202 at the beach??

[Waltorian]

I have a bh pioneer 202 and really would like to do some beach detecting. Closest is Galveston. Even though I've had this det for years I'm not real wise on the settings. Can anyone tell me what to set my controls to so I maybe can find something at the beach? Or is it a waste of time? Thanks

 

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[Phantasman]

The Pioneer 202 is a good basic detector. I see that WalMart has it on sale for $99, a great price for this $249 list price unit. The only detector that bests the 202 in the Legacy series is the 505.

Bounty Hunter Pioneer 202 Metal Detector - Walmart.com

In dry sand, you should be fine just to turn it on, make sure you are in DISC mode, set the DISC knob at 10-12 o'clock, turn the sense knob as high as possible without falsing, and start swinging.

I wouldn't use AM mode, or notch or auto notch, unless the pull tabs are driving you nuts. Forget detecting in the wet sand or water, unless you turn the sense knob way down, thus only able to get an inch or so depth. FTP touts that the 202 has a GroundTrac feature. Don't be fooled, as it just means they preset the ground setting. It doesn't auto track. Same with the Tracker IV and other "GroundTrac" machines.

 

[Waltorian]

Awesome! Thanks for the info.

 

[Garrett424]

What Phantasm said.

The 202 is a decent functional machine and it will find treasure. Just don't expect to find any really deep treasure.

 

[SouthFLdigger]

The 202 will go down 8-9" on a quarter in the dry soft sand, half my good finds are out in the dry sand towel line. The towel line is all i hit for over a year with great finds, just takes a bit more patience and good scoop to dig the trash out fast ! As Phantasman said the salty sand will net you a max depth of perhaps 5" on the same quarter with the sens having to be lowered to keep chatter down.

 

[Garrett424]

The 202 will go down 8-9" on a quarter in the dry soft sand, half my good finds are out in the dry sand towel line. The towel line is all i hit for over a year with great finds, just takes a bit more patience and good scoop to dig the trash out fast ! As Phantasman said the salty sand will net you a max depth of perhaps 5" on the same quarter with the sens having to be lowered to keep chatter down.

Sometimes they will surprise you on depth. The deepest coin I dug with my 202 was a silver Rosey in red clay under damp sand. That coin was at least 8" down and that clay was hard as a rock. It took me a couple minutes to dig it out. I'll never forget it.

OTOH, I used it on a grassy field and did dig lots of targets. It was only after getting the Delta and going back over that same field that I realized how much I was missing. It was a HUGE number of targets; believe me, and many of those were deep coins; many of them sitting sideways. The 202 just didn't see them.

But overall, as I've always said, "muffler on a stick" BH machines are quite functional for what they are and what they're designed to do. They will find treasure.

Some of the higher end models are pretty darn good imo. I have an old Radio Shack Land Star clone that I got for 25 bucks that will hit fairly deep in AM mode. I don't use it anymore but one kid I take hunting from time to time really likes it.

The most important thing is enjoying the hunts regardless of what you're swinging...

 

[SouthFLdigger]

Sometimes they will surprise you on depth. The deepest coin I dug with my 202 was a silver Rosey in red clay under damp sand. that coin was at least 9" down and that clay was hard as a rock. it took me a couple minutes to dig it out. I'll never forget it.

OTOH, I used it on a grassy field and did dig lots of targets. it was only after getting the Delta and going back over that same field that i realized how much I was missing. It was a HUGE number of targets; believe me, and many of those were deep coins; many of them sitting sideways. the 202 just didn't see them.

But overall, as I've always said, "muffler on a stick" BH machines are quite functional for what they are and what they're designed to do. The will find treasure.

Some of the higher end models are pretty darn good imo. I have an old Radio Shack Land Star clone that I got for 25 bucks that will hit fairly deep in AM mode. I don't use it anymore but one kid I take hunting from time to time really likes it.

The most important thing is enjoying the hunts regardless of what you're swinging...

Agreed, my old workhorses i started with was a Bounty Hunter tracker 4 , then a slow but deep Time Ranger v4..compadre...many more. The old bounty hunters do very well in non trashy areas. The new fratbros units are a night and day difference. Its a great time to be an equipment junkie like me .:-)

 

[Garrett424]

Agreed, my old workhorses i started with was a Bounty Hunter tracker 4 , then a slow but deep Time Ranger v4..compadre...many more. The old bounty hunters do very well in non trashy areas. The new fratbros units are a night and day difference. Its a great time to be an equipment junkie like me .:-)

Yeah, I started out with the Tracker IV too. I thought it was a great machine because that's all I knew at the time.
I'll always be thankful that it came my way because it got me started in this hobby.

Next I moved up to the 202 and then ran across the Land Star clone for 25 bucks; which is still a steal imo.

But then the Delta came my way and that pretty much changed everything. That's when I became more serious about the hobby. I had no idea how much treasure I had been missing until I started swinging that Delta.

I still have all three of my BH machines. I'll probably end up giving the T4 to a kid I know who appears to be serious about this hobby. You just can't beat it for a stater machine.

 

[gravityrules]

I don't have a 202 but a newbie friend has one and I was showing him some basics of operation. The 202 surprised me with the ability to notch out stay tabs but still detect nickels. I didn't test that under a variety of depths and ground conditions so I don't know if that accuracy would hold up, but that feature is nice.
That capability seems to be difficult for most of the numeric TID machines, the #s are almost identical for stay tabs and nickels ... with just a slight difference in sound characteristics.