Bounty Hunter Detector's get a bad rap

[Ted]

I just got to say I see alot of bounty hunter detectors get a bad rap on these forums. I think people are afraid to mention that they have one. I have been in the hobby for years, around 20 or more on and off. I have owned from the cheapest to the most expensive. and I have to tell you, the wal mart pioneer 202 is just as good as any. I am talking about a detector for the hobbiest. You can't beat it for the money. I just purchased one last week, and found a diamond ring 9.5 inches deep the first time out. plus a whole lot of coins. sure it doesnt ID correctly all the time, but I have never owned one that did. It ID's just fine at shallow depth, as with any detector. and how deep do you need to go if you want to have fun finding coins. I find most of my coins 4 inches or less deep. and ocasionally find deeper ones. the bounty hunter will do that with ease. and be as accurate as any detector at ID the target. I had white and minelab, and fisher detectors go as deep as 15 inches. but rarely would I ever find anything to dig that deep. I think for the detectorist who wants to have alot of fun for the buck the 202 is the best for the money. I don't think I would go any cheaper than that. Good depth, ID, good price with a warranty. and no I don't work for bounty hunter or wal-mart.
Thanks Ted

 

[Dan-Pa.]

In my neck of the woods looking for silver coins better have a unit that goes 8-12 inches on a silver dime..I imagine some do quite well in local parks for clad and more than one nice find has been made..looking for the old silver is hard work and just want a unit that will get it if its there..

 

[MaineDigger]

I own three detectors, and one one of them is -- you guessed it -- a Radio Shack 2200 (Bounty Hunter). It's not the deepest, but it was a great starter detector and has a lot of bang for the buck. For more depth in the same proce range, I would suggest something along the lines of a Silver uMax, but for good target I.D. coin shooting, a Bounty Hunter is a great bargain.

 

[Anonymous]

Or are they cheap because they're made in China. I'd rather spend more on a US made detector and keep the jobs and money here at home.

 

[JB(MS)]

After First Texas bought Bounty Hunter the detectors they made were cheap crap and their reputation still suffers from it. Another thing that hurts their image is the cheap bottom end models they make. The cheapest are basically just toys, but they hired Dave Johnson a couple of years ago so they seem to be on the right track now. He designed the Fisher CZ's, Tesoro LST and Whites MXT among others and has already made improvements to some of their existing models. I was fortunate in getting to test the upgrade he did for the Time Ranger about a year and half ago. The one I tested was darn good, depth on higher conductive targets was excellent, on par with the other top brands, and the numerical meter was very accurate. If anyone is interested the Time Ranger field test I did is at http://jb-ms.com/bh/.

JB

 

[mattockman]

My first detector was a Radioshack 2000 and I found tons of clad with it...if it said it was a quarter or dime or nickle, it was just that, that was one thing I could depend on. Now I have a Minelab, excaliber and Explorer XS and improved my oldies...I sold the RS 2000 to a kid on the block for $40 it was his birthday.

 

[minelab marcus]

Hey Ted, I agree with you.
My wife bought me a Tracker IV four years ago for Father's day and I still have it. It was my first machine and a great one for starting in the hobby. Once I got used to it, I could pinpoint a coin in a 2" diameter area and pop it out in seconds. It is a great machine for modern clad but does have trouble on deeper items. My boys prefer it over my Garrett 400 and Sov. XS2 due to it's light weight and ease of pinpointing.
Nice topic BTW.
HH
MM

 

[brocantes]

I have a camo ls and have detected coins to 10". I must say that it was a pleasant surprise.

 

[Anonymous]

last year i started out with the rs 3300 BH it was a nice unit, found a 36 buffalo nickle down 9" ,which is in nice condition, I missed it with my buddys classic id that i had borrowed for a month, but that was a good unit also. now i have a whites qxt and silver eagle, alot more expensive but lacking a couple features found on the 3300 that i miss. should have keeped it as a backup, but then again i have a wife.

 

[Dang]

I had a Sharp Shooter II I picked up real cheap at a prospecting store. It was the first ID detector I owned. It performed ok when it was working but I had a short somewhere in the coil's cord and the box connection. I had to twist and jiggle the connector all the time.

 

[George W]

Ted, I had a B/H 505 Also got it at WalMart and it worked well inland but I found that it was all but useless on a salt water beach in wet sand! I ended up taking it back o WalMart and I picked up a White DFX let me tell you that thing is amazing to say the least! But back to the B/H I did find many coins with it on dry land or even wet dirt it did a great job and would have made a good backup for me. But most of the hunting I want to do is on the beach after I seen a guy pull up a 1/2 ct diamond ring out of the wet sand. He showed me 4 other rings he got that morning in just under 3 hours and a ton on clad too. He was using a Fisher CZ-6a. The DFX will do all I want it too and much more and work just as fast as I can. It all depends where and how you hunt.My .02 for what it's worth! Happy hunting. George

 

[jimleo]

My first detector was a high end BH Land Ranger. Since then I have gone with Garrett, acquiring an ACE 250 and a GTI 2500 Pro. The Land Ranger learning curve was higher than on my much more expensive 2500! I still have it and use it sometimes but it is fairly complicated for a relatively inexpensive machine. I found myself wasting a lot of precious digging time making adjustments and trying to figure out how to solve problems than on either one of my Garrett products. After several months with the BHLR I still did not feel confident I was communicating with the machine like I needed to. I was often dismayed to find the machine "falsing" and the pinpointing was often off by several inches. Maybe it's just me but that macnine whipped my butt every time I took it out! For a basic coin shooter it was too complicated. As long as you stick to the "turn on and go" preset programs you can get along pretty well, but once you start trying to make adjustments it was/is a bear to deal with. Don't get me wrong, I think BH is a very good machine as long as you stick to the basics. The various forums have demonstrated that many of the better finds are taken with a BH machineI haven't dealt with a basic bottom end BH machine so I can't comment on how it does or does not fit the bill. I still use my BHLR as backup and as a loaner when I am trying to get someone else interested in the hobby but I set it on a preset program and warn them not to change the settings. JIM

 

[Ted]

I just had to post my earlier message. I had to make myself feel better about having to buy the bounty hunter. I owened one back along time ago. and remeber it worked fine for turn on and go hunting. Yes it isn't worth sqwaut on the beach. I remebered that too. but I got the fever, and was short of cash. It was the only thing i could afford. I had fun and think i will keep it. I sent my last one back to walmart too after returning from the beach. I will just grab it whenever i get the fever, and have lots of fun no matter what i find. thanks for the input everyone. I feel better have fun hunting, I will and do
Ted