most susceptible to interference from ground minerals, and a Double-D coil significantly outperforms it over mineralized ground. For trashy areas, Garrett's manual suggests the Super Sniper or a 5 x 8 inch DD searchcoil. See our beginner and intermediate metal detectors.

Moving up to the Garrett ACE 400

The Garrett ACE 400 runs at 10 kHz, adds Iron Audio and uses a larger 8.5 x 11 inch DD coil. For someone who wants Iron Audio, we would point to the ACE 400; for affordable, straightforward recreational detecting, the ACE 300 remains our pick.

Garrett ACE 300 battery and build

Garrett lists the ACE 300 at 2.8 lbs (1.27 kg), with camlocks for stem stability and a stem that adjusts from 42 to 51 inches (1.06 to 1.29 m). Four AA batteries run 20 to 40 hours depending on battery type and quality; NiMH rechargeables may give a shorter life per charge. A battery condition indicator shows the charge, and the headphone jack takes any headphones with a 1/4 inch plug.

One mistake to avoid with the Garrett ACE 300

Assuming that a high numerical target ID guarantees a valuable coin is the mistake we would warn about. The number reports the target's conductivity, not its value.

Garrett ACE 300 specifications

Garrett covers the ACE 300 with a 3-year limited parts and labor warranty.

For our full Garrett ACE 300 guide, settings advice and comparisons, see the Garrett ACE 300 collection linked at the top of the page.