Bounty Hunter TK4 Tracker IV Metal Detector with Waterproof 8-Inch Coil, Versatile Detection Modes, Durable Construction, and Easy-to-Use Controls for All-Terrain Treasure Hunting Adventures

As a low cost metal detector I give this thing five stars. I bought this Detector several months back and enjoy it's relative ease of use, and it DOES find what you are searching for (coins, rings, earings, necklaces, etc). The other reviews here pretty much wrap it up as a good (affordable!) unit, but I wanted to make a few comments from an amateur's point of view:- This detector has, of course, the discrimination circuitry used to tell the difference between the various metals helping you to avoid digging up junk like soda can pull tabs which are everywhere. It does work pretty good, BUT - I have found that by using the Tracker IV discriminator, you will most likely be missing some good stuff. I have gone back over "Discriminated" areas again in "All Metal" mode and found some nice stuff that Discriminate didn't catch. Granted I am no pro, but the fact is if you want to get every coin, every ring, or every cool item of various metals, you may want to consider just using "All Metal" mode. I almost exclusively use it now and although I sift through some absolute junk. I have found a bunch of coins, necklaces, pendants, etc that I would have otherwise missed. Use the Discriminate mode when looking for that gold wedding ring your wife through at you in the back yard...- Invest in the 4 inch "Gold Nugget Coil" which is far superior at pinpointing metal. The stock coil works fine but is a tad ambiguous as to precisely where your coin, ring, (or pull tab) is. The smaller coil reduces search time and I am glad I have one.- I bought the recommended Bounty Hunter Headphones (to save battery power), but have found them to be a bit more trouble than help. When I detect something I squat or sit down and dig. I set the detector down so the coil is near the dig zone so I can waive clumps of dirt (or sand) in front of the coil as I search. The problem is the headphone's wire tends to be always in the way when I perform this move. I get tired of "untangling" so I don't use them anymore. Maybe I'm just getting old.- The meter is of no value for anyone who can hear the audible report. It has no "range" to judge metals you are passing over. It simply swings hard to the right no matter what from what I can tell. I have tried different modes and different metals to test it, but it seems to merely swing hard to the right as you pass over any type of metal / alloy. I can see how this would still be useful to a deaf person, but it just as easily could have been a bright light bulb instead of a meter. I won't ding this low cost detector for that though because I'd still dig if it was half scale or pegged.- And lastly a warning. If you go into a park, or any area attended by kids, you will be spotted. Within a short amount of time you will be surrounded by kids "helping you" to dig up buried treasure. At that point you have to decide whether to be a meanie and bark at them, or write the rest of the hunt off and let them shred the area every time the detector beeps. I generally tell them how it's been a long day and "see ya" since they will invariably have their hands in there digging away no matter what you say...

This is my first metal detector (though I've used other people's before), so, to figure out what to buy, I read many product reviews on amazon and on metal detector websites. I main hope to find old coins. I came to the conclusion that I should buy this detector along with the Garrett Pro-Pointer.Considering this product's relatively low price, I thought it might have trouble finding anything, but this detector is very good at finding coins as well as trash. (Note that I use this detector in conjunction with the aforementioned Garrett Pro-Pointer, which speeds up the recovery speed perhaps 10x and is amazing to see/hear in action. You really need both, or the recovery process will be excruciatingly slow.) After a few days' practice, I am starting to be able to discern the size and depth of an object even before digging, which helps me decide whether to even bother digging. (I realize I may be passing up some treasure, but digging up lots of trash is so discouraging!). So, now I am pulling up mostly coins and trash that's the same size as a coin. I still haven't found anything the least bit rare, and I figure my hourly "wages" have averaged about 40 cents (from the coins I find), but it's fun, and I'm still hopeful I'll find something worth talking about some day.In practice, I generally leave the sensitivity setting all the way up, the mode set to TONE (which beeps nicely to indicate treasure and beeps harshly to indicate trash), and the discrimination level set to about half way. However, if I am in an area that has hardly any metal and am struggling to find anything, I set the mode to ALL, and turn the discriminator down all the way (because that maximizes the machine's overall sensitivity). Once I get a beep, I switch to TONE and 50% discrimination to get an idea of what's buried. Later, I try to remember to switch the settings back to maximize sensitivity. There are lots of ways to successfully use the controls. The worst thing to do is to not bother learning how they work because they are essential to your success.The length of the stem of the detector is adjustable (just like on exercise equipment), so I shorten it to the shortest setting to fit it in my car's tiny trunk, and I lengthen it to the longest setting when I'm using the detector.To preserve battery life, I turn the detector off when It's located something. Then, I use the Garrett Pro-Pointer to narrow it down even closer, digging as needed. I turn the Pro-Pointer off ASAP to preserve its battery too. On the other hand, If I'm in an area that's chock full of coins, I don't bother turning either device off because doing so would slow me down too much and not save much battery life. Speaking of batteries: both devices take standard 9-volt batteries. I haven't had to replace the batteries during perhaps 20 hours of use!Aspects that surprised me:* It beeps if it bumps into something hard, such as a rock. At first, I thought it had found metal, but re-sweeping the area indicated no metal.* It is more sensitive when sweeping left and right than forward and backward.* It doesn't discriminate (between trash and non-trash) as well when sweeping fast as when sweeping slow.* Normally, it has to be moving to detect anything, but if the signal is very strong (such as when the treasure is on the surface or is large), it can basically be motionless and still beep.I haven't used it with a headset yet, so I can't comment on that aspect, but the built-in speaker is plenty loud for most of the places I've taken it. They say the battery lasts longer if you use a headset.I was debating whether to give this product 4 stars or 5. I decided to give it 5 stars because, for the price, I can conceive of no way at the present that anyone could improve upon it. Still, wouldn't it be cool to have a device that could definitively tell you what's buried down there?