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If you’re reading this, then you got your first metal detector. And that should be the most popular one: the bounty hunter tracker iv.
Good choice! I guess you’re excited about getting into this hobby.
In this article, I’ll show you how you can adjust the settings. And in the second part, I’ll give you some tips to upgrade your detector and go to the next level.
Table of Contents
Settings of the bounty hunter iv
Let us start with this awesome video. It will show you how you can adjust the settings. I’ll explain things further after it.
The bounty hunter has a simplistic interface. There’s a signal strength indicator which you can forget about and rely only on the audio signals.
There’s also a battery indicator. If it’s ON, then the batteries are discharged. If everything is Ok, it should flash once when you turn ON the detector.
To adjust the settings, you have two control knobs and a switch. With the latter, you can select one of the three discrimination modes: all-metal, discrimination, and tone.
Discrimination tells the detector to forget about some types of metal objects that you don’t want to dig.
This means that you will not hear an audio signal when the machine detects an unwanted metal.
So, the all-metal discrimination mode (switch in the middle position) means that you are deactivating this feature and the machine will beep whenever it detects something.
The good thing about this mode is that the depth range of the detector increases.
However, if a certain area is full of junk, the machine will become crazy and it will emit an overwhelming number of beeps because it detected many targets.
Many of them are nothing more than pull-tabs, nails, bottle caps….
This is why you need to turn the discrimination OFF in this situation.
You can select the full discriminate mode by toggling the switch to the left. This way, the detector will ignore most trashy items.
You’ll only hear an audio signal when a “valuable” item is detected.
If you toggle the switch to the right, the tone mode will be selected.
In this mode, junk items will be ignored just like the full discriminate.
However, instead of hearing only one tone, you’ll hear three tones so that you categorize the buried item.
A low tone will be emitted if the item’s conductivity is below a certain range, and a high tone if it’s above it.
This range is adjusted using the right knob.
For example, if you adjust the discrimination know in the 12:00 position, the low tone will be for gold and nickel, the broken tone is for pull tabs, and the high tone for copper and silver.
Now let us talk about the left knob…
It’s for adjusting the sensitivity and for turning the machine ON and OFF.
The higher the sensitivity the deeper the metal detector can reach. However, trashed areas will make it chatter.
Therefore, to get the best performance, adjust the sensitivity as high as possible. Then reduce it slowly until the false signals disappear.
Because the bounty hunter tracker iv is a beginner’s detector, you don’t have to worry about ground balance. It will be adjusted automatically.
Quick tips
Run air test or plant some targets (nails, rings, coins…) and swing the search coil on top of them. That way you’ll get to know the metal detector better.
After assembling the machine, try it in your yard. See what you can find and practice digging holes (detectorists call them plugs).
To pinpoint a buried item, swing the coil on top of it sideways then back and forth.
The amplitude of the swing should decrease slowly. The target is under the intersection of the two lines in the center of the circle.
To estimate the target’s depth. Just raise the coil (while swinging it) a few inches from the ground.
If the signal disappears when the coil is low, then the target is deep.
If the metal detector keeps beeping when the coil is high, then the target is shallow.
With your machine, you need a digging tool. Any tool that you use in your garden should be Ok.
But many detectorists chose the Lesche Digging Tool.
The blade is 7-Inch long. Its right side is serrated and it comes with a belt holder.
Upgrading the bounty hunter
the bounty hunter iv is a good entry level metal detector and it’s reasonably priced.
It’s good for learning the basics of this hobby and to find out if you really like the hobby and whether to want to stick with it or not.
After spending some time using the bounty hunter iv, you’ll notice that it has some limits. So you want to upgrade it and go to the next level.
I’ll start by giving you some tips to help improve its performance and making metal detecting a lot easier.
Then I’ll recommend a brand that you can buy if you want to fully upgrade.
Using headphones
The headphones extend the battery life because they consume less power than the onboard speakers.
With a 1/4-inch plug, the HEAD-PL headphones are compatible with all bounty hunter detectors except bounty junior.
There’s a separate volume control for each ear. I think it’s better if they made an inline volume control to adjust it for both of them.
Why would someone want to hear different volumes of the same tone in his ears?
The cord is coiled. Some users said that it’s a little bit stiff.
Installing a new search coil
The bounty hunter tracker 4 comes with an 8 inches coil. You can replace it with the gold nugget coil. Its size is 4-inches and it’s waterproof.
Generally speaking, smaller coils perform better in trashy areas and can scan tight spots.
Buying a pinpointer
You can buy a pinpointer. It’s, basically, a mini handheld metal detector. It will help you locate the targets faster and the hole you dig will be smaller.
One of the most popular pinpointers is the Garrett carrot. Its actual name is the Garrett Pro-Pointer AT. If you want to know why do they call it a carrot, click here!
It’s fully waterproof up to 10 feet underwater. It runs on a 9 volts battery.
However, if you don’t have a lot of money to invest. You can buy a new detector and care about the handheld detector later.
Because you’ll be hitting two birds with the same stone. Some of the more advanced metal detectors have a built-in pinpointer.
Replacing the whole thing
After, serving you successfully, it’s time to think about getting a more advanced metal detector.
You’ll be able to recover more targets. Even if you hunted an area to death you can go back and scan it with your new detector and find more goodies.
Higher-level detectors are usually equipped with screens. In which you can find the target ID. It helps you to get an idea of the type of the buried metal.
It can also tell you about its approximate depth. For the Garrett ace 300, the depth indicator is calibrated with coin-sized objects.
So the depth given is an estimation. But it helps.
You also get better discrimination, notching, ground balance and a lot more…
You got to relearn the tones’ meanings and to get accustomed to the new detector. But it’s worth it.
The Garrett Ace 300 is a popular mid-level machine. You definitely should give it a try.
For the good old bounty hunter, you can sell it or keep it as a backup.
Wrapping up
I hope this article helped you to learn how to adjust the bounty hunter settings. I hope the tips are useful.
Keep learning and reading about the subject. If you feel comfortable and you like the hobby, then upgrade your machine.
Happy hunting
My Bounty Hunter T IV has not had a lot of use over the years I have had it, but now the discriminate and tone settings give the same results as all metal, I have put new quality batteries in and adjusted everything to no avail, II was thinking on a MD6250 ( garrett ace 250 copy ) as I don’t do a lot of detecting, they say apart from the coil its just as good, any ideas as to what would be best to buy ?
I recommend that you stay away from the Chinese copies even if they appear to be good. You can repair your old bounty hunter or buy the Teknetics Delta 4000.