Garrett EuroACE Review

The machine that made me take it seriously

After the Ace 150 and 250, the Euro Ace felt like the moment I started taking the hobby seriously. It is still a simple machine at heart, but it gave me more performance to play with, and that was exactly what I wanted at the time.

What I liked, and the one upgrade I would tell you to make

The appeal of the Euro Ace is that it is simple without being basic. It is light, the battery life is genuinely excellent, and it is the kind of machine you can switch on and get detecting without a fiddle. The bit I valued most was the all-metal, or zero, mode. In plain terms that opens the machine up to hear everything with the least filtering, which is handy when you want maximum sensitivity on a cleaner field rather than discriminating targets away.

Here is the practical tip I would pass on, because I did it myself and it made a real difference. The Euro Ace comes with one coil and Garrett never gave the range much choice, so I fitted a NEL Tornado aftermarket coil to cover more ground and chase a bit more depth. If you pick one up, that is the single upgrade I would point you at. It is also worth knowing the community view that the Euro Ace was tuned with European, more mineralised soil in mind, which is a large part of why it holds up so well on UK ground where the cheaper Aces could struggle. My best finds with it were a Roman fibula and a medieval purse bar, which for a machine at this level tells you it is no toy.

The gripes, mine and everyone else’s

My personal frustration was simple: the control buttons were too stiff, which made changing settings more of a faff than it should have been. I clearly was not alone, because owners generally grumble about the buttons, with the smaller layout being fiddly for bigger hands and the yellow ones showing every bit of muck. The bigger thing to understand before buying is waterproofing, or the lack of it. The coil and poles will take a splash, but the control box is not waterproof, so this is a dry-land and shallow-edge machine, not one for the water. And do not expect a wardrobe of coil options from the factory.

Buying one, and who it is really for

These turn up used cheaply now, and at the right price it is a sensible first proper machine or a solid step up from an Ace 150 or 250. If you are buying one, click through every button to check none have gone stiff or dead, and factor in an aftermarket coil if you want to get the most from it. If you want a modern Garrett instead, the ACE Apex is the multi-frequency machine that carries the torch now. I would happily put a beginner with a slightly bigger budget, or anyone outgrowing a basic Ace, onto a Euro Ace. I would steer away anyone who needs to detect in water or wants the flexibility of multiple frequencies and coils, because that is simply not what this machine is.

It was the machine that got me hooked on the serious side of the hobby, so I am a little biased. If you have owned one and see it differently, drop me a line through the contact page.