A good detector for kids???

GBov

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Joined
Dec 26, 2008
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21
Location
Sunny Florida
Have come across this one on line and thought it looked promising. Bounty Hunter Discovery 2200 Metal Detector. My kiddies are 3, 5 and 7 and really want to go treasure hunting with a "Proper" detector and I want one that will be tough, light and yet give us a reasonable chance of finding something. We will be hunting on the east coast beaches of Florida :D

Do any of you lovely helpful people have this model and is it a good starter one for kids and a not so very strong me ;) or is there one better for us to be getting started with?
 
Welcome to the forum, I am also from Florida.

Check out these ones:

Bounty Hunter Junior Treasure Tracker ( This is the smallest one I think )
Bounty Hunter Fast Tracker
Bounty Hunter Discovery 1100 (Top Pick)
Bounty Hunter Discovery 2200 (Top Pick)
Tesoro Compadre
Garrett Ace 150
Garrett Ace 250
Fisher F2 (Top Pick)

Hope this helps :yes: Just google these names and look at the info
 
I have a 3300. Its not bad and should be good for a kid. You may want to check out a tesoro compadre. Easy to use and goes deep. My 10 year old uses my Ace 250 or a tesoro silver umax.
 
Bounty Hunter Tracker IV - costs about $100 new. Well built and easy to use. Not to mention it works great!
 
Bounty Hunter Tracker IV - costs about $100 new. Well built and easy to use. Not to mention it works great!
My nine year old son uses one if these, it was my first, anyways that little not his first time out found a 1881 Inidan Head penny with it. SO is it for kids you bet, because I couldn't use it, He understands it just fine, he knows when the sound tells him to dig and when not to. hope this helps.
 
Thanks guys:D

Have been reading reviews on line for the ones you recomend and have a question. The Garrett Ace 250 gets iffy reviews on wet salt sand and as thats right where we will be hunting I think that ones out but the other contenders - Tesoro Compadre and the Bounty Hunter Tracker IV - dont say about the wet salt sand thing. Are they both alright for wet sand? And can they go in the water? Not deep by any means but a few inches or if a wave catches us will they be OK?

The kids are sooo excited about finally getting one, have only been talking about it for 2 years lol but just havnt had the place or time or money at the right time to buy one :lol:
 
The coils are waterproof on both, but you don't want to get the box wet. I have not tried my Tracker IV on wet sand, but reviews for both the Tracker and the Compadre seem to be mixed when it comes to wet sand. Your mileage may very according to local conditions. With the Tracker you can try to turn down the sensitivety if you are having problems. With the Compadre (has no sensitivety setting) you may try holding the coil an inch or two above the sand if your having problems.

Either should be great starter beepers.
 
Thanks guys:D

Have been reading reviews on line for the ones you recomend and have a question. The Garrett Ace 250 gets iffy reviews on wet salt sand and as thats right where we will be hunting I think that ones out but the other contenders - Tesoro Compadre and the Bounty Hunter Tracker IV - dont say about the wet salt sand thing. Are they both alright for wet sand? And can they go in the water? Not deep by any means but a few inches or if a wave catches us will they be OK?

The kids are sooo excited about finally getting one, have only been talking about it for 2 years lol but just havnt had the place or time or money at the right time to buy one :lol:

The ace 250 is a very good machine for land, I Own one. Has Lots of great reviews here, I don't think any of those machines listed are for the Salt water. You have to get a water machine which will be a bit on the expensive side. The coils are water proof but give false signals from the salt water, black sand, minerals or whatever. Where exactly in Florida are you? I am in Ft. Lauderdale Florida.
 
We are looking at buying a house in the Deltona area so will have MILES of beaches to play on:D and having always wanted to MD, this seems like the perfect time to get one. And as my eldest boyo needs help with his reading finding and researching finds will be not only fun for him, but really helpful too.

I dont mind paying a bit more on a detector (well, a little bit more) if it will give us better results on the beach so what would be the best for kids to use on the beach?
 
If ya stay in the dry areas, I think the mentioned detectors will do a great job.
You're in trouble when it comes to the wet...
For that I suggest a ML Soverein GT, but that's not that child friendly one. Or a PI, but with that the kids will have a fulltime job while digging all the trash.

Not an easy question. Very curious about what will come up...
 
What about the Headhunter Pirate? Its a hundred more than I wanted to spend but the reviews on it are pretty good. Have any of you used it?
 
Afaik you need an adjustable ground tracking feature if you want to use a detector effectively - or at least semi-effectively :) on salt water beaches. No such beaches in here so I'm not an expert but still...ACE machines have this feature 'locked' but Bounty Hunters have some sort of automatic tracking. So it suggests they might cope bit better with salt water. Manual adjustment is usually provided in more expensive machines, say 400$+ which might be over your limit.

Just my view...

Voriax
 
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Welcome from central Florida.
After reading all the posts, I thought gee whiz if you're going to be spending so much time on the beach, by all means don't buy a toy. You mentioned a headhunter, I have no experience using one. Someone wrote a review and posted it here a few months back. He gives his plus and minus opinion about the machine. Take into consideration a youngsters attention span. I would also mention the pulse detecter will find a lot more items then the disc machines. You have to do a lot of digging, but kids got that kind of energy and natural curiosity. Another point is you need a macho type digger in the water. Thats another expense to consider. They are heavy and run 125 dollars plus. This is not a cheap hobby. Better to share a good piece of gear with him or her than to buy something that will be marginal at best....Gil

http://metaldetectingforum.com/showthread.php?t=16884
 
What about the Headhunter Pirate? Its a hundred more than I wanted to spend but the reviews on it are pretty good. Have any of you used it?

If I remember correct, Rudy has a headhunter wader and loves it for the beach. Think he'll chime in...
 
my ten year old son uses a tesoro compadre. I won it a my clubs last hunt! he loves it. its lightweight,very durable, he can turn on and go by himself. we go out every weekend and he always finds at least one wheat penny. deepest yet ir 5 1/2 inches deep. it got a 4 inch coil so he knows if it beeps its under that coil. plus only takes one 9v.
 
If I remember correct, Rudy has a headhunter wader and loves it for the beach. Think he'll chime in...

Either the Wader or the Diver are great detectors. My recommendation is to stay away from the Pirate. It is not submersible, nor water proof in the electronics compartment (inside the earphones). It also lacks a sensitivity adjustment control.
 
Bounty Hunter

I have the BH 505 Pro. It's a "higher end" BH but does not like wet sand. It's good in dry sand and land.

If you are going to be in the wet sand stay away from Bounty Hunter line.

Look at the Detector Pro line, Headhunter and Pirate I think. One of those is light weight with a long battery life and is good on beach, shallow water and land. Good choice for kids, price is right and it's a good MD. (It's the one with the electronics in the headset).

The Minelab Soveriegn GT eats the beach up according to reviews and is a decent land MD as well. It may be a tad heavy for the kiddies(?).

As someone said earlier, get a good sccop. I have two. One short handle for dry sand and a long handle for wet sand and surf. You will probably need a couple anyway because of the kids. A 24 inch dry use sand scoop is only $30.00 or so.

Luck to ya!
 
So, are there any MD's out there for less than $300 that will work in surf and wet salt sand???

I had budgeted $200 for a detector and might be able to stretch it to $300 but if they wont work where we want to go I will just have to keep saving and put the kids off for another while :(
 
Try to look on Craigslist. You may find one at a good cost. Also try pawn shops they sometimes have good deals
 
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