who likes the 505

[lost Hunter]

I know this is a Bounty Hunter forum so I would like to know if you ever used a 505 & did you like it ? If not which Bounty Hunter do you think does a better job. I am an owner of the 505 less than a year and it's in for a check-up already.

 

[salmonriverhotrock]

My 505 was used when I bought it about 3 years ago. Seems to be doing fine so far and I got the 4" coil for it to work the trashed out places. It is rare I ever look at the display for the depth reading and to be honest, I could live without it. This is the only Tone and Display detector I have and I much prefer detecting by sound, not pre setTones. It is a good machine though, finds as much as anything else I have. Like any other Tone and Display machine, it can be fooled by what it has found.

 

[Dirtdigger33]

I have had my 505 for almost a year and a half now. I have not had any issues with it. Found my 1st silver coin with it in the first year a 1961 rosie , some silver jewelry and silver rings, a gold ring and lots of clad. The four inch coil makes it a lot of fun to hunt with in narrow places and close to metal. I will agree with Salmon on the not looking at the display. I prefer to go by tones. I like how the 505 has distinct tones for each target segment. I also like the autonotch feature when need to hunt quiclkly. If you learn this detector it can be a very effective machine at finding some good stuff. I have heard good things about the tracker IV on this site. Low cost unit with a lot of power. Asking which machine does a better job will get you all kinds of opinions from people who have certain machines as to which one is the better machine. In deciding what machine to buy I read the posts here from people who use the machines. You can also google reviews o a particular detector and then read the reviews. My 505 works really well. Sorry to hear you are having diffuculties with yours.

 

[lost Hunter]

[size=x-large][size=large]I hear what your saying about the tones, But mine gives off different tones on the same object, iron then silver one of the selling points was depth that's why I got it, It seemed to work good when I first got it, then down hill from there[/size][/size]

 

[matthias]

I like my 505. Never had any trouble with it. When I take a first time md'er with me the 505 is the choice detector because it is so easy to find things with there is no time to get bored or frustrated. HH. Matt

 

[salmonriverhotrock]

One reason I do not put any reliance on Depth indicators is that as a rule of thumb, most anything you find is on the surface to at or about 3-4 inches deep.

The other reason is, unless your coil is scrubbing the ground, you are at or about an inch or two above the ground. What may detect at 2 inches of air may not detect the same as 2 inches of air and 2 inches of ground and so on.

Multiples of targets under the coil can also goof up depth indicators as well as target identity. Sometimes you can raise a concentric (round) coil higher above the ground to reduce the number of targets that are all at once interrupting the coil field. The coil field of a concentric coil is like the shape of an upside down cone and so naturally, the higher up it is, the less area of air and ground it detects. Sometimes, this can be used to an advantage in working trashed out areas or with multiples of targets, simply by process of elimination, digging the shallowest down towards deepest. It is possible to have a trash target above and or in close proximity to a good target and is why there are those of us who will dig all targets to recheck for second target and so on. If a person does not want to spend the time and put in the work to learn to detect by sound, Tone and display detectors will get you in the ball park but as I've said, they can also be fooled and in some ways, be just as frustrating.

I have found pocket dumps that made my 505 go bonkers but when I set it to all metal to pin point and then began digging each sound, one by one, I got all the coins dumped but granted, I had no idea what coin they would be until I saw them. If I had placed all my confidence in that a junk target is supposed to read as an inconsistent unrepeatable tone and displayed target, I would have moved on thinking I had detected junk. I know people like to defend these Tone and Display machines all the way to their graves but they are not perfect. Yes, I will give in that for beginners, they are initially not as frustrating to operate but that is because the operator is not having to so much understand what the machine is doing and in blind trust, has to accept what it's telling them.

I hope you don't get me wrong, I like my 505 and it has been a very fun machine. I don't regret buying it at all and feel if BH coin/relic machines are not nipping at the heels of the more Name Brand high dollar units, they are out doing them.

 

[lost Hunter]

[size=x-large]Let me say Thank You for your serving Robert, I am learning more about my 505 & detecting from owners like yourself great site [/size]

 

[stylesjay]

My 505 is my spare-back up MD and I primally use a Minelab 705.
I have no problems with the 505 and like it's ease to operate. It can be tricked by the target at times but I have learned that some tones just have to be dug. I also like my 4" coil and my wife likes it too.
I have had some nice finds with it. For the money I would get it or a Fisher in the same price range.
HH

 

[BH505Man]

I've had my 505 for 3 years now, however, it has only been the past 4 months that I have used it and found things with it. This is because mine had a defective search coil. Now that I've got it working properly, I love the Pioneer 505. It's a lot of detector for the money.

 

[Ed in SoDak]

Salmon's got it right on the cone shape of the detection field. Most all coils also exhibit areas of "confused" ID and the shape of the cone can vary depending on the settings. Here's a post where we try to graphically illustrate this detection field.

http://www.findmall.com/read.php?60,1743621,1752902#msg-1752902

Even if the depth indicator is not to be trusted, it's relative reading will help you in pinpointing. Just home in on the most shallow reading. It's set up for coin-shaped and sized objects and so won't be accurate on anything not within that relatively narrow range of objects, but the relative depth is a guide nonetheless and does serve a purpose.

In our rocky and hard to dig soil, I'll often pss on the signals saying 10"+ on my Time Ranger. If I dig them a little and depth reading decreases accordingly or my pinpointer can pick it up, I may proceed, but too often the deep ones are time wasters making big and hard to clean holes and nothing ends up in my pouch for the effort. I recover the hole and move. YMMV, for sure!

-Ed

 

[Leonard]

I Have one and trust me I use it 2-3 times week and it does well , no issues with it , in my opinion you have to learn it and learn what it is all about , took my a good month before I got this down and now I`am enjoying this metal detector to the max ,,,

 

[mwaynebennett]

I had a 505 and an Elite and the Elite 2200 (Discovery 2200) is MUCH easier to use and just as capable. The 505 is heavy and has a tiny, hard-to-read, display compared to the Elite 2200. The Elite can be adjusted using the fingers of the swinging arm but the 505 has analog knobs to rotate which are not nearly as easy to use as the membrane switches on the Elite. The membrane panel make the Elite more rain resistant also. The additional weight of the 505 means more arm strain while accelerating and decelerating the unit on each swing and tires the swinging arm much more.

The 505 was a totally awesome machine in its day but is now obsolete technology.

Mark