What mode do you consistently use with your Bounty Hunter Time Ranger ?

[rumme]

I just got mine in today and the instruction manual is giving me a headache.

Im thinking that my best option is to use the preset 1 mode and then go in and manually overide it so that mode will accept foil but no iron but if I reject iron, will that mean I may miss out on gold ? If thats the case, then I guess I have to accept everything and dig everything. I have a gut feeling that in a few weeks time, im gonna know whether or not this hobby is for me ...Im already into weightlifting, songwriting/recording , atv riding,etc....If I find that this hobby of metal detecting means im constantly digging holes on every hit, and 90% of those hits are rusty nails or bottle caps, there may be a like new Time Ranger up for sale real soon :} ...


can anyone give me easy to understand instructions on how to ground balance this detector in mode 4 or the all metals mode ? I tryed it and all im getting is a bunch of beeps. Thanks

 

Amazon Forum Fav 👍

A History of Mining on the Kenai Peninsula, Alaska - Grab it through Amazon!

[jorge del norte]

"I have a gut feeling that in a few weeks time, im gonna know whether or not this hobby is for me"

dude it takes time......yes you will dig some junk.....my advise is to go to your neighborhood playground or school.....the chips area. Try preset.....do this till you get it...then experiment in other modes......practice ground balancing in your front yard....clean your yard of trash....then post your finds....by this time you will know if it's for you.......atv, bassfishing, basketball rarely ever pays $$$ you back.......but you can still do those things....enjoy

happy hunting

 

[ivan salis]

dailing out foil or pull tabs loses gold --dailing out iron will lose iron relics (possible guns ,swords and such)--it simple--to get to gold you will have to dig pull tabs and screw caps--theres no way around it---there is not silver/gold only finding machine if so everyone and their brother would buy one ---it really very simple the machine puts an electric feild in the ground (the size and depth of the feild differ from machine to machine and the types of heads you use on the machines----metals that conduct electric current like the following copper,brass,silver,gold,iron and aluminum causes the feild to act up the machine notices that the feild signel is acting up and causes the machine to beep or tell you somehow that it is hitting a conductive metal --the higher dollar machines (like the time ranger) can sort out the types of metals somewhat and tell you the depth at which it is reading it at---however sadly some metals are very close to each other on the conductivity scale like gold and aluminum so "notching" out the aluminum range knocks out some or all of the gold range signels---there is a bit of a learning curve and it takes a bit of time to learn your machine--a steady all the time beep often means you just have the sensitvity too high --stray power line "bleed off" can affect your detector as can other electrical items also some minerals in the ground and in saltwater areas can like wise affect your machine-- because their conductive--remember the "electric feild" reading is how your detector works in very basic terms --things that mess with its "electric feild" can cause false readings or steady beeping turning down the sensitivity and turning up the discrimation might help settle down a "unstable" machine this is why having the manual dails is important ---most of the time (80-90%) using the preset ground balance is just fine **however there are places that a preset balance simply will not work right --then you have to "tune" your machine to the area using the manual mode--its a bit of a bear tuning them (it the main reason lots of detectors now have some form of "preset" balance--because lots of folks were turned off to metal detecting simply because they could not get the hang of "tuning" a metal detector to the area)--now know this you will not walk out on the beach and find 5 million dollars in gold bars in 10 min --sorry it doesn't work like that ---however you can greatly improve your odds of finding high dollar good items by knowing your local history and doing good research (but to lots of people research is boring and frankly can be rather time consuming--I like history so to me research is fun)-- hunting tips ***well any places lots of folks gather today or in the past are likely to be good--- some of course better than others depending on what your looking for--- relics? look for old battle feilds or homesites--spanish silver and gold ?--look for ship wreck info --the longer in the past the older and often better the items ----silver coins pre 1968 40% silver --pre 1964 90 % silver --old gold pre 1932---local beachs and bathing areas , fair grounds and parks (if legal in your area) are great places to find coins and jewelry---I hope this helps ---Ivan

 

[rumme]

so keep the foil in but discriminate the iron and this will help weed out some of the trashj while allowing gold to be detcted ?

aslo, should I keep the sensitivity on 5 or should I move it up higher, as long as im not getting false reads. Is anyone on here using the sensitivity setting all the way up at 8 for most of theri detecting needs or keeping it at the factory setting of 5 ?

 

[WV Hillbilly]

I usually run the sensitivity as high as I can without falsing . It is really easy to ground balance in P4 . Sweep your coil around in P1 untill you find an area that is beep free . Set the sens . on 4 or 5 . Raise the coil about waist high . Press the allmetal pinpoint button untill the detector gives off a wobbly tone . Lower the coil to the ground in the metal free area & release the allmetall pinpoint button . You should get a high tone beep . Might sound complicated but only takes a coule seconds when you get the hang of it . HH

 

[WV Hillbilly]

By the way Aluminum always gives me a high good beep & gold gives a low tone .

 

[ivan salis]

I like to say "gold growls" the tone is real noticible and way differant than aluminum

 

[ivan salis]

if you don't want relics (old iron objects) cut the iron out--leave the foil in (to get all the gold items) also you can use a nickle -- use the discrimate* to tune it so you just barely get the nickle to ring up ---that way most of the foil and junk will be lost with little to no gold loss--that should do it--thats the magic setting--max junk out while keeping the gold in setting-you will still get some trash but this will cut way down on it,---while you can totally cut the trash out ,which can be done quite easily--it comes at a cost---it means having to give up some of the high dollar gold items. by the way in certain highly trashy type or bad mineral areas this maybe the only choice. ---it does take time to learn a machine--- a older metal hunting freind is great or a local metal detecting club or group can help alot, finding a good metal hunting partner in the local area is great as they of know great spots to look and by going together you can cut cost on gas and such-- but even all alone you can get learn it it **but that is only of course if you are willing to put forth the effort and spend the time learning your machine --it can do great things once you learn to "work" it right. --good luck---Ivan

 

[tnredneck]

rumme,

I guess i do things different from other people but when i first got my TR i did just the opposite of what everyone else says...i run with all of the iron disc. out and i disc. all of the trash & zinc pennies out except nickels/gold and then i learn my detector and when i am comfortable then i back off on the disc. ro where i want it. 2 things this does for me...i can learn what a good target sounds like without digging myself to death and it gives me the confidence to lower the disc. without making me feel like i cant use the detector. I did this at one site for about a month and when i went back with lower disc. i found that there was very little that was worth digging after i lowered it. There is one thing though and i really don't know what you can do about it...i had one area @ 10' x 20' that the mineralization was so high that the TR missed 3 or 4 good targets that i found with my T2.

Good Luck, Tnredneck