Garrett ACE series
Garrett ACE 300 Target ID Chart: What Each Number Means
Quick answer
The Garrett ACE 300 displays a digital target ID from 0 to 99, and that number is a conductivity ordering rather than a lookup table. Iron sits at the bottom, foil and small gold low, nickels and pull tabs through the middle, zinc cents in the seventies, and copper cents, dimes, quarters and silver at the top of the scale.
Garrett's listing for the ACE 300 states the machine carries a numeric 0 to 99 digital target ID that identifies metal conductivity. That is the whole of what the manufacturer promises, and it is worth being precise about what it means: the screen is telling you roughly how well the buried object conducts an eddy current, expressed on a ninety-nine point ruler. It is not telling you what the object is.
Everything below is the ordering that physics imposes on that ruler, expressed as bands rather than single values, because single values are the thing that gets printed on other sites and then disappoints people in the field. If you want the machine's own published figures for operating frequency and discrimination segments, they are in the ACE 300 owner's manual, which is the document these pages defer to.
Top pick
Garrett ACE 300
The cheapest Garrett that gives you a numeric 0 to 99 target ID, iron resolution and an adjustable frequency to kill interference.
Price was accurate when this page was compiled and changes often.
On this page
What is the ACE 300 actually measuring when it prints a number?
A target ID is a conductivity score. The coil induces a current in the buried metal, the metal pushes a field back, and the machine scores the phase and strength of what comes back against its own reference. High conductors like a silver half dollar return a signal that scores near the top. Poor conductors like a scrap of aluminium foil or a thin gold chain score low, close to where iron lives, which is the single most expensive fact in this hobby.
Because the score depends on the returned signal and not on the object's identity, two different objects with similar conductivity and similar surface area produce the same number. A pull tab and a small gold ring genuinely can read the same on a single-frequency machine. That is not a fault in the ACE 300. It is the reason experienced people dig the mid range and accept the trash that comes with it, and it is why the settings you run matter as much as the number you read. The companion page on ACE 300 settings by site type covers that side.
What does each band on the 0 to 99 scale mean?
Read this as an ordering with tolerances, not as a lookup. The band is where a clean, flat, shallow target of that type tends to land on a 0 to 99 scale. Corroded, deep, tilted or damaged targets move, sometimes a long way.
On a 0 to 99 scale, iron reads below roughly 40, nickels sit around the low to mid fifties, zinc cents in the seventies, and copper cents, dimes, quarters and silver above roughly 78.
| Target | Typical band (0 to 99) | Why it lands there | What moves it |
|---|---|---|---|
| Small iron, nails, wire | 0 to 35 | Ferrous response the machine scores at the bottom of the ruler | Rusty iron halos can read high and bounce |
| Bottle caps, rusted steel | Bounces, often 30 to 80 | Steel with a rust halo behaves partly like a larger conductor | The classic false high reading; the tone gives it away before the number does |
| Aluminium foil, thin chains | 20 to 45 | Very low conductivity and tiny surface area | Sits on top of the iron band, which is why foil gets dug |
| Small gold, thin rings | 30 to 60 | Gold is a poor conductor in small, thin forms | Overlaps foil and tabs; no single-frequency machine separates it cleanly |
| US nickel, 5 cent | 50 to 60 | Nickel alloy sits in a narrow, repeatable mid band | One of the most stable readings on the scale |
| Pull tabs, can slaw | 55 to 75 | Aluminium in ring and tab shapes | Overlaps mid-range gold jewellery almost exactly |
| Zinc cent, post-1982 | 68 to 80 | Zinc core with a thin copper plate | Corrodes badly in acid soil and drops several points |
| Copper cent, US dime | 78 to 86 | High conductivity in a small coin | Depth pulls the number down before the signal disappears |
| US quarter, larger copper | 82 to 90 | High conductivity across more surface area | Very stable when shallow, wanders when deep |
| Silver half, dollar, large silver | 88 to 95 and up | The best conductor most of us ever dig | Reads near the top of the scale when flat and undisturbed |
These are bands on the machine's 0 to 99 ruler, describing the conductivity ordering. They are not values published by Garrett and they are not a substitute for the owner's manual, which gives the machine's discrimination segments and operating frequency. Soil chemistry, moisture, depth, target orientation, corrosion and firmware revision all shift what you see.
Why does the same coin read two different numbers on two sweeps?
Six things move an ID, and all six are outside the machine's control. Depth flattens and lowers the number as the returned signal weakens. Orientation matters more than depth on a coin standing on edge, which can read anywhere or not at all. Soil mineralisation masks part of the return and drags readings down. Moisture changes conductivity in the ground itself, which is why the same park reads differently after rain. Corrosion changes the target's effective surface. And firmware revisions change how a machine scores marginal returns.
The practical response is to sweep a suspect target from two directions at ninety degrees and take the reading that repeats, not the best one. A number that holds from both directions is a number worth believing. A number that only appears on one pass usually means iron, a bottle cap, or two targets close together. Working out how much ground you can cover carefully enough to do that is what the dig time budget tool is for.
How do you build a target ID chart for your own ground?
- Collect a test set. A clad dime, a nickel, a zinc cent, a copper cent, a pull tab, a square nail and a cheap plated ring. Seven targets is enough.
- Bury them properly. Two, four, six and eight inches in undisturbed soil, in a row, each marked. Leave them a fortnight so the ground settles; freshly disturbed soil reads differently from packed soil.
- Sweep at your real settings. Use the sensitivity you actually hunt at, not the maximum. Record the number and the tone from two directions.
- Repeat after rain. Run the same row wet. The difference between your dry and wet numbers is the correction you will apply for the rest of the season.
- Write it on a card. Laminate it and put it in the pouch. It is worth more than any chart on any website, including this one.
What else is worth having on the belt for ID work?
Target ID gets you to the decision. Recovery is what costs the time, and a pinpointer is the accessory that most shortens a session.
Garrett ACE 300
$269.99Numeric 0 to 99 target ID, iron resolution and an adjustable frequency, at $269.99.
Best for: park and field coin hunting
Check price on Amazon
Garrett Pro-Pointer AT
$109.99Submersible to twenty feet with three sensitivity levels and a moulded ruler on the shaft.
Best for: anyone who digs more than a few targets an hour
Check price on Amazon
Garrett Camo Digger's Pouch
$19.99Small, cheap, and it keeps the trash separate from the finds so you stop rechecking your own pocket.
Best for: a first pouch
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 300 owner's manual
- Garrett ACE 300 published product specification and feature listing
- Garrett ACE series discrimination and target ID legend, as printed in the manual
Frequently asked questions
Does the Garrett ACE 300 use a 0 to 99 target ID scale?
Yes. Garrett states the ACE 300 carries a numeric 0 to 99 digital target ID that indicates metal conductivity. What the manufacturer does not publish is a target-by-target lookup table, because there is not an honest one to publish. The number is a conductivity score, and the same score covers several different objects. Treat published bands as an ordering and verify them in your own soil.
What does a Garrett ACE 300 read on a silver dime?
A clean US dime lying flat and shallow generally lands in the high seventies to mid eighties on the 0 to 99 scale, with a silver dime reading at the upper end of that. Depth pulls it down, mineralised soil pulls it down further, and a coin on edge may read anywhere. Sweep from two directions and trust the number that repeats.
Why do bottle caps read like good targets on an ACE 300?
A steel cap with a rust halo returns a signal that the machine partly scores as a larger, better conductor, so the ID jumps into the coin range and bounces. The tell is instability: caps rarely hold the same number from two sweep directions. The ACE 400 adds Iron Audio specifically so you can hear the ferrous grunt underneath a high reading before you dig it.
Can I compare ACE 300 numbers with numbers from another machine?
Only loosely. Most modern detectors use a 0 to 99 ruler, but the scaling and the frequency behind it differ, so a nickel on one machine may not sit on the same number as a nickel on another. Compare orderings rather than values. If you are stepping up, read the ACE 400 chart alongside this one before assuming your numbers carry over.
Does changing the ACE 300 frequency change the target ID?
The adjustable frequency on the ACE 300 exists to shift the machine off an interference source such as a power line or another detector, and Garrett describes it that way. It is a small shift rather than a mode change, but any change to how the machine sees a target can move a marginal reading a point or two. Rerun your buried test row after changing it.
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.