Finally Tried The BH Discovery 3300

[CentralMassHunter]

I finally got a chance to try out the 3300 after waiting about a week for a day off from work, and I have to say that I am impressed with the performance of this detector.

I tried her out at a friends house that dates back to pre-1930 or so, and I was at first very unsure if this 3300 could compare to my GTAx 550 & 1266-X. It did not take long to find out. I have hunted my friend's yard with both of my more "expensive" units and have had a little bit of luck in the wheat cents department, and have probably removed almost all of the trash he had underground

I started up the 3300 and the detector was just fine at the preset ground balance, so I began to hunt with a slow sweeping motion. After about 5 minutes I got a solid hit in the half dollar area on the VDI and tried out the pinpoint feature. Sure enough the pinpointer was dead accurate and said the target was about 4" under the soil. After carefully probing and cutting a plug, my first find with the 3300 was a copper spoon ring in great shape with an intricate leaf pattern. The depth was pretty much accurate also, as the actual depth was a shade over 3 1/2"

I also managed to pull about $1.32 in clad out of his backyard, that I know my Garrett & Fisher had missed.

All in all, I am very happy so far with this detector, and would like to give Bounty Hunter a thumbs up for making a lightweight unit that is really fun to use.

Happy Hunting Everybody!

Barry

 

[RingProfessional]

This is a little known fact but please believe me because its very true!-- "lower powered / lower priced detectors" sometimes can find targeta missed by expensive top range machines on trashy sites, the lower sensitivity , lower brute power of the el cheapo detector can sift some of the good stuff from the trash better than say a dfx or top range fisher.

 

[CentralMassHunter]

[quote RingProfessional]This is a little known fact but please believe me because its very true!-- "lower powered / lower priced detectors" sometimes can find targeta missed by expensive top range machines on trashy sites, the lower sensitivity , lower brute power of the el cheapo detector can sift some of the good stuff from the trash better than say a dfx or top range fisher.[/quote]

Thanks for the info, it's appreciated. I just get tired of detecting purists putting down Bounty Hunter detectors. Not all of us can afford a unit like the DFX, so we make due with our budgetary constraints. I have used different Bounty Hunter units over the 22 years I have been in this hobby, and not one of them has been a waste of money. Sure they may not be fancy, and have extra little do-dads and functions, but they perform great for the amount paid IMHO.

Happy Hunting!

Barry.

 

[James/Washington]

It is my backup detector and I will have to say that this is a very under rated detector. I KEEP the 4" coil on this detector and it is a killer for hunting around playground equipment! Just turn the sensitivity down and hunt away! The coins and jewelry will turn up in bunches! Great as loaners or for newbys!

 

[Mike in Tn]

I have had several Bounty Hunter machines. I have had the Big Bud and Big Bud Pro. Either of those machines were just as good as any machine I have used. Not quiet as deep as some of the newer machines but, just as deep as the machines of their time. I have no reason to believe that the newer models are not just as good as the new models of any brand. Have not owned one for a while but, with all the put downs going around. I might just have to make a Bounty Hunter my next machine and just see if they are still as good as they used to be.

 

[JB(MS)]

The 3300's aren't low powered detectors, they have depth that rivals many of the top end models, better sensitivity to low conductors than most detectors in their frequency range and the three digit numerical ID is accurate to 6-7 inches on inground coins. The 3300 finds in the photo below were from 6 inches deep for one of the wheaties to 9 1/2 inches for a 1928 Mercury dime and about the same or a tad more for the 3 Merry Widows box. Those finds were made with the sensitivity at turn on preset, 4 bars showing. However, the 3300's have a very slow recovery between targets and with the 8 inch coil they are not good in trash, even with a very slow sweep speed. I bought two, one at the $199 price and the other at $112, and besides using them often I've done several depth and target separation tests using various trash targets along with different denomination coins and a few rings. One of the tests involving recovery speed was done by laying two targets on the ground and seeing how close together I could put them and get two distinct signals. At my normal sweep speed, which is slower than anyone I've hunted with sweeps, and using the 8 inch coil, 8 inches was as close as it would give two signals if the coil was over 3 inches or so above the targets. Slowing to a very slow sweep speed it would do 5 inches but at even a moderately fast sweep speed it wouldn't give signals on both targets a foot apart if the coil was 4 inches or more above the coins I was using for targets. Sensitivity was from preset down to two bars with little difference in results. For hunting in moderate to heavy trash a small coil is a necessity but the overall performance, for what those of us who bought them paid, is outstanding. I was one of those who tested a prototype for the last upgrade to the Time Ranger in late 1994 and the 3300 equaled what the TR would do plus it's a lot easier to use at a ridiculously low price. The Time Ranger field test is on my website at http://jb-ms.com/bh/ if anyone is interested.

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[Steve(MS)]

I have enjoyed the 3300 since I bought it, a lightweight unit so I don't get tired as fast swinging it. The recovery is slow as JB stated but one can use fast or slow sweep speed and it still gets good depth if there are few targets present, one way to help on the recovery using a faster swing is to swing both directions before moving foward(for 2 maybe 3 targets per swing) and you can catch signals on the rebound. I have found coins close to pulltabs so it does not too shabby in non ferrous trash. It also has a wide scan pattern even on deeper items(disc mode). The pinpoint mode(all-metal)is very deep also, it has tones in disc and they are pleasant to listen to, so much so that I run it in disc all-metal all the time. I have found as depth increases, the 3 digit numbers read higher(on high conductors), I haven't yet seen the numbers decrease so it will give the idea that there is a good target to investigate, this a plus for coin hunters.

 

[JB(MS)]

Steve, you're 100% right that the 3300 moves targets up in the conductivity range as they get deeper. That's one of the things I like about the Treasure Barons, they do the same thing. The Barber dime in the photo was between 8 and 9 inches down and while it wasn't on edge it was at an angle in the ground. The three digit numerical ID jumped around from zinc range up to one 199 but was mostly in the 110 to 120 range. It pinpointed tiny so I knew it wasn't anything big. On targets right at the edge of the meters depth capability the ID will sometimes wrap over to iron but I've only seen that happen a couple of times. I also run in motion all metal mode most of the time and agree about the tones, it's the easiest audio to listen to of any detector I've used.
<center><img src="http://jb-ms.com/Finds/apr23.jpg" border=2></center>

 

[bigjohn]

i got miss john one about a month ago and she is doing real well with it.
bigjohn