Equipment Question

Dr. invertigo

Tenderfoot
Apr 5, 2013
9
1
North Branch
Detector(s) used
Bounty Hunter Tracker IV
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
Hey everybody, as you may have seen, I own a Bounty Hunter Tracker IV, and I've noticed I don't see too many other people with one.
Is it just a unpopular brand?
Or has everybody moved past Bounty Hunters in favor of Garretts and Minelabs?

Thanks for all the info!

Dr. Invertigo
 

liftloop

Silver Member
May 7, 2008
3,140
390
lakelinden mi
Detector(s) used
MXTdeepscan 8by14dd, bulls eye 2, 5900diprosl Maxima1500, Master Hunter cx plus Treasure Hound, surf
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
don't for get white's yea bounty hunter is what you give kids . all tho they will find stuff until you listen to a good detector that uses a good speaker were you can really hear whats there the rest sound cheapish i like white's they don't fool around when it comes to sound my garret Gta 400 sounds like a white's all most I thought the bounty hunter platinum was a good detector untill he went in all metal and nothing on the screen work what good is that it should of still told you what was there my white's does I would imagine fisher f5 will do the same thing. there the same company and look a lot alike
but you never know what you will find if you don't put in the time..


liftloop
 

vpnavy

Super Moderator
Staff member
Jun 15, 2008
35,154
18,644
York County, PA (USA)
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
reading_01.gif
You might consider jumping over to Brands - Bounty Hunter and browsing...
 

fistfulladirt

Gold Member
Feb 21, 2008
12,204
4,918
Great Lakes State
🏆 Honorable Mentions:
1
Detector(s) used
dirtfishing
Primary Interest:
Other
Yes, sound quality is important too. It is strange though, my Whites sounds just like a grunting pig. My Minelab, on the other hand, sounds like a beautiful flute!
 

liftloop

Silver Member
May 7, 2008
3,140
390
lakelinden mi
Detector(s) used
MXTdeepscan 8by14dd, bulls eye 2, 5900diprosl Maxima1500, Master Hunter cx plus Treasure Hound, surf
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
sweep speed is important too mine lab has one of the slowest sweep speeds on record out there
white's you can change on some of models my surf master it's either fast or slow it doesn't matter mxt is the same way
try that with your "stick flute" I mean minelab as for the iron grunt it sound way better that garrets "iron tune audio roller over "what a fancy name for iron grunt .
 

liftloop

Silver Member
May 7, 2008
3,140
390
lakelinden mi
Detector(s) used
MXTdeepscan 8by14dd, bulls eye 2, 5900diprosl Maxima1500, Master Hunter cx plus Treasure Hound, surf
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
those minlab detectors have a sound to them self you can tell time and money went in to the detector
not like first Texas instruments or any thing that sounds like a first Texas insturment


liftloop
 

dustytrails123

Bronze Member
Apr 14, 2012
1,012
412
Detector(s) used
Minelab Explorer Se Pro,Garrett At/Pro,Garrett Ace 350,Tesoro Cibola,Tesoro Outlaw,Bounty Hunter SharpShooter 2
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
I think its a good thing the minelabs train you to sweep slow because people swing too damn fast and think they can cover so much more ground then they really can....its a slow process cleaning out sites go fast with any machine and you will skip over targets left and right...and i hunt with guys that BH line machines they seem to do better on the trash then the garrett i use if that helps you any
 

bigfoot1

Silver Member
Nov 1, 2011
3,765
3,399
so.cal.mtns.
🥇 Banner finds
1
🏆 Honorable Mentions:
1
Detector(s) used
garrett,minelab,fisher,,,atp current weapon of choice
Primary Interest:
Metal Detecting
I bought a tracker 4 for my buddy(bonus on a job)so he could get into hobby.I am not a bad teacher on the subject and he did find some cool items over many hunts.Gotta say though...he was constantly saying,"what does your machine say"on targets and way too often his was wrong.Even my older gtax 1250(one of my all time favs)would out hunt the tar out of the tracker.
not having a decent depth indicator was yet another down fall.

In closing...its good for finding everything and poor at finding,"the"thing.
 

Rawhide

Silver Member
Nov 17, 2010
3,590
2,185
SouthWestern USA
Detector(s) used
Nox 800, Etrac, F75, AT Pro. Last two for sale.
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
don't for get white's yea bounty hunter is what you give kids . all tho they will find stuff until you listen to a good detector that uses a good speaker were you can really hear whats there the rest sound cheapish i like white's they don't fool around when it comes to sound my garret Gta 400 sounds like a white's all most I thought the bounty hunter platinum was a good detector untill he went in all metal and nothing on the screen work what good is that it should of still told you what was there my white's does I would imagine fisher f5 will do the same thing. there the same company and look a lot alike
but you never know what you will find if you don't put in the time..Liftloop Ill take my old Bounty Hunter and you can take any machine you want.......you will loose. Those Bounty Hunters are pre set for most hunts, you just turn it on and start digging. The reason you don't see many of them is most folks want features. I only own one, a old one and it hunts. The fact the same company made both my detectors is a fluke. I go by what my friends have on here and what they tell me about it. I started with a bounty hunter and then replaced the perfectly good machine for features. Yes my hunts are better now. But your machine will do what most others will do. I am not going to say all the work that engineers put in to each brand is huey. What Im saying is metal detectors all work on the same principles.


liftloop

Liftloop Ill take my old Bounty Hunter and you can take any machine you want.......you will loose. Those Bounty Hunters are pre set for most hunts, you just turn it on and start digging. The reason you don't see many of them is most folks want features. I only own one, a old one and it hunts. The fact the same company made both my detectors is a fluke. I go by what my friends have on here and what they tell me about it. I started with a bounty hunter and then replaced the perfectly good machine for features. Yes my hunts are better now. But your machine will do what most others will do. I am not going to say all the work that engineers put in to each brand is huey. What Im saying is metal detectors all work on the same principles. Most machines only hunt in one mode at a time anyway. I do not believe Bounty Hunter is bad, cheap, or a toy. Honestly I could own any machines on the forum. I was able to play with some yard sale rescues. Famous Trails, Harbor Freight, to mention a few. As I spent time with them they would find coins just fine. So I spent hundreds of dollars on a better detector so I could dig trash a little deeper lol. I think its normal for us to want to upgrade our machines. You may not see a lot of Bounty Hunters out there, but you can bet a lot of us has owned them. I do believe bounty hunters are a gateway detector to the hobby.
 

bigfoot1

Silver Member
Nov 1, 2011
3,765
3,399
so.cal.mtns.
🥇 Banner finds
1
🏆 Honorable Mentions:
1
Detector(s) used
garrett,minelab,fisher,,,atp current weapon of choice
Primary Interest:
Metal Detecting
like I said the bounty hunter is good at finding anything...it really is....but its horrible at finding ,"the thing"....if you dig every target...well my daughters bounty hunter jr cant be beat.it misses nothing.weighs almost nothing and batteries last forever.

I'll out hunt anyone with a bounty hunter on,"keeper "finds just by virtue of the odds.I will spent far less time on junk...period.

my humble 2 cents(u.s.large cents):icon_thumright:...btw....at pro,minelab explorer,gtax 1250,fisher f2(wifes)and about 6 or 7 others over 30 years
 

Frankn

Gold Member
Mar 21, 2010
8,711
2,989
Maryland
Detector(s) used
XLT , surfmaster PI , HAYS 2Box , VIBRA-TECTOR
The Bounty Hunter Will find things, just like any other metal detector, but I think you will work harder and find less than a high end detector. Just my opinion, Frank...

111-1 profile.jpg
 

JmCraz8

Bronze Member
Apr 2, 2011
1,623
693
Ohio
Detector(s) used
Currently using: XP DEUS, T2 SE and the Garret Carrot lol
Have used: Garret Ace 250, Garret AT Pro, Garret Pro Pointer
Primary Interest:
Relic Hunting
I started out with a bounty hunter tracker 4 it loves coins but since I've moved on to garret.
 

liftloop

Silver Member
May 7, 2008
3,140
390
lakelinden mi
Detector(s) used
MXTdeepscan 8by14dd, bulls eye 2, 5900diprosl Maxima1500, Master Hunter cx plus Treasure Hound, surf
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
hay if that all you have then have at it you will know when to up grade and you will still remember the great finds you had with the B H that got you were you are to day
 

Rawhide

Silver Member
Nov 17, 2010
3,590
2,185
SouthWestern USA
Detector(s) used
Nox 800, Etrac, F75, AT Pro. Last two for sale.
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
Keepers? Its all keepers, I cart it all out. Frank is partly right, but experience pays. If you have experience with your detector, you will greatly increase your keepers too. Experience far out weighs the machines features. As for big foots uniformed post. The fast recovery speed of the bounty Hunter would in theory let me cherry pick a area much faster. So you might loose that contest Bigfoot. From car to first find is 6 minutes. Find equals a actual coin or jewelry. After that, its just as fast as I can dig. That is probably true for most detectors. You start talking wet sand, and I am at a disadvantage. The more expensive machines have too much that can go wrong. The Bounty Hunter again is pre set, you are not wasting time with a machine that has too many controls or too sensitive for the park. You are detecting and letting the pin pointer guide you to your target. If we are talking old coins, the more expensive machines have a slight edge. If your are talking Disc controls, again the more expensive machines will just plain stomp a entry level machine. But if you are looking for coins, and don't mind digging clad, eventually you will find old coins. Unfortunately there is some new designs out there that will make most of the detectors on the market obsolete. None of those are a Bounty Hunter. To sum up what I have already said more than a few times. Experience will out do a noob on a new machine anyday. You can spend your time playing with buttons or you can just hunt and get a machine with a preset GB and Threshold.
 

Charlie P. (NY)

Gold Member
Feb 3, 2006
13,004
17,107
South Central Upstate NY in the foothills of the h
Detector(s) used
Minelab Musketeer Advantage Pro w/8" & 10" DD coils/Fisher F75se(Upgraded to LTD2) w/11" DD, 6.5" concentric & 9.5" NEL Sharpshooter DD coils/Sunray FX-1 Probe & F-Point/Black Widows/Rattler headphone
Primary Interest:
Metal Detecting
Bounty Hunter was one of the first brands to "lower their sights" and allow catalog houses (aka Dick's & Cabela's) to sell at reduced prices. They are a less expensive brand, but they get a lot of folks started coveniently. I've never owned one; but I've owned kit-built even less "fancy" detectors and found coins.

Higher priced detectors go a little deeper but have a LOT more discrimination and target identification abilities. If you are of a mind to dig everything, not a bad idea, then they will likely serve you well. You'll also likely find jewelery that higher priced detectors "fool" their owners out of digging as junk targets.

Bury a coin 6" deep in your yard, then another a foot away with a nail over it at half the depth. A good detector will still warn you that the coin is under the nail instead of just masking them both as iron.
 

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