Lost $300 on a metal detector that couldn't handle wet sand

Bought a cheap Bounty Hunter detector off Amazon for beach hunting in Corpus Christi and it went haywire every time I got near the wet sand line. Signal kept jumping around and I dug up bottle caps for three hours before giving up. Ended up renting a Minelab Vanquish 340 from a local shop and found a 1919 wheat penny on my first real swing. Anyone else get burned by a detector that just wasn't built for saltwater conditions?

3 comments

3 Comments

rowan96915d ago

Man that Bounty Hunter model is basically a fancy stick that beeps at you. I tried using one on a wet sandy beach near Galveston and spent two hours convincing myself that a rusty soda can was a Spanish doubloon. The Vanquish was night and day difference though, that thing didn't even flinch at the saltwater. Made me wonder if I could get a refund on both the detector and my pride.

spencer78215d ago

My buddy Mike bought that same Bounty Hunter for a Padre Island trip and it literally started screaming at him when he got within ten feet of the water. He gave up after twenty minutes and just used a shovel to dig holes for his beach umbrella. The Vanquish he rented later found a silver ring his wife still wears, so at least the story has a happy ending.

olivia_moore15d ago

Wait, didn't you know that Bounty Hunter is basically a toy for kids to play with in dry dirt? I used to think a detector was a detector, but after watching a guy near Corpus with a Minelab scoop up a gold chain right next to where my machine was just screaming at seashells, I finally got it. The science of ground balancing and frequency shifting is way more than just a fancy feature, it's the difference between finding junk in the dry sand and actually pulling coins from the wet stuff. That wheat penny story is exactly what made me stop being cheap and save up for a real saltwater machine.