Got a new detector bh 3300
- Thread starter scott1028
- Start date
I believe the BH 3300 is basically the same as the Fisher F4. There should be an instructional video for them on YouTube made by First Texas. The F4 was an excellent detector with full features. Check YouTube for vids on both brands.
Jeff
Jeff
DIGGER27
In Memory Of
This is way better than that HF detector you had before, they both find metal but this one does it with much more power and gusto.
More power and higher sensitivity equals more signals, both good and bad.
You are starting out fresh with this one so you are a newbie and just need to understand how it behaves better.
A whole new ballgame with this one and a new language to learn, to boot.
The 199 signals are probably going to be iron somewhere around...could be small and shallow or could be big and deep.
If yours is anything like the F2 iron could be in the vicinity and not even under the coil but outside the diameter of the coil which leads to digging a bunch of frustratingly empty holes.
I dug a bunch of those for awhile then I learned how to deal with that behavior and never dug an empty hole again.
You will probably notice these signals are usually short and bouncy or come and go as you move your coil around certain areas and don't come in on every swing solid or definitely in the exact same spot every time.
They might seem like they come in at the exact same spot at first but eventually you notice they are close but not exact.
Good targets like coins and rings usually don't move around like this...Even a little bit.
We call these false or ghost signals because they aren't really high but low iron that is wrapping around the bottom 1 number and coming in from the top at the higher numbers.
My F2 did the same with my biggest number on that unit a 98 or 99, and if I saw a 00 that was an overload signal that I got from time to time so yours might do something like this too.
Some huge iron, a big piece of other metal like a trash can lid or a big tool such as an old rusty which of hammerhead shallow will easily do it and a big, flattend soda can can do it also if it is not too deep and just under your coil.
Many FTP detectors do this... I got plenty of those 98, 99 or 00 signals and dug way too much junk until I figured out what was going on and eventually just ignored them all after that.
Something a bit lower than those really high numbers would usually be great if they were real...something like a big silver dollar or huge silver ring.
Be nice if every one of those high number signals was a silver dollar, wouldn't it?
Too bad the universe isn't that generous to us that do this hobby.
If you disc out iron that will help on a lot of that but some will still come in as iffy, jumpy false or ghost signals no matter what you do.
Just because you discriminate out iron don't think your detector won't still see it and react to it...when you disc out anything, tabs, foil, iron, nickels or whatever else all you are doing is telling it you don't want it to tell you it senses any of that disced out stuff although it still sees it all.
Some stuff, usually bigger junk, will still bleed through your disc settings and react in some way.
This frustration will pass...you just need to get some more experience in using your detector and learn the language a bit better and you will able to deal with iron or everything else.
If you would like to get going a bit faster I started a log when I got my F2 which is one below the F4 and a close cousin to your 3300.
To answer your question if anybody has ever found anything good with that BH, or any entry level detector for that matter, I think you will be surprised how much quality treasure can be found it you make a commitment to learn your very capable tool more than just well so peruse the many nice pictures in that log.
FTP owns both brands and similar DNA runs through both families.
this thread turned into one the the biggest, longest, most posts and viewed threads on the forum with tons of tips sprinkled throughout this massive tome from many hunters.
The F2 has less features than yours but if you care to read it sometime there is a whole ton about detector behavior in it that should be very familiar to you.
I believe somewhere in there I talk about this same, high number wrap around iron issue and what I did about it.
The numbers and features are different between the two but the behavior over targets should be very close and maybe you can shorten the learning curve with yours a bit if you see what the F2 did and how I dealt with it as I learned mine.
Good luck...as you learn more the hobby gets way less frustrating and way more fun so stick with it.
In a few weeks you will laugh about how little you know now about this very nice detector and you will be on your way.
Trust me, we all went through this learning new detectors.
https://metaldetectingforum.com/showthread.php?t=53930
More power and higher sensitivity equals more signals, both good and bad.
You are starting out fresh with this one so you are a newbie and just need to understand how it behaves better.
A whole new ballgame with this one and a new language to learn, to boot.
The 199 signals are probably going to be iron somewhere around...could be small and shallow or could be big and deep.
If yours is anything like the F2 iron could be in the vicinity and not even under the coil but outside the diameter of the coil which leads to digging a bunch of frustratingly empty holes.
I dug a bunch of those for awhile then I learned how to deal with that behavior and never dug an empty hole again.
You will probably notice these signals are usually short and bouncy or come and go as you move your coil around certain areas and don't come in on every swing solid or definitely in the exact same spot every time.
They might seem like they come in at the exact same spot at first but eventually you notice they are close but not exact.
Good targets like coins and rings usually don't move around like this...Even a little bit.
We call these false or ghost signals because they aren't really high but low iron that is wrapping around the bottom 1 number and coming in from the top at the higher numbers.
My F2 did the same with my biggest number on that unit a 98 or 99, and if I saw a 00 that was an overload signal that I got from time to time so yours might do something like this too.
Some huge iron, a big piece of other metal like a trash can lid or a big tool such as an old rusty which of hammerhead shallow will easily do it and a big, flattend soda can can do it also if it is not too deep and just under your coil.
Many FTP detectors do this... I got plenty of those 98, 99 or 00 signals and dug way too much junk until I figured out what was going on and eventually just ignored them all after that.
Something a bit lower than those really high numbers would usually be great if they were real...something like a big silver dollar or huge silver ring.
Be nice if every one of those high number signals was a silver dollar, wouldn't it?
Too bad the universe isn't that generous to us that do this hobby.
If you disc out iron that will help on a lot of that but some will still come in as iffy, jumpy false or ghost signals no matter what you do.
Just because you discriminate out iron don't think your detector won't still see it and react to it...when you disc out anything, tabs, foil, iron, nickels or whatever else all you are doing is telling it you don't want it to tell you it senses any of that disced out stuff although it still sees it all.
Some stuff, usually bigger junk, will still bleed through your disc settings and react in some way.
This frustration will pass...you just need to get some more experience in using your detector and learn the language a bit better and you will able to deal with iron or everything else.
If you would like to get going a bit faster I started a log when I got my F2 which is one below the F4 and a close cousin to your 3300.
To answer your question if anybody has ever found anything good with that BH, or any entry level detector for that matter, I think you will be surprised how much quality treasure can be found it you make a commitment to learn your very capable tool more than just well so peruse the many nice pictures in that log.
FTP owns both brands and similar DNA runs through both families.
this thread turned into one the the biggest, longest, most posts and viewed threads on the forum with tons of tips sprinkled throughout this massive tome from many hunters.
The F2 has less features than yours but if you care to read it sometime there is a whole ton about detector behavior in it that should be very familiar to you.
I believe somewhere in there I talk about this same, high number wrap around iron issue and what I did about it.
The numbers and features are different between the two but the behavior over targets should be very close and maybe you can shorten the learning curve with yours a bit if you see what the F2 did and how I dealt with it as I learned mine.
Good luck...as you learn more the hobby gets way less frustrating and way more fun so stick with it.
In a few weeks you will laugh about how little you know now about this very nice detector and you will be on your way.
Trust me, we all went through this learning new detectors.
https://metaldetectingforum.com/showthread.php?t=53930
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I believe that I've read from owners of both that that they are almost the same but if I remember right the 3300 is slower and requires a slower swing.
Read the manual a few times. Good technique/skills and your 3300 will get you some great finds. Good hunting.
DIGGER27
In Memory Of
I think you are correct about this because I read that too, my F2 was lightning fast but a little slower machine and swing speed isn't always a bad thing, we can learn to adjust.
Just gotta learn the optimum speed for our chosen detectors.
Scott..The way you swing over targets will also affect the target behavior you see in the screen and in the tones.
Neither too fast nor too slow will serve you well, too slow and it elongates tones and feels like forever to hunt anywhere and too fast can cause ghosts and false signals plus you will also miss much because the signals come faster and shorter and our brains can't pick out all of the good ones amongst the too many bad ones in a cacophony of noise.
Actually they can but you need to train it to do that by swinging over a ton of targets over a long time which I have done but it took years to learn to do it that way when I attempt it.
Much easier to swing at the right speed from the get-go to give you a chance to notice many more of the better signals.
As fast as the F2 was I still swung it way to fast for too long of a time.
One day I slowed down hunting a favorite site that I would have bet you my car I was done with and I was gobsmacked that all of a sudden I started finding twice as much as I ever did before.
It was like I never hunted this site ever in the past.
An important life lessen, there, for sure.
With practice you will find the optimum swing speed for this one, all detectors work the best if you think of your swing speed, and your settings, as porridge...not to hot, not too cold but just right.
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