How effective is my detctor???

[zakk74]

I have recently received an older model detector,a Bounty Hunter Tracker 2-D/707. I would appreciate any advice on the thing, especially where i might find a users manual,thanks! I have put in new batteries,and played around with metals laying around the house, as I just did get it up and running. Other than the needle sticking,it seems responsive. Just a newbie looking for any advice,Thank you for your time.

 

[U.K. Brian]

Have you tried putting "Metal Detector Manuals" in your search engine ? Most of the sites will have some Bounty Hunters listed though as later versions (that work just the same) come along the names/number designations change so you might have to pick the nearest to your model.

I wonder if its static causing your needle to stick ? Perhaps cleaning the face with an anti static cloth might help. Certainly wont harm.

 

[zakk74]

Thank you for the advice, I'll certainly put it to use! again,thanks.

 

[kenbounty]

Brian maybe you can help. I bought an old MD from a friend, (discovery 3, from Radio Shack). Is this unit anygood? It seems to have all the bells and whistles.

 

[U.K. Brian]

Its was quite well featured but its got to be quite old (1990's) so there's the question of whether its drifted off tune over the years. Many detectors do it doesn't matter price or brand.

From what I remember it runs at 6.5 or 6.6 kHz which was really the frequency of choice at the time for good all round performance. Think the coil was under eight inches so smaller than the average stock coil of today but this isn't necessarily a bad thing as you will find it easier to use in badly contaminated ground and in high mineralisation areas.

The thing is it will need to be ground balanced properly so read the section on this in the handbook and practise. If you do this out in the field having found a weak/deep signal you can see the effect getting it right or not has. When you get use to the machine you can move on because though correct ground balance is important there's times when a slight offset from dead on is the better choice.

Correct meter/tone I.D. means the coil has to sweep dead over the target. Sweep to one side and results will not be correct.

What I can't remember for the life of me is the sweep speed that gets best results. I think you can sweep fairly slow to medium but fast will lose you performance. Can't say for certain though so again when your out find a deep sounding target and just experiment.

Your not going to have the depth of a modern/more expensive detector but could do better in the field by paying more attention to sweep speed, coil height and using a slightly lower level of discrimination than someone alongside you with a "better" detector thats not being used correctly.

Best of luck !