BH detector technology

[mwaynebennett]

I have my Elite 2200 and now I have a BH Jr. The Jr. seems to use a different technology than the Elite 2200. I can pick up very faint tones with the Jr., but the frequency of the tone is the same if the target is aluminum , iron, copper or silver. Will one of you knowledgeable folks please explain to me the difference in how each type works? Also, are all of the BH's "serious" (non Jr. detectors) using the same technology, or are some using more sophisticated versions of the Jr.?


Thanks,

Mark

 

[GoGoGopher]

The Jumior was made as a child's detector...It WILL find the goods, but it is not deep, and it has only one tone I think for all targets...the TR IV was not supposed to be a great machine, but some folks swear by them, and claim them to be better than some higher priced detectors. The 202, 505 and Land Star all share the same technology with a few added bells and whistles on the higher ones...the Land Ranger and Time Ranger share the same tech, again with the Time ranger having more bells and whistles...most of the BHs use VLF technology. I am not too keen on the Engineering aspects of the machines...I know a little about electronics, but I am not a tech by any means...I believe ALL the BH machines operate at 6.59Mhz...


HH,

 

[mts]

I got a BH Jr. for my son and a Tracker IV for myself. The technology is actually quite different in both machines. So don't think that the Jr. is going to be indicative of all BH models. The Jr. is not a bad machine for the price and is made specifically for small kids. My 10 year old daughter is actually a little too tall for it but my 8 year old son is just the right size. The discrimination on the Jr. is actually quite poor as the range is not at all linear. You pretty much end up setting the discrimination dial at about 3/4" of the way and leave it there (or else turn it all the way off for all metal mode). With it in the 3/4" setting it discriminates out most iron trash. However, it is virtually impossible to make it discriminate out pull tabs and such if that's what you want to do. Finally, it has no headphone jack which is a real drawback for any serious detectorist (even kids). Still, for $49.99 it has really good depth and is very easy to use for a child.

I bought the Tracker IV based on the multitude of recommendations I read on the web. For the money I really don't think it can be beat. I paid $89 for mine from Amazon and it has not let me down. It has two tone discrimination and the discrimination is completely usable across the entire range which is important. This means that I can make small adjustments to the discrimination knob and figure out what type of metal I'm detecting based on where the tone changes. You can also discriminate out pretty much everything except for silver coins which is excellent.I made a little chart from experimentation and pasted it to the unit. The chart shows the location of the discrimation knob for various types of metals. So when I find an object that I want to know more about I simply change the discrimination knob until the tone changes from high to low and then read the chart to figure out what type of metal it is. Essentially, it is a manual TID system of sorts. But it works suprisingly well.

I have no experience with any of the other BH detectors so I can't really comment on those.