Garrett424
Silver Member
- Jun 20, 2014
- 3,164
- 2,284
- 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 posted in the "Today's Finds" forum a few items I dug up in about 10-15 minutes with my BH Tracker IV after my BH 202 was just not hitting on anything regardless of the mode, setting, etc. I was getting a crazy amount of EMI from something. That's why I broke out the Tracker IV, which performed beautifully as usual (for what it is).
I've used this 202 daily since July 26th and frankly, I'm just not impressed with it. I've given it (and myself) more than a good chance. But, I have found all of my best finds, silver, gold and silver jewelry, old coins and tokens, relics and tons of clad with my cheap little $30.00 Tracker IV. I thought the 202 was supposed to be better.
Since I began using the 202, my overall count of everything is down by at least half. I've read some awesome reviews on the machine but no matter what I do, it just doesn't find the goods very well.
It's erratic, the tones are all over the place and it gives false signals consistently. You can get a solid, repeatable, diggable tone and then..... nothing's in the hole or it's not what the tone indicates if there's actually something there. A high clear tone shouldn't produce a nickel or foil. It's very frustrating and a huge waste of time and effort.
It will also give all three tones over the same target and it happens consistently.
Also, when you use a fair amount of discrimination for say, coin shooting for silver, you'll often get a nice, clear, strong high tone but if you back off on the discrimination, you find it's a low junk tone in disguise. It seems to be just kicking the trash tones into high tones rather than actually discriminating them out.
Also, the coin and depth indicators aren't even close to being accurate (and I am aware that they're only "probable" readings for coin sized objects lying flat). That doesn't bother me so much because I go far more by tone anyway but it would be nice if it was right maybe 25% of the time or something just so you could get a feel for it. I mean, they did include it in the design right??
I bought this thing used and "as is" from a lady who claimed she never even used it. It certainly looks brand new. I'm just wondering if there's something wrong with it
Maybe she damaged it and didn't tell me. Maybe it's just a bad model or a lemon. I just don't know.
Before I sell this thing and put the cash toward an upgrade, is it even worth having it checked out to make sure it's working right??
How would I begin to troubleshoot this thing?? It does detect metal and in a month I did manage to dig up one old IH but other than that, mostly clad and junk(about half the clad the Tracker IV finds consistently, including tonight).
It air tests pretty well but in the field is another story. The signals and tones are just all over the place no matter the settings and/or mode. I usually hunt in all metal with my disc at around 11-12 O'clock to start. It will lose gold entirely at about 1-2:00.
The auto notch will pass right over gold so I never use that. It also signals erratically on trash anyway so I see no point. I do use notch sometimes in trashy spots but even that gives consistently wrong tones and false signals.
If anyone knows anything about these machines I would love to be enlightened. I've read the manual many times, have watched numerous videos and demos and feel like I have a very good understanding of how it SHOULD behave but it just doesn't. I have spent at least one hundred hours using this machine as well and feel I know what it SHOULD do but it just doesn't. My gut/intuition says that there's some kind of malfunction because it just shouldn't function so erratically ALL of the time.
It's not a result of having my sensitivity too high either (which is a common mistake). I often crank it way back once I locate a target in order to help pinpoint/narrow down my digging area, yet it still gives false or inaccurate tones.
I'm leaning toward selling it for a great price because I got it so cheap but if it's worth saving as a backup I would like to know. To me, if you can't find good stuff with it what's the use??
If there is something I'm overlooking, I'm all ears.
Thanks in advance for any tips, tricks, advice or agreement that I should just get rid of this thing and get a good solid machine. I'm all ears.
HH
I've used this 202 daily since July 26th and frankly, I'm just not impressed with it. I've given it (and myself) more than a good chance. But, I have found all of my best finds, silver, gold and silver jewelry, old coins and tokens, relics and tons of clad with my cheap little $30.00 Tracker IV. I thought the 202 was supposed to be better.
Since I began using the 202, my overall count of everything is down by at least half. I've read some awesome reviews on the machine but no matter what I do, it just doesn't find the goods very well.
It's erratic, the tones are all over the place and it gives false signals consistently. You can get a solid, repeatable, diggable tone and then..... nothing's in the hole or it's not what the tone indicates if there's actually something there. A high clear tone shouldn't produce a nickel or foil. It's very frustrating and a huge waste of time and effort.
It will also give all three tones over the same target and it happens consistently.
Also, when you use a fair amount of discrimination for say, coin shooting for silver, you'll often get a nice, clear, strong high tone but if you back off on the discrimination, you find it's a low junk tone in disguise. It seems to be just kicking the trash tones into high tones rather than actually discriminating them out.
Also, the coin and depth indicators aren't even close to being accurate (and I am aware that they're only "probable" readings for coin sized objects lying flat). That doesn't bother me so much because I go far more by tone anyway but it would be nice if it was right maybe 25% of the time or something just so you could get a feel for it. I mean, they did include it in the design right??
I bought this thing used and "as is" from a lady who claimed she never even used it. It certainly looks brand new. I'm just wondering if there's something wrong with it
Maybe she damaged it and didn't tell me. Maybe it's just a bad model or a lemon. I just don't know.Before I sell this thing and put the cash toward an upgrade, is it even worth having it checked out to make sure it's working right??
How would I begin to troubleshoot this thing?? It does detect metal and in a month I did manage to dig up one old IH but other than that, mostly clad and junk(about half the clad the Tracker IV finds consistently, including tonight).
It air tests pretty well but in the field is another story. The signals and tones are just all over the place no matter the settings and/or mode. I usually hunt in all metal with my disc at around 11-12 O'clock to start. It will lose gold entirely at about 1-2:00.
The auto notch will pass right over gold so I never use that. It also signals erratically on trash anyway so I see no point. I do use notch sometimes in trashy spots but even that gives consistently wrong tones and false signals.
If anyone knows anything about these machines I would love to be enlightened. I've read the manual many times, have watched numerous videos and demos and feel like I have a very good understanding of how it SHOULD behave but it just doesn't. I have spent at least one hundred hours using this machine as well and feel I know what it SHOULD do but it just doesn't. My gut/intuition says that there's some kind of malfunction because it just shouldn't function so erratically ALL of the time.
It's not a result of having my sensitivity too high either (which is a common mistake). I often crank it way back once I locate a target in order to help pinpoint/narrow down my digging area, yet it still gives false or inaccurate tones.
I'm leaning toward selling it for a great price because I got it so cheap but if it's worth saving as a backup I would like to know. To me, if you can't find good stuff with it what's the use??
If there is something I'm overlooking, I'm all ears.
Thanks in advance for any tips, tricks, advice or agreement that I should just get rid of this thing and get a good solid machine. I'm all ears.
HH
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