Whats with all the negative waves, man!

I have a BH pioneer 505 which is my only detector, and frankly, I don't see why I would ever need to purchase any other brand. There seems to be a lot of "looking down" at the Bountyhunter brand and I just don't understand why. I have a LOT of detector for the money that I spent. It is really a amazing to me that more people don't take advantage of the performance versus price that one finds, at least in the 505. I think it may have something to do with the lack of good examples of these detectors being used. Can't find much on youtube or other video sites about them, except short clips. A month ago I bought a 4 in. coil for my 505, tonight I bought a 10 in. coil. Since I never intend to "upgrade" I am not worried about selling this one and "taking a loss" as I have seen it written that Bountyhunters don't have good resale value. I do intend on using this machine to the best of my ability and learning what makes it tick, and then showing what is possible (as least as far as my ability goes) with this machine.

I recently changed to a schedule that allows me to work 28 days on the boat and 28 days off. That is 28 days off the boat, all in a row, that I can use for whatever I please. And some of what I please is spending time to learn this detectors capabilities and have some fun digging treasures, what ever they may be. (also hunting, fishing, family time, and all the other things I have missed out on the last 23 years) I have a lead on a few places, one being the remains of an old late 1800's house, land and barn site, a probable homestead site of the same era in a wooded lot, and in another place, an old dumping ground and possible homesteads in the area. All with permission. Plus the usual parks and fields and yards that we all do. I am really excited by the possibilities involved with this new schedule and hopefully my homework will pay off. Just getting out and doing something will be a "treasure" in itself.  Thanks for reading and Happy Hunting to everyone.

A big turn off for Bounty Hunter is that they can be purchased at your local Wal Mart store and many other retail outlets, that alone is a warning for me.  If you never upgrade then you will never know that there are better machines out there. 

You will never see an experienced detectorist using a Bounty Hunter, you won't see them being used on TV shows or other venues.  They have a poor reputation as being a good detector.  You can pack a lot into a machine, but that does not mean that it is a good machine.

No one I know would even consider a Bounty Hunter.  The good machines are Tesoro; Whites; Minelab; except for the Tesoro which offer lifetime warranties and great prices, you will pay for the quality and depth that these good machines give you.

Good luck with your Bounty Hunter and let me know where you hunt so I can go get the deep stuff.

I have often wondered why people put them down too. And then I realized....the only people that put them down are the people who do not use them. Hmmm...wonder why it works out that way? I have several machines...Bounty Hunter, Tesoro, Whites, Fisher, even a couple of cheap little imports, and I gotta say that a Bounty Hunter in the hands of someone who knows the machine can be a VERY capable detector. Just last week I followed a buddy of mine that was using a very expensive machine (I wont name brands because I respect other peoples favorite brands). I was using a Bounty Hunter Land Ranger. I scooped up 2 silver dimes and a war nickel that he missed. The war nick wasn't deep, about 4 inches, but the first dime was almost 7 inches and the second was 9 inches. When I got the second dime signal I called my buddy over and had him scan the area before I dug....not a peep. The BH, however, gave a solid tone PLUS accurate ID.

If you will look through this site you will find many more stories like this one.

As far as people talking bad about them, I suppose I would too if I had spent 800.00 plus on a machine only to find out that the guy down the street paid a couple hundred for the same results.
 

I have been all over my yard with and Explorer II, a Delon and Whites XLT, and and Explorer SE Pro,  also used on my yard was an X-30 and a Fisher of some type.   We found lots and lots of coins.  However; my daughter with her little Bounty Hunter is the ONLY one to find a Wheat penny and a foreign coin in my yard, in an area that 5 other detectorists went over multiple times.

So I won't slam Bounty Hunters, they have a place in the field of detecting, just like any other machine has.

Use what you like, know and feel comfortable with.

I have pulled coins from over 12-15 inches deep with both my Excals and Sovereign GTs. I am not putting the BH down, but I don't believe your going to get the depth from BH you do from the higher end machines. I have also follow other hunters and found targets behind them because they were swinging their high dollar detectors like it was an old weed cutter.................. 

I have played with a BH, but I did not own it, I found it at a garage sale played with it in their yard and left it there.
I am not in to the screens, I prefer tones for now, I know for sure the BH will not null on iron which is a major advantage for me since I hunt saltwater beaches.......

A good or experience hunter can take any machine and make good finds with it. 

I've use BHs since the 70s... and yes, I know, they've changed a lot since then.

Your 505 is a great machine, at least mine is, so don't listen to the elitists.

Are there better machines?  Maybe.

Is yours awesome?  Yes.

28 on 28 off river push tug man (rough job / hard living 12 hours on 12 off shift) worked for six months as a cook on "orgulf" boats back when work was tight deep sea back in 83 -- former merchant seamen myself did deep sea foreign run vessels over a 27 years with the SIU --medically retired since 7/1/07 ---the newer bounty hunters are much better than the old ones were and in skilled hands can find good stuff ---are they as deep as 1000 buck machine nope the its true the big bucks machines will normally go a bit deeper--- but at say $350 (deluxe pack 505 with big and lil coil at kellyco) its about 1/3rd the cost of the 1000 "big bucks machine" and you' ll get about 80 - 90% of what the big bucks machine will find . -- and thats just fine for most folks.

Thanks for all the replies guys. I appreciate the input and feedback along with personal experiences. I ended up working over for 5 days and will go home next Wednesday and after turkey day will have free time to get the ole 505 out and have some fun time. Take care and HH to all.

capt.

A big turn off for Bounty Hunter is that they can be purchased at your local Wal Mart store and many other retail outlets, that alone is a warning for me.

New guy here, and not wanting to start anything.  But, Wal Mart also sells Levi's and Wranglers.  That doesn't turn me off from buying those blue jeans.

By the way, I'm also new to the MD, have a BH Pioneer 505, and am as happy with it as my girlfriend is with her Minelab xterra 70.  Mine may be a long way from the top of the line, but it suits me just fine.  For now.  Unlike the OP, I am pretty sure I'll eventually upgrade, though.

I still have my sharpshooter II and have no plans of selling it. Its a great machine and allot of bang for the buck.  It has found me a TON of clad/silver and does ok on nickels. I hunted allot in the past with my buddy using a ML Sov. I could literally run circles around him and always out-hunted him in quantity. But I noticed his finds generally were deeper and usually of better quality, older stuff. I know places are never completely hunted out but I tended to stay away from places that I knew were hit hard. Then I picked up a ML Explorer II. Whole new ballgame. I now enjoy hitting older grounds that I know have been hit hard for decades and really enjoy hunting places that my Sov buddy hunted. My total amount of finds have gone down considerably but the quality has gone WAY up. Oh, there is still a time and a place for my BH SSII, but I am fully aware of it's limitations. I enjoy the exercise of metal detecting but am still doing it for a greater reason. If you are ever hunting old grounds and feel you are walking over stuff and know the place can't be bone dry, it's probably not. I know i'm still not finding EVERYTHING but have greater piece of mind and less doubt when searching for the older deep stuff that i KNOW is there. If I were to hit a field/park the day after a large concert/venue or am short on hunting time or want to cover some ground fast, there would only be one way to go, the SSII. Just a few thoughts, JJ

I have a Titan 2000xd which is a BH2200

When I go to tot lots or other places where I am only going to dig shallow clad it works very well. In fact I might go as far to say as I will get more finds with a Bounty Hunter than I do with my Minelab!  But the reason for that is, it takes much longer to find a coin that is a 10" to a foot down than it is to find shallow clad.

The thing that is disheartening with the BH is that many signals read like IRON when they are deeper than 5" even when they are not. Not sure if that is because of my soil or what but if I run discrimination for Iron I will not get anything but shallow clad 5" or less.

The Minelab on the other hand takes me much longer, I need to swing slow but coins even 10+ inches down sound and read pretty close to what they are, they don't tend to null out as iron. But with an 11" DD coil you get a slew of signals so you need to go slow to analyse each one.

So, for soft sand on the beach, tot lots, gravel driveways man I can fly though that with my Titan and get a pocket full of coins in no time!

When I use the Minelab I get far less finds in total but in general they are much deeper, older and a better find overall.

For example, my last hunt with the Minelab I found a Civil War Bullet and a Thimble but no pennies or nickels. Both of which the BH would have nulled out if running discrimination cause they were kinda deep.

So, if you use the BH as a Beep and Dig machine with no discrimination I think you will do just a good as anyone else at a fraction of the cost. Yeah you will get a lot of junk but the odds on hitting something great increases dramatically so what you are saying is essentially true to some extent.

Now here is where my Minelab will blow away a BH. I have an hour to hunt and I am only interested in Silver coins. I simply look for that 37-39 on my ID and discrim everything else out and start swinging. Will I miss some silver? yes, will I miss gold? Yes. Will I cover more ground and be able to extract more silver than someone with a BH in all metal or discrim mode? Without a doubt!
 
But bottom line is most of us are into this to have fun, not get rich although getting rich would be a blast it is really not what most of us are into the hobby for. I think we just enjoy the thrill of being out there and digging finds. So if a BH or a Ace is more in ones budget than a T2 or a Etrac then so be it.

You will have just as much fun with either one and that is what is really most important.
 

Heres a video of that lady in England that has a MD that's very old not high tech just has 2 knobs and a meter with head phones i wish i knew what kind just for the record ? her find was 3 to 4 inches down shes been hunting over 7 years and finally found a treasure !! second best to the Midland Jewel its the Holy Trinity made by the same person who made the Midland Jewel over 500 years ago , just goes to show its not always the price of a detector but whats in the ground by chance ,her find payed over 250,000.00 at auction . I bet that detector cant be more then 190.00 ?

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/9b_klOB8cro" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/v/9b_klOB8cro</a>

I've got a BH tracker IV that I bought on Amazon for $88. That's right... $88! FOR THE MONEY it is probably one of the best values around. I've read countless reviews and most of them are very positive. I've been very happy with it after my first year in the hobby. I've tried some other low end machines that cost around $50 and there really is no comparison. I've also tried a couple of machines that cost $600 and they weren't much better considering that they were over 6 times the price.

HOWEVER, I can't help but wonder how much better I'd be doing if I had a deeper machine. I know that the BH is probably missing stuff in the areas that I hunt. So I'm probably going to be upgrading soon. Still, for $88 you really can't go wrong so I would recommend it to anyone who is looking to get into the hobby. That's really where Bounty Hunters excel. People who are new to the hobby should not be spending $1500 on a Minelab. Although the Minelab is certainly going to be a nicer machine, it isn't THAT much nicer. Especially when you are new to the hobby and just need some time to work on things like research, digging techniques, and all of that other newbie stuff that is completely unrelated to what detector you are using.

So the old timers are going to scoff at Bounty Hunters as being inferior machines that are not worthy of their time. And they are probably right to a certain extent. But dollar for dollar I would bet that Bounty Hunters can match just about any other brand for value.

"Whats with all the negative waves MAN!"

Theres a lot of Moriartys in the world.

Heres a video of that lady in England that has a MD that's very old not high tech just has 2 knobs and a meter with head phones i wish i knew what kind just for the record ? her find was 3 to 4 inches down shes been hunting over 7 years and finally found a treasure !! second best to the Midland Jewel its the Holy Trinity made by the same person who made the Midland Jewel over 500 years ago , just goes to show its not always the price of a detector but whats in the ground by chance ,her find payed over 250,000.00 at auction . I bet that detector cant be more then 190.00 ?

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/9b_klOB8cro" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/v/9b_klOB8cro</a>

She's using a Tesoro--thank you very much! 

Funny how the British Museum offered her the "fair market price" of 4,000 for her find worth 750,000.   

It looks a Tesoro/Laser Hawkeye. Basically a De Leon with modifications.

It looks a Tesoro/Laser Hawkeye. Basically a De Leon with modifications.

Yes that is what it looked like to me also a  Tesoro laser that is a Tesoro detector made for the UK they call them a laser.But it was not the hawkeye for they said hers had only 2 knobs the hawk eye has 3 knobs and 2 toggel switches

I have a BH 505 for just little over a month, and new at metal detecting.  Before the snow I found 4 rings, 1 a 2ct diamond engagement ring, 1 men's wedding band, 1 women's wedding band, and 1 white gold ring with 12 diamonds and Rubys.  I guess I don't know any better and that the BH 505 is not a good machine.  One of the rings was over 10 inches deep too.  Can't wait to use the BH 505 that is considered the white trash of the metal detectors.  It worked great also found junk as any other detector will.  A old carpenter once told me " it is not the tools that make a man a carpenter, I tis the man"

I guess nobody told your 505 it is supposed to be junk, lol. I just got a 505 yesterday, now I gotta wait for the snow to melt before I can try it.

I have a BH 505 for just little over a month, and new at metal detecting.  Before the snow I found 4 rings, 1 a 2ct diamond engagement ring, 1 men's wedding band, 1 women's wedding band, and 1 white gold ring with 12 diamonds and Rubys.  I guess I don't know any better and that the BH 505 is not a good machine.  One of the rings was over 10 inches deep too.  Can't wait to use the BH 505 that is considered the white trash of the metal detectors.  It worked great also found junk as any other detector will.  A old carpenter once told me " it is not the tools that make a man a carpenter, I tis the man"

You must hunt at beaches your not going to find that much inland.

I have a BH 505 for just little over a month, and new at metal detecting.  Before the snow I found 4 rings, 1 a 2ct diamond engagement ring, 1 men's wedding band, 1 women's wedding band, and 1 white gold ring with 12 diamonds and Rubys.  I guess I don't know any better and that the BH 505 is not a good machine.  One of the rings was over 10 inches deep too.  Can't wait to use the BH 505 that is considered the white trash of the metal detectors.  It worked great also found junk as any other detector will.  A old carpenter once told me " it is not the tools that make a man a carpenter, I tis the man"

You must hunt at beaches your not going to find that much inland.

Nope found all inland tried the beach and came up dry

  on the 505, I have used one  for five years!!

It stands to reason that if you want to fit in with all the other cutting edge treasure hunters you will need:

$200 custom long handled beach scoop
$100 custom made leche digging tool, preferably in titanium or laser engraved with your name.
$5000 in custom wetsuits, find pouches, scales, metal and gem testers.
$3000 in dredges, pans and Ebay gold maps
$1500 to $45,000 detectors, the more expensive the better
$3000 in long range locators, the bigger the calculator glued to the top the better.

Remember, the more expensive, the better.

After you have bought all this expensive gear then you have to join a treasure forum and post pictures and heavily put down anyone that uses Bounty Hunter and home made gear.

Make sure that you say things like “ It’s sold in Walmart and if you want a toy go ahead but I use (insert brand) and I found so much gold I hired someone to swing my detector  ”
Or
“You will never get good finds with a Bounty Hunter”

This will make you feel better about yourself and justify how lucky that guy was with the Bounty Hunter on the beach that scored all those great finds while you crapped out.

DO NOT mention that Team Bounty Hunter won the 2009 Grand National Relic Shootout and score’s in the top tier every year ahead of some of the “best expensive brands”

Go figure

Remember, the more expensive, the better.

After you have bought all this expensive gear then you have to join a treasure forum and post pictures and heavily put down anyone that uses Bounty Hunter and home made gear.

Make sure that you say things like “ It’s sold in Walmart and if you want a toy go ahead but I use (insert brand) and I found so much gold I hired someone to swing my detector  ”
Or
“You will never get good finds with a Bounty Hunter”

This will make you feel better about yourself and justify how lucky that guy was with the Bounty Hunter on the beach that scored all those great finds while you crapped out.

DO NOT mention that Team Bounty Hunter won the 2009 Grand National Relic Shootout and score’s in the top tier every year ahead of some of the “best expensive brands”

Go figure

[/quote]
That's too funny

Remember, the more expensive, the better.

After you have bought all this expensive gear then you have to join a treasure forum and post pictures and heavily put down anyone that uses Bounty Hunter and home made gear.

Make sure that you say things like “ It’s sold in Walmart and if you want a toy go ahead but I use (insert brand) and I found so much gold I hired someone to swing my detector  ”
Or
“You will never get good finds with a Bounty Hunter”

This will make you feel better about yourself and justify how lucky that guy was with the Bounty Hunter on the beach that scored all those great finds while you crapped out.

DO NOT mention that Team Bounty Hunter won the 2009 Grand National Relic Shootout and score’s in the top tier every year ahead of some of the “best expensive brands”

Go figure

That's too funny

[/quote]You hit right on the head coasty , They think the more it cost the better it is but not true..

"Whats with all the negative waves MAN!"

Theres a lot of Moriartys in the world.

Not to digress from the thread but props are due.

"Whats with all the negative waves MAN!"

Theres a lot of Moriartys in the world.

Not to digress from the thread but props are due.

 

I might be slow i idon't know what the He__  do you mean props are due???/

Any quote from kelley's Heroes desrves props.

FH

I just came across this thread. I may have to print it out (not really but very tempted), make copies and send out to a few places near me as well as a few other fourms. When I was looking to buy a machine about 3 yrs ago I went to any local store that sold them so I could ask questions, this was before I discovered this forum as well as a few select others. I was told each time that BH is junk. the worst is a place called Bill Jackson Sporting Goods, i was told by 2 diff salesmen that anything under $700 is a toy and under $1000 is a beginner model just above a toy.

Regarding the comment that "nobody uses bounty hunters" in a serious aspect , this is true to a degree in my experience but whats also true is look at any serious detectorists back up machine , 9/10 its a bounty hunter.

It stands to reason that if you want to fit in with all the other cutting edge treasure hunters you will need:

$200 custom long handled beach scoop
$100 custom made leche digging tool, preferably in titanium or laser engraved with your name.
$5000 in custom wetsuits, find pouches, scales, metal and gem testers.
$3000 in dredges, pans and Ebay gold maps
$1500 to $45,000 detectors, the more expensive the better
$3000 in long range locators, the bigger the calculator glued to the top the better.

Remember, the more expensive, the better.

After you have bought all this expensive gear then you have to join a treasure forum and post pictures and heavily put down anyone that uses Bounty Hunter and home made gear.

Make sure that you say things like “ It’s sold in Walmart and if you want a toy go ahead but I use (insert brand) and I found so much gold I hired someone to swing my detector  ”
Or
“You will never get good finds with a Bounty Hunter”

This will make you feel better about yourself and justify how lucky that guy was with the Bounty Hunter on the beach that scored all those great finds while you crapped out.

DO NOT mention that Team Bounty Hunter won the 2009 Grand National Relic Shootout and score’s in the top tier every year ahead of some of the “best expensive brands”

Go figure

I HAVE A TESORO CIBOLA AND A BOUNTY HUNTER TRACKER IV
AND BH TRACKER IV IS MY BACK UP MACHINE I USE IT MORE
THEN TESORO CIBOLA IT IS A GOOD DETECTOR  

I'm doing some relic hunting tomorrow. When Relic hunting I typically do a beep and dig in all metal.

I will give the Titan 2000xd (aka BH2200) an hour to find something good, if nothing in that time I'm going to power up and swing the Minelab.