mts
Bronze Member
- #1
Thread Owner
I bought the BHJ for my son about a month ago. I only paid about $39 for it from Amazon so it's not like I spent a lot. It isn't terrible but it really isn't that good either. Here are some notes:
1) He has used it three times and it is already "broken". The battery test feature no longer works. The rest of the detector works but it has me worried that something else will go out on it eventually. There is only a one year warranty so that tells you what they think about its contruction.
2) The discrimination control is very non-linear and doesn't really do much good for figuring out what you are digging. You have to turn it 3/4 of the way to discriminate out iron. Once you've done that there isn't much room to work with for trying to figure out what you are digging.
3) It is a single tone machine. It just beeps when it finds something. My BH Tracker IV is a two tone machine which allows me to tell the difference between different types of targets without changing my discrimination setting. Since the discrimination control is so poor on this machine you pretty much just have to dig to find out what is in the ground. Some people dig every signal anyway so this may not be an issue.
4) The "air" depth is not bad and overall depth of the machine in my local soil is reasonable. It has found quarters at 4". But it is nowhere near the depth of my Tracker IV (which itself is not stellar). So the BHJ is probably fine for hunting clad in tot lots. But don't expect your kids to find any deep silver with it.
5) The unit is very lightweight which is good for young children. It also folds down to a fairly small size if you want to take it on vacation with you.
6) The handle is one of those "L" shaped types. It does not have the arm cuff handle. This type of handle actually promotes swinging in an arc which is not the correct technique. My son has a lot of trouble with keeping the coil flat on the ground.
7) It is cheap. You can't really beat the price considering that it really works. If I was looking for sprinkler heads or just wanted to hit tot lots for change then it would be a good value.
There you go. Basically, if I had to do it all over again I'd pick a different detector. The BHJ is ok but it will probably not last long and has a lot of issues that detract from the experience. And that's not a good thing for kids who lose interest easily.
1) He has used it three times and it is already "broken". The battery test feature no longer works. The rest of the detector works but it has me worried that something else will go out on it eventually. There is only a one year warranty so that tells you what they think about its contruction.
2) The discrimination control is very non-linear and doesn't really do much good for figuring out what you are digging. You have to turn it 3/4 of the way to discriminate out iron. Once you've done that there isn't much room to work with for trying to figure out what you are digging.
3) It is a single tone machine. It just beeps when it finds something. My BH Tracker IV is a two tone machine which allows me to tell the difference between different types of targets without changing my discrimination setting. Since the discrimination control is so poor on this machine you pretty much just have to dig to find out what is in the ground. Some people dig every signal anyway so this may not be an issue.
4) The "air" depth is not bad and overall depth of the machine in my local soil is reasonable. It has found quarters at 4". But it is nowhere near the depth of my Tracker IV (which itself is not stellar). So the BHJ is probably fine for hunting clad in tot lots. But don't expect your kids to find any deep silver with it.
5) The unit is very lightweight which is good for young children. It also folds down to a fairly small size if you want to take it on vacation with you.
6) The handle is one of those "L" shaped types. It does not have the arm cuff handle. This type of handle actually promotes swinging in an arc which is not the correct technique. My son has a lot of trouble with keeping the coil flat on the ground.
7) It is cheap. You can't really beat the price considering that it really works. If I was looking for sprinkler heads or just wanted to hit tot lots for change then it would be a good value.
There you go. Basically, if I had to do it all over again I'd pick a different detector. The BHJ is ok but it will probably not last long and has a lot of issues that detract from the experience. And that's not a good thing for kids who lose interest easily.
