Garrett ACE 400 Metal Detector with PRO-Pointer AT and Edge Digger

The Garrett ACE 400 bundle combines the ACE 400 detector, its 8.5 x 11 inch PROformance DD searchcoil and Garrett TreasureSound headphones with a Garrett PRO-Pointer AT pinpointer and a Garrett Edge Digger. We recommend the ACE 400 to beginners and intermediate coin and relic hunters searching parks, older properties and fields. The searchcoil is submersible, but the control housing is not.

What is in the box with this Garrett ACE 400 bundle

Garrett's standard contents for the ACE 400 (Garrett part 1141260)

• Garrett ACE 400 control housing with S-shaped stem, upper and lower stem with camlocks
• Adjustable arm cuff and arm strap
• 8.5 x 11 inch PROformance DD searchcoil (submersible)
• Coil cover
• Searchcoil hardware: bolt, nut and mounting washers
• Garrett TreasureSound headphones with in-line volume control (Garrett part 1612500)
• 4 AA batteries (installed)
• Owner's manual

This Garrett ACE 400 bundle also includes

• Garrett PRO-Pointer AT pinpointer with woven belt holster and 9-volt battery (Garrett part 1140900)
• Garrett Edge Digger with carry sheath (Garrett part 1626200)

What the add-ons in this Garrett ACE 400 bundle do

Garrett PRO-Pointer AT pinpointer: the ACE 400'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 400, 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.

Garrett Edge Digger: a carbon steel digging tool with a 7.5-inch serrated digging blade that cuts through roots, a total blade length of 12 inches, a non-slip blade guard and a rubber handle, carried on your belt in its Garrett sheath. Garrett points out that carbon steel rusts with prolonged exposure to water, so clean and dry the digger after use in wet conditions. Good recovery technique helps protect the site. See our shovels, diggers and picks.

About the Garrett ACE 400

The Garrett ACE 400 keeps the straightforward ACE layout and adds Iron Audio, a 10 kHz operating frequency and a larger 8.5 x 11 inch PROformance DD searchcoil than the 7 x 10 inch concentric coil on the Garrett ACE 300. Garrett calls it the top of the ACE family. What we like is that Iron Audio and the larger DD coil make it more interesting for someone who wants to learn how to evaluate complicated targets. We would choose the ACE 400 when you want a straightforward detector with better tools for investigating ground full of iron.

Garrett ACE 400 search modes and key settings

• Five search modes plus Pinpoint: Zero-Disc, Jewelry, Custom, Relics and Coins, with Coins as the factory default. Discrimination is one of the settings worth learning: know which target categories a mode rejects.
• Iron Audio: lets you hear discriminated iron that is normally silenced, so a flat iron target such as a bottle cap or washer can give itself away before you dig.
• Discrimination and Iron Check: four iron discrimination segments within a 12-pixel discrimination bar, set with DISCRIM (+/-) and the ELIM button for notching. Graphic Target Analyzing shows a target's conductivity together with the discrimination pattern.
• Digital Target ID from 0 to 99: with three audio tone ID levels and a coin depth indicator. On the display, the Target ID Legend runs from ferrous (iron) targets at the left to thick, high conductivity targets such as thick silver at the right, and the three tones split by Target ID: a low tone below 33, a medium tone from 33 to 75 and a belltone above 75.
• Frequency and sensitivity: 10 kHz with four minor frequency adjustments (F1 to F4) to reduce interference from electrical sources or other detectors, and eight sensitivity levels.
• Ground handling: the ACE 400 adjusts automatically for ground minerals, without a manual ground balance control.

Water and beach use with the Garrett ACE 400

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. The coil can work in shallow water as long as the control housing stays dry. For someone wanting simultaneous multi-frequency operation or regular saltwater beach capability, we would recommend the Garrett ACE Apex or the Garrett Vortex VX7; see also our beach metal detectors.

Where the Garrett ACE 400 works well

Picture an old yard with rusty bottle caps and the occasional coin: we would use Iron Audio to investigate questionable signals rather than digging on the target ID alone, with target ID, discrimination and electronic pinpointing to help sort the rest. See more relic and treasure metal detectors.

Garrett ACE 400 compared with the AT Pro

The Garrett AT Pro is fully submersible to 10 feet (3 m) and offers automatic and manual ground balance and Pro modes with proportional audio.

Garrett ACE 400 coil, battery and build

The 8.5 x 11 inch PROformance DD coil is larger than the ACE 300's 7 x 10 inch concentric coil, and learning how it behaves on your own sites is worth the time, along with Iron Audio, discrimination and sensitivity. Garrett lists the ACE 400 at 2.9 lbs (1.32 kg) with a stem that adjusts from 42 to 51 inches (1.06 to 1.29 m) and camlocks for stem stability. Four AA batteries run 20 to 40 hours depending on battery type and quality, a battery condition indicator shows the charge, and the headphone jack takes a 1/4 inch plug.

One mistake to avoid with the Garrett ACE 400

Assuming Iron Audio identifies every bottle cap correctly is the mistake we would warn about. Rusty iron can still produce misleading responses, so treat Iron Audio as one more clue on a questionable signal.

Garrett ACE 400 specifications

Garrett covers the ACE 400 with a 3-year limited parts and labor warranty.

For our full Garrett ACE 400 guide, settings advice and comparisons, see the Garrett ACE 400 collection.