Metal detecting is an exciting hobby, and you never know what you’re going to dig up when you get a signal. If you’re ready to join the metal detecting world, you’ll need a starter machine to help you get your feet wet.
Bounty Hunter metal detectors are made for those just entering the hobby and intermediate-level hobbyists. They have been popular with amateur detectorists for several decades.
Bounty Hunter is owned by First Texas Products, which is the company that also owns Fisher and Teknetics. That company has a solid history in the metal detecting field.
These detectors are made in Texas, so you’ll be supporting the U.S economy when you buy this brand.
Which should you choose?
Which Bounty Hunter you select will depend on your age, your budget and how much you plan to go metal detecting.
Some Bounty Hunters are made for kids, while others are made for adults and teenagers.
Anyone who wants to dabble in metal detecting for a reasonable price should love Bounty Hunters!
Let’s look at the detectors in the Bounty Hunter line and find one that will be right for you or the kid in your life.
Best option for kids
Kids will love the ease and simplicity of these Bounty Hunter metal detectors.
They don’t have as many features as more advanced detectors, and that’s perfect for young children who don’t want to be overwhelmed by complicated equipment when they’re trying to have fun.
The following three machines won’t require a lot of study before using them. Kids will be able to open the box and head right outside without any reading or training.
Bounty Hunter Junior
The Bounty Hunter Junior (see today’s price) is perfect for kids as young as 6 years old. This black detector looks like a mini version of an adult’s detector, which some children will love.
Children will continue to be entertained by this detector for years, probably until the ages of 10 or 11.
At that point, especially if they’ve been detecting since the age of 6, they’ll want to move up to a slightly heavier and more sophisticated machine.
But in the meantime, they’ll get years of use out of this detector, and they’ll love showing family and friends their finds.
The Bounty Hunter Junior weighs only 1.5 pounds, and it is adjustable for its length, going from 20.5 inches to 31.5 inches – a perfect length for young kids.
It has a discrimination mode to help you avoid digging trash.
This detector is capable of finding a coin-sized item up to 5 inches underground.
The Bounty Hunter Junior doesn’t have a display screen — it just has a needle that shows the depth an object is buried.
Click here to read more reviews and check latest pricing on Amazon.
Bounty Hunter Junior Target ID (TID)
The Bounty Hunter Jr. TID (see today’s price) is great for kids from ages 6 to about age 9. After that, it will be too babyish for older kids because of the faces the detector uses to show off finds.
But for that age group, the faces the screen displays are a perfect way to let kids know if they should dig their targets.
It uses three faces — the sad face means it’s a junk find like nails, a more interested face shows a more valuable item like a ring and the happiest face indicates the target could be a coin.
This method is easy for kids to understand — it teaches them whether they should dig or pass the signal if it’s going to be junk.
This detector can be adjusted to grow with your child — it spans from 19 to 31 inches.
Like the Bounty Hunter Junior, this detector only weighs 1.5 pounds, which is a good weight for kids that young.
They won’t struggle to carry it around, and that will give them more enjoyment!
The discrimination feature, which will help a child avoid spending time digging up junk, can be activated just by pressing a button.
The detector has a wing stand, which will protect it when your child sets it on the ground to dig.
Unlike the Bounty Hunter Junior, this detector also has three-tone target identification, which gives a different tone depending upon which kind of metal is found.
Read our complete Bounty Hunter Junior review.
Click here to read more reviews and check latest pricing on Amazon.
Bounty Hunter Gold Digger
The Gold Digger (see today’s price) is a heavier detector at 2.2 pounds than the other two we’ve covered above, so it’s a better choice for older kids.
This one is a good pick for kids ages 9 through 14.
Another reason this one is well-suited for older (and taller) kids is that it’s longer. It can be adjusted from 34.5 inches to 45.5 inches.
After the age of 14 or so, many detectorists might prefer to upgrade to a detector with more features than this one.
But for kids who are just starting to metal detect, this is a great detector to have at their side.
Even with the heavier weight and extended length, this machine is still a great choice for kids because of how easy it is to operate.
It only has two knobs, so kids won’t have to learn any complicated features.
This detector comes with headphones, which will help children hear signals better, especially in a crowded setting or at the beach where the wind and crashing waves can be quite loud.
It has three audio tones, which will help a child decide if they should dig.
It also comes with a sensitivity meter, which will help a child assess the strength of the signal and whether it’s worth the effort of digging it.
Something the Gold Digger doesn’t have is a display screen, which some detectorists prefer to have, but it doesn’t affect the performance of a machine.
Read our complete Bounty Hunter Gold Digger review.
Click here to read more reviews and check latest pricing on Amazon.
Older kids, beginner adults
For older kids and beginner adults, Bounty Hunter has two detectors for this group – the Tracker IV and Quicksilver. These are great choices for teenagers and adult detectorists who are new to the hobby.
Bounty Hunter Tracker IV
The Tracker IV (see today’s price) is a good metal detector for teenagers, but it could also work for pre-teens, especially if they are taller and a little stronger than their peers.
Let’s start with what the Tracker IV doesn’t have — a visual depth indicator or an LCD display screen.
The depth indicator can be handy, especially when you are a new detectorist because you’ll know approximately how many inches you have to dig.
The Tracker IV only has two audio tones, compared to the three tones some detectors have.
The Tracker IV has an 8-inch waterproof coil, which means you can hunt in very shallow water — but you still don’t want to get the control box wet!
It comes with preset ground balancing, which means you’ll get less false positive signals in ground that has a lot of mineralization.
It has adjustable discrimination and sensitivity, which will help you in your search when you encounter higher mineralization and a lot of junk.
You won’t have a display screen, which can be disappointing to some detectorists.
Read our complete Bounty Hunter Tracker IV review.
Click here to read more reviews and check latest pricing on Amazon.
Bounty Hunter Quicksilver
The Quicksilver (see today’s price) is an excellent entry-level machine for teenagers or beginners that will allow them to explore metal detecting for an affordable price.
Unlike the Tracker IV, this detector does have a visual depth indicator which lets you know how deep you have to dig.
It won’t give you an exact number of inches to dig, but it will give you a range — shallow, medium and deep.
That feature isn’t available on the more inexpensive Bounty Hunter detectors.
It has three-tone audio identification to help detectorists make informed decisions on what to dig.
It also offers 4-segment digital target identification, which will help you determine what kind of target you might be encountering and whether you should dig it or leave it buried.
It doesn’t have adjustable ground balancing, which would help with difficult soil conditions, but for a basic search, this detector will do the trick.
Read our complete Bounty Hunter Quicksilver review.
Click here to read more reviews and check latest pricing on Amazon.
Experienced detectorists
Bounty Hunter also makes detectors that are appropriate for detectorists who have some experience with metal detecting, but who can’t afford the higher price tag of an expert-level detector. Here are our picks:
Bounty Hunter Lone Star Pro
Whereas the Quicksilver is a good machine for beginning amateur detectorists, the Lone Star Pro (see today’s price) is a notch above the performance of that detector.
It’s good for people who have some experience or who want to dive into metal detecting with both feet.
It has many of the same functions as the Quicksilver, with two notable differences.
It has three modes instead of the one mode you’ll get with the Quicksilver. While Quicksilver only has the discrimination mode, Lone Star Pro has all-metal, discrimination, and auto notch modes.
These modes allow you to be more selective about the signals you hear.
By phasing out some of the modes that are likely to be junk, you can save your time and your efforts for the better signals.
The Lone Star Pro also has 9-segment digital target identification — not just the 4-segment identification you find on the Quicksilver.
This means you’ll have a better idea what kind of relic or treasure you’ve found with the Lone Star Pro.
It also has a large display screen that is simple to read.
Click here to read more reviews and check latest pricing on Amazon.
Bounty Hunter Quick Draw Pro
The Quick Draw Pro (see today’s price) has 0 through 99 target identification numbers, which the Lone Star Pro doesn’t.
That’s the primary difference between these two machines and is a feature a lot of people love
The numeric target identification will let you figure out what type of metal you’ve found much more accurately than any other model we’ve talked about so far.
Plus like the Lone Star Pro, this detector also has 9-target identification.
If you can avoid digging iffy signals, you’ll increase your odds of finding something valuable by spending less time digging junk.
This detector also gives you a pinpointing mode which will help you find your target more precisely.
It stinks to spend your time and energy digging a hole only to figure out you dug to the left or the right of the item.
This detector has three-tone audio identification, plus adjustable iron audio.
Iron Audio gives you a much better chance of avoiding nuisance finds like bottle caps.
This detector is lightweight at 2.4 pounds, meaning you’ll be able to comfortably hunt all day.
It comes with a good-sized 10-inch waterproof coil, which will cover ground quickly when you’re swinging it.
The volume control is a nice touch because you’ll be able to turn it down when you don’t want everyone in the park to hear your signals.
Click here to read more reviews and check latest pricing on Amazon.
Bounty Hunter Time Ranger
At 4 pounds, the Time Ranger (see today’s price) is a heavier machine. While that won’t be a problem for some detectorists, it’s something people with bad backs or shoulders will want to be aware of!
With this machine, you can control the sensitivity, and it has 9-target identification to help you make decisions about what to dig.
One perk to the Time Ranger is that it has Ground-Trac (automatic ground balance), which checks on ground mineralization that could cause false positive signals.
The detector will automatically adjust to the ground conditions using this feature which allows for better depth and more accurate target ID.
It’s really frustrating to dig holes only to find out there’s nothing there!
The Time Ranger has a blanker feature — with the press of a button, you can rid yourself of undesirable targets.
The 8-inch coil isn’t as big as the one on the Quick Draw Pro.
The display screen will take a little getting used to because there’s so much displayed at once and so many different buttons to press.
It does have a numerical depth readout, so you know exactly how far to dig and numerical target identification to help you figure out what kind of metal you’ve found.
Click here to read more reviews and check latest pricing on Amazon.
Bounty Hunter Land Ranger Pro
The Land Ranger Pro (see today’s price) is pretty much the deluxe model of Bounty Hunters.
It has numerical target identification and numerical depth readout, just like the Time Ranger.
But it can find coins at 10-inches deep, which is the best depth you’ll get with any Bounty Hunter — the Time Ranger gets 9 inches of depth for instance.
This detector also has seven search modes, compared to the one, two, three, or four offered by all the other Bounty Hunter detectors.
It also has four audio tones, compared to the one, two, or three other Bounty Hunters have.
The Land Ranger Pro also has Ground-Trac for ground mineralization so you can still hunt reliably in more challenging soil conditions.
Click here to read more reviews and check latest pricing on Amazon.
Final thoughts
No matter which Bounty Hunter detector you go with, you’ll be joining an exciting hobby, and you’ll be armed with an affordable detector that will help you in your quest for treasure!
You’ll only be able to find treasure if you start looking. So get out there as soon as you can!
Want to see reviews of other brands? See our full guide to the best metal detectors.