Bounty Hunter pioneer 202

JimK

Full Member
Aug 19, 2009
231
276
Central Kentucky
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
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Alchemist

Sr. Member
Feb 8, 2014
364
642
Badger State
Detector(s) used
Bounty Hunter Platinum Pro w/11" coil, Bounty Hunter Pioneer 202, Garret ProPointer
Primary Interest:
Metal Detecting
I had a 202 for a few years before moving up to a Platinum. I found it very adequate for coin shooting. If the objects (relics) are large enough the 202 will certainly point them out. I have been sidetracked in my quest for coins many times digging up deep iron objects. It's all-around decent for a starter unit. Good luck!
 

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OP
JimK

JimK

Full Member
Aug 19, 2009
231
276
Central Kentucky
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
Thank you for the reply. I have been having fun with the machine and am hoping to try some relic hunting before the snow flies. I plan to upgrade as soon as the budget will allow.
Thanks again

JimK
 

digatab

Jr. Member
May 6, 2014
21
14
I been using the pioneer 202 for 10 years now and still works perfect.I had the platinum but sent it back because it was very erratic on the beach.the 202 has paid for itself 10 times over.
 

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Garrett424

Silver Member
Jun 20, 2014
3,164
2,284
Granite, Maryland
Detector(s) used
Teknetics Omega 8000
Teknetics Delta 4000,
Deteknix XPointer,
Fiskar's Big Grip Digger & my old Army Trench shovel for the tough jobs
Primary Interest:
Metal Detecting
I used my 202 daily for maybe 4 weeks or so. I can't say I ever fell in love with it but it was adequate once I got it working properly. I had a little trouble with the coil plug where it meets the box. You need to make sure it's clean and snug, otherwise you may get some erratic behavior.

I managed to find a few silver coins, a few nice old relics including an old brass swim suit buckle, a few pieces of junk jewelry and one IH with it. I never found any real gold with it though.

Overall, it's a GREAT coin shooter for modern clad and does what it's designed to do pretty well. It WILL find coins if there are coins to be found. You're just not going to get the kind of depth you would with a better machine. Although, once in a while it may surprise you. I did dig a silver Rosey in damp sand and red clay at about 9 inches so you never know. It all depends on the conditions.

Oh, I would also recommend always using fresh batteries. When they start getting low the performance will noticeably drop. Don't wait for the low battery indicator to come on. Just keep 'em fresh.

I pretty much always ran mine in all metal with the disc around 11 O'clock to start (as I do with all of my BH machines most of the time), basically knocking out iron yet retaining gold, nickels and yes, pull tabs. I ran the sensitivity as high as it would go without chattering all of the time, usually 3 to 4 O'clock and when far enough away from everything, to the max.

Those tiny gold targets can easily disappear around 12 to 1 O'clock so you have to get it just right and in that sweet spot. Remember, if you disc out pull tabs you'll pass right over the gold. There's really no way around it that I'm aware of.


The auto notch setting can knock out small gold as well so I rarely used that setting except in extremely trashy areas. The notch feature is pretty much the same as the disc feature imo so I never used it. I never saw the benefit.

For relic hunting I would try all metal mode with zero discrimination to start. That way, you'll miss nothing.

I didn't pay much attention to the target and depth indicators. I hunt by tone for the most part. Once you really get to know those tones you'll reach a point where you'll pretty much intuitively know what to dig and what to pass over most of the time. Some of the differences in tone can be very subtle but the more you use it, the better you'll get at knowing what it's telling you.


Overall, it's a nice detector for the money. Mine served me well for the most part in the time I used it (once I got it working properly). It will find treasure, it LOVES clad and silver and it's fine for honing you detecting skills with. You'll probably eventually reach a point where you feel you're missing deeper targets if you stick with the hobby. When that happens you'll know it's getting near time to upgrade.

I actually want to sell mine to offset the cost of my latest upgrade.

Good luck with your BH 202 and HH.
 

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Slingshot

Bronze Member
Apr 3, 2004
1,074
1,204
Southern Appalachia
Detector(s) used
Whites CM2 BFO, Harbor Freight 9 function, BH Pioneer 202, Fisher F22
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
Will work fine for relics, but you won't get the deeper targets the all out relic machines will, kind of soft on minie balls. There is a larger coil to be had for the 202 which should give you a few more inches of depth. I hunted CW relics for many years, some of them are still on top of the ground, so a lot depends on where you are hunting and who's been through there before and what machine they were using.
 

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