Need People That Owned Bounty Hunter and Another Brand....

[thewatchers]

Ok I'm sure questions like this have been asked but of course I'm asking again. I currently am using a Bounty Hunter Sharp Shooter 2 and I am very happy with it. I don't seem to have a problem finding some goodies and like how its really simple to use. Now I have read probably over a hundred reviews and it just seems impossible to get the answers I'm looking for. On this site I feel like the majority of its users have a fairly large amount of sense from just their general trial and error. So here is the question. I'm looking for some people that have used a bounty hunter detector and then has either moved on to nicer detectors or have atleast gave other detectors a fair amount of swinging and decided to stick to bounty hunter. I know that the question leaves alot of space but I just need some personal experiences why you did or did not switch from bounty hunter. Now if you haven't used both and are one of the ones that just hate the muffler style detectors please don't come to argue about how they are junk. I'm just looking to get a 2nd detector and would like some real advice from people that experienced both. And one more request. If the detector you used is junk cause it was had say a faultly part, can you keep your complaining down a little. I read a handfull of those kind of reviews and I know lemons exist but I don't like baseing my decision around a few flukes in manufactoring.

Thanks Jesse

 

Amazon Forum Fav 👍

Agony and Death on a Gold Rush Steamer: The Disastrous Sinking of the Side-Wheeler Yankee Blade - Grab it through Amazon!

[G.A.P.metal]

Well i`m glad you are happy with your BH Sharp Shooter...it`s great to have confidence in you machine IMO you have to.and the Bounty Hunters will find the targets if they are there and deep too.
Bounty Hunters Are find detectors i use to sell them in the 90s and they sold themselves`s through word of mouth,ease of use, and good finds....before the Forums on the net i don`t think there were Bounty Hunter Snobs, kind of a new thing...don`t let it bother you .
This summer my Neighbor got a new BH Tracker IV his first time out he finds Silver Half,Quarter and dime all Silver i`m using a new Tek. G2 and hes finding the silver, on his first day.....The second day out he`s getting a good sound so he digs and it`s a square nail so i tell him to hit the disc. and out the nail so he does Hes is that GREEN to detecting and i watch him pull two separate Cashe`s out of the ground Large Penny,1884 Morgan Silver Dollar 1935 Buffalo Nickle. in one Cashe and i think 11 foreign coins in a wallet as i watched ...all in two days with a new Bounty Hunter His first two days....So you know what he says to me I think i want to trade up i rely like your detector i like the #s on the screen....now i like the Teks G2 s Big screen too and the numbers are ok to look at if you like that sort of stuff, but HE HAD NOT seen me find a good target with THE G2.... I went out and bought a Bounty Hunter Tracker VI so YA i have been useing them on and off for 40 years.
I even used a First Texas Detector in the early 1990( The 24 K PLUS) i think it got Deep....so they have been around for a long time and have a good rep. and good Teck people probably the best in the trade...i used a Teknetics in 1991 Hi~TEK.
I sold the Bounty Hunter Line with pride they were and still are a fine machines, The Quick Draw,Sharpe Shooter,and Big Bud Pro Select 200-D in 1996...i used what i sold and i found many good,deep targets...Fisher`s were going down in the late 90s ...now they are well respected again.The org.Tek Co and Fisher Co. are now owned by First Texas Co. and they kicked it up a mile high and they Souped up the Bounty Hunter line also, all that Tech Support at one company is Awesome.
I have sold and Used all Makes and model`s of metal detectors in my time TEK,Fisher,Discovery,Compass,Naut, Relco,Tesoro,Phantom,Whites,Garrett`s,Labs.. and Bounty Hunters still stack up just fine.
Different Detectors for different jobs and Different size of coils for Different places gets the treasure out of the trash.
Don`t let the Detector Snob`s get ya down ...A guy that know his machine is going to do well Just have a good time doing it HH
Gary G.A.P.metal

 

[thewatchers]

Well I really appreciate your input. Looks like yours may be the only one I get. So in the end, some detectors may be able to go a little deeper or guess a little better at what it is before you dig but after all the fancy addons the only thing that really matters is you just gotta swing that coil over the goodies. I was thinking the way the one guy you referred to saying he liked the numbers on the screen of yours. And its normal to think that if it cost more then it must be better. I'll probably stick to what I know and like for my next purchase. Its probably gonna be the Quick Draw 2 cause it is real close to my current Sharp Shooter 2 except it gives me a estimate depth of the target. Plus this package will come with a pinpointer and headphones. It ofcourse will be the one I primary swing and now I can invite friends along cause I'll finally have an extra detector. Oh and I'm still open to hear anyone elses experiences. It will be a few more weeks before I get that tax money in to buy the detector setup I want.

 

[The Master Chief]

Ok I used to own one a BH Fast Tracker it was a Ok detector, I owned it 10 years ago picked it up at radio shack. It was ok for a start up detector. I ended up going to a buddy of mine since he told me he had a 2500 GTI Garrett. He sold that to me for $400. Now I have been stuck with Garrett since then. The BH was a ok machine but I moved due to a deal I couldn't refuse now I'm 100 % stuck on Garrett have several machines now updated my 2500 also. I guess the company also is a great. I have never ran into any issues with them.

Sent from my iPhone using TreasureNet

 

[Goodyguy]

Love my Bounty Hunters (Tracker IV's) I have 3 of them each with a different size coil and for what I use them for they cant be beat in my opinion.
I use them in all metal mode with no discrimination, and I dig all targets. Not because I don't know how to use the discrimination knob but in spite of it.

I want maximum depth so I set the sensitivity to just a hair below the threshold and switch to all metal mode and dig anything that beeps.
Sure I dig more trash that way but I also get just as much depth and find just as many goodies as folks swinging the high dollar detectors in discrimination mode.

What some don't understand is that while they rely on a power robbing display to tell them It's a pull tab, I'll dig the pull tab and maybe find a gold ring underneath it that was masked by the pull tab.

Some folks even think I must have swapped out the inside electronics with those of a high priced detector.

To be honest I also use my Whites GMT. It's permantly set in all metal mode and I can get more depth with it than with the Bounty Hunters but it cost $700.00 more and really only gets me about another 2" on coins and jewelery but will sound off on tiny flakes of gold that the bounty hunters will not pick up on at any depth.

GG~

 

[Old man walking.]

I have a bounty hunter time ranger. I'ts the only detector I've used. I have less experience than any of the others who have commented. I've been using the bounty hunter about four months. I don't have a lot of great places to detect, but have detected in a couple of local parks and some ball fields that are supposed to be hunted out and one older home built in the thirties. I've found 22 wheat pennies the oldest in 1937. I've found three silver dimes, 37, 42 and 51. I've found an old sterling silver butter knife and a lot of clad and much junk. If you pass the coil over silver or copper you'll know it if it's six or less inches deep. I have on occasion found coins as deep as eight inches but it's rare. I haven't found anything bigger that a dime, so I don't know what it would do with a quarter or half.

My opinion is that you can't beat bounty hunter for the price. I've learned to pretty much tell that what I'm digging is either coins or not. Most of the time I dig anyway unless it's in an area with tons of pull tabs and such. If the bounty hunter says it's a pull tab, then it very likely is. I've learned to pin point in all metal mode an dig small holes. I have a Garrett pin pointer and I wouldn't be without it.

I use caution when changing the batteries. The location, on the bottom of the power box, makes it a bit awkward and the wiring is obviously not the quality it could be. The wires are stiff and it seems like they will be the first thing that fails with a lot of use.

I'm wanting to up grade to a better detector, mainly for more depth. I'm thinking about a Fisher F75 LTD, but I'm not ready to spend the money and I'm still having a ball with the time ranger. I'd like to go back to some places I've hunted and see what I've missed.

Hope this helps. HH

 

[DangerDude]

I have a BH IV and have used it for about 4 years and have found plenty of coins and deep targets. I am no expert but I love it still. I just bought a Ace 250 and am finding stuff I missed with the IV. It could be I just missed it, but either way they are a easy machine to use and as long as you're having fun who cares ! Good luck !!

 

[thumper7813]

I have a BH Treasure Hunter and the new coinmaster GT I have walked behind my g/f with my gt and for $225 less then my gt and still being on key about 90% of the time the only thing is that I can get a little better of a reading and how deep it is and I can zone out trash better in extremely trashy places is all the difference and the beach mode and a night light
GL and HH

 

[olfacere]

I've never owned a Bounty Hunter, but I've reviewed some of their models. Brand loyalty is basically irrational no matter how you slice it, so it isn't at all about the name. Either the machine does a good job at accomplishing its goal or not. Keeping this in mind, I would be wary of some, but not necessarily all of them. The Bounty Hunter detectors run the full gamut of prices. I know of people who have paid $80 for a Bounty Hunter and they got a machine that disappointed them shamefully. Even so, a $400 Bounty Hunter should be expected to out-perform its much cheaper cousin.

If you only put in a tiny bit of money, you should expect back only a tiny bit of performance. There's another manufacturer, Tesoro, that doesn't sell any models under $160 (Compadre) and their next cheapest is $250 (Silver MicroMax). Tesoros will usually out-perform Bounty Hunters, but that's often because customers selected the cheaper Bounty Hunter to save money. If you were to compare two machines of the same price range, you should expect similar performance. (Compare apples to apples, as they say.)

Perhaps the bigger reason I wanted to write this post was to throw a warning about visual ID systems. I am a computer technician and programmer. I know the amounts and kinds of information that are available to a single-frequency VLF detector and there is no way that you can really trust that visual display. Think about it this way. A trained ear often has a hard time differentiating between a quarter at 4 inches and a soda can at 8 inches. That's because they basically provide the same feedback when excited by a detector's EM field. So, what is the computer going to use to calculate what must be down there and provide you with a visual feedback? In reality, a trained ear and the best computer available are about on par with each other.

The computer is forced to make certain assumptions that are known to be unreliable. That's the only way to provide feedback every time. You'll notice that many machines label their depth indicator as a "coin depth" indicator. Assuming the target under your coil is a coin, the machine can calculate about how deep it must be. If it's not a coin, then all bets are off. The machine will sometimes tell you that a soda can is a quarter. You really just can't avoid that.

I say this because I've read about a lot of people who started out with a machine featuring a visual ID and, over the course of one or two years, learned to stop looking at it entirely. Most people eventually learn to use only their ears. Why? An iffy signal in your ears just sounds like an iffy signal. An iffy signal put through the computer sometimes comes out as a lie (or "best guess"). If the machine can be trusted to be right about 90% of the time, then it can be trusted to be wrong about 10% of the time. So, 1 out of every 10 pull tabs that you pass up will be something else, sometimes jewelry!

 

[DangerDude]

Well said on the LCD visual displays. I've learned not to look at it so much any more. When I got my 250 I was always looking at the LCD and it is kinda distracting. I still look at it but not as much, I use it as a reference more than a indicator. I think they do have a benefit but should not be used as a primary tool. I'm not a pro by any means and this is what I'm learning and I'm always learning.

 

[mills27989]

I started with the quicksilver, because it was inexpensive and recently bought a tesoro cutlass 2 micromax because it was also inexpensive used. The BH is fine, it works and the depth is comparable to the tesoro...to be honest I bought the tesoro so the wife could use the BH. The real difference imho is iron masking and recovery speed. I find lots of stuff because the tesoro is just plain faster..like around playground equipment. Its almost like the bh is too concerned about which tone to use instead if just beeping. also the iron mask is an issue. I can put a dime down over a joist in my floor (I have hardwood) and the tesoro will get it every time...the BH will just chirp. That is with disc and no disc. Just my observations on my particular muffler on a stick....wife likes it fine though and hasn't broken it yet, which is a testament to the bh resilience lol

 

[kevin hoffman]

im with goodguy ! Ihave a bountyhunter, use it and enjoy it ,ive been next to high dollar detectors [white] and the big difference is the dicrimination,i can hear the difference between a piece of tinfoil and a coin ,but i like to just find stuff !! with the bh i dont worry if the kids take it out,I would buy a better one but my knees are giving me trouble. The important thing is to use them,and enjoy them !

 

[ivan salis]

I have owned several BH products -- oddly the old tracker IV--(sound only machine- no display) with the dual knobs and 3 position mode switch) is one of my personal favorites -- properly tuned "discrimination" wise it can sort some pull tabs from nickles and gold items ( clear sharp sound return vs crinklely or not sharp)-- I am now currently using a delta 4000 ($279) by teknetics ==it has a 0 to 99 "numbers" type display which help "sort" things to a finer degree meaning less wasted time and effort digging trash up --its a decent sorter , light in weight , uses only 1 9 volt not overly costly and a good "bang for the buck" value in my view. with the delta I get 2 ways to tell what it is --sound and numbers --if both agree for sure its dig -- but if they not I favor sound over numbers ,if it sounds good , I check it out.

 

[bevo]

I like my f2 better than the bh landstar lonestar or quicksilver. Weird since they are made by the same company. The f2 is just more reliable.