Frustration - Advice Needed - Please Help

exeterjay · Oct 21, 2007

I live in the Seacoast area of New Hampshire. I am new to detecting, but I have always have a desire to pick it up as a long term hobby. Last season I purchased a Bounty Hunter 202 from Walmart ($189) with the hopes of it being a good starter unit. I took it out into the cornfield behind my home and found a post cival war era sword buckle and some musket balls. Great beginers luck! After that, I found nothing and delt with constantly digging holes that I was unable to recover anything from. My targets would seem to move and the 202s readings were never correct on depth or what the object was. So, my question is, will buying a more expensive, better name detector solve these problems? I guess I am just not sure what your getting when you buy detectors that are $400 and up in price over something that cost $200. I apreciate any help or advice. Thanks in advance.

Jay

re-tek · Oct 21, 2007

the detector is not that great but you can still have fun with it. even a cheap detector in capable hands can find goodies.

being an owner of a cheap radioshack detector for many years, i can tell you that you can learn alot with that bounty hunter. stick with sand/woodchip playgrounds and beaches till you get a feel for the detector. they all behave differently. playgrounds and beaches are easy to dig in so you wont get so frustrated digging garbage.

a technique i like to use at playgrounds and beaches is as follows..
wear boots or old sneakers. when you get a beep, slide off a layer of sand/woodchips off the top of the target using your foot. check again. beep is still i the same spot? slide off another bit of sand/woodchips with your foot and check again. keep doing this till the beep is now in the pile and not in the hole. the item should be right up top of the pile somewhere. grab your item and kick the sand/woodchips back in to the hole.

once you get that hang of it you can cover a playground in short time and without much bending over.

Montana Jim · Oct 21, 2007

It might be the detector... it might be you.

I have a 202 that is still finding stuff flawlesslyafter many years... and as well as high-end models and makes. It is currently my back-up for another BH model.

BH is pretty good about checking it out for you if you send it to them. They have instructions on their site on how to do that.

Remember... Less expensive does NOT mean cheap... while it is a great starter - it's not a toy or cheapy.

Good luck... PM if you like.

Jim (Defender of the mighty bounty hunter)

Hell - it might have just been begineer's luck like you said!

EasyMoney · Oct 21, 2007

I own about 20 different detectors and one is a Bounty Hunter. I've had other BH's, White's, Garretts, etc in the past. My favorite detector is one I paid 50 cents for. It will find coins in woodchips 4-6" deep and only 2" in soil without any troubles. New it retailed for $9.95. My most expensive detector retailed new for $1000. I used to repair metal detectors of all brands in the 80's and I can tell you for sure that most detector malfunction problems are from, and in this order too:

#1 Needing to replace the batteries with decent alkaline ones.

#2 Storing batteries unused in a detector too long.

#3 Dropping or treating a detector too roughly

#4 Not knowing your detector as well as the back of your hand, including learning all it's slightly differing sounds over different objects..

#5 Having a stacked (co-axial) or concentric or DD coil a and not knowing how to pinpoint or ID targets by using side-to-side motion instead of forward-to backward-to forward motion. Or, trying to pinpoint or target ID just by holding the searchcoil over the target and not moving it at all. Wrong idea with a Bounty Hunter of most varieties, and most other detectors too.

I have a friend who has problems with the immediate (#5) above. I've known him for 52 years and he's 3 months older than me. When he has troubles pinpointing, by fanning forward and backward and/or just holding his searchcoil still over the target, he blames it on his detector. When I tell him it needs motion to pinpoint he acts like he's deaf. Ha ha ha. Very funny. He's my best friend of course, but a bit stubborn too. After all, he's older than me.

I hope this helps. And HH.

Larry

exeterjay · Oct 21, 2007

Thanks for all of the advice. This may just come down to the fact that I need to spend more time working with the 202 and trying to figure out how to best use it.

JOE(USA) · Oct 21, 2007

exeterjay,

Everyone that has given you advise so far has done a good job,especially "Easymoney". Hunt the easy areas only while you are learning and if possible find someone to hunt with that knows how to detect,so he can show you the ropes. The detector you have will do just fine while you are learning. Joe

doozis · Oct 22, 2007

At 55 years old my eyes are not the best anymore and I found that
using a hand held pin pointer helped me a lot. They say a coin develops a "halo effect" after its been in the ground over time which
gives the metal detector a stronger signal. When you start digging you
break up the halo and possibly move the coin to an on edge position making it much harder to rescan ( the dreaded disappearing target ) Lots of targets blend in with the soil and are very hard to see. The hand held pinpointer will usually find them quickly and easily for me.
The handheld pinpointer also saves me gas and makes it easier to get permission to hunt since I no longer drive the backhoe to the site

Doozis

Sandman · Oct 22, 2007

Using more expensive detectors helps after you have had some experience in finding targets in easy places like Joe says. Your detector is up to the task of hunting school lots, etc on most coin depths. It's even a fair dry sand beach detector. Most detectors get funny operation in the wet sand though.

Read all you can about the hobby and visit the manufactures websites for more info. Subscribe to some treasure magazines which all have lots of information on how to do it. See if there is a club near you that you may join. Find a detecting buddy to share the fun with.

An good luck.
Sandman

benjamin68 · Oct 22, 2007

Jay, I had a smiliar question (Is it me or the detector

) and concerns. I am very new to metal detecting and cannot offer you any advice. I first tried my detector out on the beach and I must say it was much easier than digging dirt. Best of luck to you.

au4me · Oct 23, 2007

exeterjay,

Give me a pm,I"ii come up to your plade with a better machine for you to try, You can see the difference,HH

Willy · Oct 23, 2007

One thing to watch out for is your footwear and how much metal is in/on it. A guy I know was having a terrible time with his Ace 150, thing was honkin' like a sick goose and couldn't pinpoint worth a damn. He came to me for advise and mine was to ditch the steel toed boots.. worked like a champ after that. ..Willy.

au4me · Oct 23, 2007

exeterjay,

Sorry I was in a hurry, I meant come up to your PLACE

Not plade Ha Ha , I"ll bring you a reasonably priced Detector for you to try in the Cornfield so u can see how a very good Detector feels and finds. I live in central Ma. about an hour or so I think from u so not to big a deal to meet you.Let me know if u r interested.

au4me · Oct 23, 2007

exeterjay,

Sorry I was in a hurry, I meant come up to your PLACE

Not plade Ha Ha , I"ll bring you a reasonably priced Detector for you to try in the Cornfield so u can see how a very good Detector feels and finds. I live in central Ma. about an hour or so I think from u so not to big a deal to meet you.Let me know if u r interested.