Sir Gala Clad
Bronze Member
I have moved my last reply to Fireford " OUTLAW SUBMARINER" to start this new thread as I which I believe to be of most value to newbies and of some value to seasoned detectorists. It is different than most approaches discussed on the forum as it is based on needs changing as new skills are developed and experience obtained using a lower cost entry level detector.
I purchased a Bounty Hunter Pioneer 505 Pro for lawn & dry sand beach hunting on the beach as part of a sale when I purchased an Excalibur II 1000 for wet sand and shallow water hunting. I would of preferred the Garrett Ace 350 or the Fischer F5, but they were not on sale and the price was right on the Bounty Hunter. I cannot tell you which of the three detector(s) is best as each has its own strength(s), but I have been more than satisfied with the Bounty Hunter, and do not regret purchasing it.
For health reasons and having to take care of the grand children I was limited to hunting in my back yard for the first half of the year and used this time to experiment with the Bounty Hunter. When I first used this detector, I thought the treasure hunting Gods had gone mad. This detector sounded like a pachinko machine gone wild continuously cycling between three different tones: a low pitch tone for zinc, a weird pffff (sounds like a dog fart) for iron and a high pitch tone for copper/silver, as it was having difficulty locking on to a target.
I immediately realized that I strongly dislike bell ringing to identify a target and prefer a VCO type response which changes frequency or increases in volume as the receive coil gets closer to the target. I also learned that I needed a head phone to keep from being banished from the yard, and that I was not a big fan of visual identification meters. After several frustrating tries, it dawned on me that the 8" concentric search coil was too large to seperate the large number of targets under the search coil, I suspect that my back yard may of served as the trash pit of the Pacific in former years.
Even though I still prefer a VCO response, it was quite enjoyable to detect with this detector after I switched to a sniper (hockey puck coil). Over time, I learned how to efffectively use a Japanese digging knife to dig small plugs and a Garrett pro pin pointer to rapidly isolate targets. Later I learned how to retrieve shallow coins without digging by using a brass probe to find the coin and a round shaft screwdriver to pry the coin out of the ground without digging. While developing theese skills, I had a great time with the grand children as we played a game of guessing what the target was and were delighted just to have our guess was correct. If the retrieved item was of value, it was just that much sweater.
I later purchased a Gold Finder 11" DD coil so that I would be able to cover more ground when I started detecting on the beach plus I purchased two extra lower shafts so that I could rapidly change coils. This is a great detector to learn how to hunt on dry sand at the beach as it is light and simple to use.
The only regret I have was buying both detectors at the same time. If I had purchased the Bounty Hunter first, I would of understood that the Excalibur ll 800 with the smaller eight inch coil was more suitable for my use as it is easier to handle in the surf and strong currents plus it is easier to pin point with . More accurate pin pointing is a big advantage to me as I often have only one chance to retrieve a target. I only stopped using the Bounty Hunter, after developing the skills to effectively detect and retrieve coin size objects and jewlery on wet sand and in shallow water.
When scouting a new beach or only detecting on dry sand, the Bounty Hunter is still my detector of choice because of its lighter weight and ability to rapidly change coils. It remains as a back up detector when the more complex Excalibur ll 1000 has to sent back for repair and the Bounty Hunter is used as a loaner to my guest(s).
I purchased a Bounty Hunter Pioneer 505 Pro for lawn & dry sand beach hunting on the beach as part of a sale when I purchased an Excalibur II 1000 for wet sand and shallow water hunting. I would of preferred the Garrett Ace 350 or the Fischer F5, but they were not on sale and the price was right on the Bounty Hunter. I cannot tell you which of the three detector(s) is best as each has its own strength(s), but I have been more than satisfied with the Bounty Hunter, and do not regret purchasing it.
For health reasons and having to take care of the grand children I was limited to hunting in my back yard for the first half of the year and used this time to experiment with the Bounty Hunter. When I first used this detector, I thought the treasure hunting Gods had gone mad. This detector sounded like a pachinko machine gone wild continuously cycling between three different tones: a low pitch tone for zinc, a weird pffff (sounds like a dog fart) for iron and a high pitch tone for copper/silver, as it was having difficulty locking on to a target.
I immediately realized that I strongly dislike bell ringing to identify a target and prefer a VCO type response which changes frequency or increases in volume as the receive coil gets closer to the target. I also learned that I needed a head phone to keep from being banished from the yard, and that I was not a big fan of visual identification meters. After several frustrating tries, it dawned on me that the 8" concentric search coil was too large to seperate the large number of targets under the search coil, I suspect that my back yard may of served as the trash pit of the Pacific in former years.
Even though I still prefer a VCO response, it was quite enjoyable to detect with this detector after I switched to a sniper (hockey puck coil). Over time, I learned how to efffectively use a Japanese digging knife to dig small plugs and a Garrett pro pin pointer to rapidly isolate targets. Later I learned how to retrieve shallow coins without digging by using a brass probe to find the coin and a round shaft screwdriver to pry the coin out of the ground without digging. While developing theese skills, I had a great time with the grand children as we played a game of guessing what the target was and were delighted just to have our guess was correct. If the retrieved item was of value, it was just that much sweater.
I later purchased a Gold Finder 11" DD coil so that I would be able to cover more ground when I started detecting on the beach plus I purchased two extra lower shafts so that I could rapidly change coils. This is a great detector to learn how to hunt on dry sand at the beach as it is light and simple to use.
The only regret I have was buying both detectors at the same time. If I had purchased the Bounty Hunter first, I would of understood that the Excalibur ll 800 with the smaller eight inch coil was more suitable for my use as it is easier to handle in the surf and strong currents plus it is easier to pin point with . More accurate pin pointing is a big advantage to me as I often have only one chance to retrieve a target. I only stopped using the Bounty Hunter, after developing the skills to effectively detect and retrieve coin size objects and jewlery on wet sand and in shallow water.
When scouting a new beach or only detecting on dry sand, the Bounty Hunter is still my detector of choice because of its lighter weight and ability to rapidly change coils. It remains as a back up detector when the more complex Excalibur ll 1000 has to sent back for repair and the Bounty Hunter is used as a loaner to my guest(s).
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