Whats with all the negative waves, man!

[JohnnieWalker]

When you pay $1,000 for a detector, you get more power than you can use. Great for bragging about air tests. But the false signals from the ground might go away if you turn down the sensitivity to the point that the $1,000 unit has the same depth as the Bounty Hunter. But I admit I've bought & used most brands in most price ranges and the difference from one to another isn't that much in most cases.

I found 2 4" deep silver dimes with a 1993 Big Bud XL which cost me about $241. Both were found in parks that were heavily detected. I had the discrimination turned up to eliminate nearly all trash. Both silver dimes ID correctly. But the detector only air tested about 5 1/2" on a dime, when set that way.

I read about someone with a $75 Bounty Hunter (Pioneer 101?). They just stuck with it and found about $2,000. HH, George (MN)

As far as someone finding something good with a cheap detector, we always hear those stories and yes anything is possible. Experience really outplays the detector but I think you really do get what you pay for, and a combination of value and marketing and hype :-( is truly what sets the price.

However, from what I have experienced, the more expensive the detector the more information I get about the object. This is especially helpful when you have limited time to detect a large area and only have the time to dig sure thing signals.

I have in the past gone detecting and only dug sure thing signals, with this technique I would not find gold because gold can be anywhere in the spectrum and of course there is no way to know for sure gold from junk from any detector. But with this technique on a top model unit I will get copper pennies, clad and silver and dig very little trash. When I try this same technique with my inexpensive detector (BH) I get a little bit more trash but never ever seem to find any deep silver or old coins, only recent clad. I suppose if there was a pile of silver coins 5" down I would find it that in itself is wishful thinking.

But it's true that sometimes I find more coins with the cheap BH and I attribute that to the fact it takes less time to recover many shallow clad coins than it does to dig a few deep older and possibly Silver coins.

So what is best? a fast coverage to pick up a lot of shallow drops which typically consists of of pulltabs, bottlecaps, and recent clad or a pr icy unit where you need to swing slower but typically find pieces of silver and older coins that you had to dig deeper and work harder for?

 

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[gollum]

When you pay $1,000 for a detector, you get more power than you can use. Great for bragging about air tests. But the false signals from the ground might go away if you turn down the sensitivity to the point that the $1,000 unit has the same depth as the Bounty Hunter. But I admit I've bought & used most brands in most price ranges and the diffference from one to another isn't that much in most cases.

I found 2 4" deep silver dimes with a 1993 Big Bud XL which cost me about $241. Both were found in parks that were heavily detected. I had the discrimination turned up to eliminate nearly all trash. Both silver dimes ID correctly. But the detector only air tested about 5 1/2" on a dime, when set that way.

I read about someone with a $75 Bounty Hunter (Pioneer 101?). They just stuck with it and found about $2,000. HH, George (MN)

I had a BH Time Ranger many years ago. I thought it was okay then. The more I became familiar with detectors, the more I realized it was nowhere near what I needed.

If all you do is shoot coins in the park, then just about any detector will work. Try taking your BH to the beach, deep cache hunting, gold nugget hunting, or any type of specialized detecting. You will quickly see that the BH don't fill the bill.

Different detectors do different things. You talk about "bragging about air tests". There are several different water detectors out there, but beyond doubt more loot is found with Minelab Excaliburs than any other detector. More people also use Excaliburs because of that.

Best-Mike

 

[slowNsteady]

Hi everyone,
Everyone has their opinion about the Bounty Hunters. Some are good, some are bad. Personally, I feel that the technology in them is dated. First Texas has some very innovative products and is pushing the common metal detector to a new level. I like that, but not everyone wants or needs the best and most powerful thing on the market.
The Bounty Hunter serves its purpose and does it well. They are affordable, reliable, easy to use, and readily available to the average consumer. There are many people who started this hobby with a Bounty Hunter, and many more yet to come. The BH may not be the deepest and most advanced thing out there, but simply put.....they work.

 

[BlueDuck]

I have had a Pioneer 202 for three years now. It serves me well. There has been more then a few times that I found more with it then my parteners did with their $700. machines. That don't make mine better then theirs by any means but it does keep it in perspective. Im 600 miles from the nearest salt water so thats not a problem either. Kinda like saying my gun is good for hunting elephants. But if your hunting rabbits..... so what. Ill upgrade to a better detector one of these days but Ill keep the 202 handy also.

 

[slowNsteady]

Since it's been so hot and dry, I've been working tot lots lately. I ran across a fellow with a new F75. I thought "I'm not trying here, he surely cleaned it out with that thing". I've been using an F4 lately, so I was having a complex about trying to compete with this machine as I know it's capabilities. I've always said it's the hunter, not the machine. I finally went back to where I saw this fellow and gave it a shot. I could tell where he'd been by the color of the wood chips. I went home with a pocket full of change using the F4. The next day, I took the Land Star out to another location he'd been to. Same thing, a pocket full of money. I stand by my motto. A BH in the hands of someone who knows how to use it is a potent weapon indeed.

 

[Sandman]

I normally don't read the Bounty Hunter posts but had to address this question. This Bounty Hunter brand is maybe thought of as a poor mans detector or of poor quality because of where it is sold. This just doesn't hold water. I worked at a metal detecting store and we sold Bounty Hunter because they were cheaper to purchase for the average guy. Since the big box stores also sold them and they had nobody there that knew about the detectors they tended to get the rep of being cheap.

I've used them as I need to learn them to sell them well and found them to be OK for tot lots and playgrounds. We never carried any accessories for them as nobody was buying Bounty Hunters.

 

[Smudge]

im not the expert of metal detecting, but im noticing that 9 times out of 10 its less to do with the machine and more to do with the user. if people knock the BH don't let that bother you. let em wallow in their ignorance and you keep making your hits and enjoying yourself. theres gonna be snobs in every hobby, just ignore em and move on.

and enjoy your 28 straight days of hunting. brother, i envy you!

 

[Sandman]

It looks a Tesoro/Laser Hawkeye. Basically a De Leon with modifications.

Yes a Tesoro for England and either a Laser Hawkeye or Trident since the Rapier has a black coil. Definitely not Bounty Hunter quality or preformance.

 

[Night Stalker]

I've owned a couple bounty hunter's - IMO, they're more or less "starter machines" as you progress in the hobby, you'll eventually upgrade, as you discover there are better machines out there.

 

[FarmerChick]

I think of my BH LoneStar as a starter unit also. I didn't know if I would become addicted (and yes I have) and will use my BH for a long time I am sure, and yes I have found coins etc. But I know if my obession holds I will be upgrading my machine. I think any of the lesser cost units in any hobby we try are the "starter units" ya know....then if you love the hobby, you look for upgrades just like anything.

 

[bevo]

shoot fire and brimstone have at it

 

[Gretchen]

I have a Radio Shack Discovery 1000 (Bounty Hunter Tracker IV) with the old 7 inch inclosed coil. I also bought a 4 inch coil for it. I have used it for years here in the mountains, in the playgrounds, camp grounds, in the fresh water lakes and in Puget Sound out of Seattle. Have found lots of coins including silver ones. Oldest coin was a 1900 Morgan Silver dollar. Also sterling and gold rings. Fast and easy to use. I love the meter. I have earphones, but don't use them, as I metal detect in areas where sightings of bears and mountain lions are reported all the time. I want to know what's around me. At a great price - $10.00 at the local swapmeet.

 

[mile-ender]

Man, I gotta get my two cents in on this!
I got into detecting about three years ago now - picked up a bounty hunter "fast tracker" inexpensive little thing no screen, just filter and discrimination - I go by the sound of the signal. I do mainly inland hunting (not big on digging in the water), but I've brought it with me down to Cape Cod and New Brunswick a couple of times, works just fine. I'm tempted to say great, but I've yet to try another detector. I will say that I've walked away from signals in parks and other areas because the hole was just getting too deep. In my first year I dug a cache of two coffee jars of change and a couple of bills from the late 70's (just over a hundred bucks), the cache was about a foot deep with a sizeable root system from a nearby bush over top. I've picked up items as small as bobby pins (couldn't say how deep those were - didn't interest me ), and if you look back over my posts and some of my finds, you'll see (in my opinion) I can swing with the best of 'em.

 

[Olegrumpy]

Hi all.

Firts, about the mentioned UK laser detector with two knobs, it's a Laser Scout, which is a Compadre with sensitivity knob, 8" interchangeable coil.

That being said, I own two BH units : a Lone Star and a QD II. Own also two Minelabs , a Sov GT and a Quattro.

You must use, and certainly BUY a detector having in mind what you intend to hunt and where.

For instance, I would never hunt wet sand beaches with my BH detectors, nor would I hunt trashy sites with my Minelab units. (Not even with a small coil).

That works ok for me. I keep another couple of no motion veteran units and a Tesoro Compadre for the fun and traveling.

Buried coins and treasure do not know how much you paid for your metal detector. I found over 6.000 curent coins with my Compadre in 14 months of time.

So keep on the good job, you BH owners. They are great units, and we might stand for a surprise when FTP/BH will renew their current models.

HH

Grumpy.

 

[dtpost]

As I do recall this post is about the 505 BH, not any other brands. I had a Whites MXT, and an expensive garrett machine, neither of them found half of what I've found in the past with the BH brand at a quarter of the cost.....Just like a car or any other brand name over pricing, hats off to those who spent less and found more lol

 

[Rob 183]

The best finds I ever made were years ago with a Bounty Hunter TR500. Better to have an inexpensive unit and be out there than to sit and watch because you can't afford to play.

Rob

 

[liftloop]

I put the bounty hunter to the test they say big targets up to 3 feet deep.. not

 

[dtpost]

I put the bounty hunter to the test they say big targets up to 3 feet deep.. not

did you dig a hole three feet deep and try to find the tatget...........

 

[fmerg]

my son and i started with a cheap bh i think it was called the XL
eric made some great finds with his machine but as we upgraded
we found stuff we had missed with the bh
i still have a 505 brand new in the box i will be selling off soon
but i can tell ya for the money and under the right conditions they do work great
i now use a minelab explorer se pro

 

[cz70pro]

In the days pre mortage and kid,I had all the top end machines.I got back into the hobby three years ago, with a used radioshack 2000/ bounty hunter. I was very suprised at how well this machine worked,it did even better with the 4" coil. I dug enough clad and gold rings in two years, to pay for my used fisher cz. I worked a great spot with a friend who was using a minelab explorer,my $50 BH kept right up with him! That BH now resides in the trunk of my car,ready to be used at a moments notice. It may get used more than my cz,just for the fact that it weighs next to nothing.My six year old son has a bounty hunter junior,and loves to dig with his dad. My favorite quote from lost treasure magazine is:The secret is to go as often as you can, and enjoy every moment without worrying thet you are missing something or not hunting deep enough. most all detectors will find the good items within the 3 to 5 inch range,where the vast majority lie. The real difference is not in the machine,but the user.Learn to slow down,overlap your sweeps,and dig enough of those "junk midrange" signals to let the gold show itself.Those three things will bring you finds just as good as or better than that thousand dollar machine! Happy hunting.