Bounty Hunter TK4 Tracker IV Metal Detector for Adults & Kids – 8" Waterproof Coil, 3 Modes, Rugged All-Terrain Design – Gold, Silver Coin & Relic Finder for Beach, Garden & Treasure Hunting

So, basically, the only reason I purchased this was to find my mom's gold pendant in our backyard. We were cutting down a tree and building a fence, and at some point, her necklace had apparently snapped and fallen off. She told me there was no way we'd be able to find it in our large backyard, so naturally, being her child and all, I was immediately consumed by the need to prove her wrong.For starters, the price is fantastic compared to other metal detectors on Amazon. This made me a bit nervous, but the reviews were positive enough to convince me. The quality is remarkable and exceeded my expectations. Its lightweight, sturdy, and the grip was perfect for my blistered post-yardwork hands. Batteries weren't included, but it just needs two 9v batteries.It was easy to assemble (attaching two parts and putting batteries in). Additionally, it was extremely simple to figure out and use—this is crucial for my dad and I, as we frequently toss instruction manuals aside without reading them. It took us about 3 minutes to understand and adjust the sensitivity controls, and only an additional 5 minutes to figure out the "metal" we were detecting was actually the shovel we kept placing right next to it. If two ADHD adults who share one braincell can operate it, then basically anyone can.We found 13 screws, 11 nails, multiple sprinklers, random bits of metal scraps, a friendly slug (not metal but it was cool), my dad's keys (they fell out of his pocket into the grass, lucky for him we had a metal detector), and a bunch of other miscellaneous things. And, of course, I found my mom's gold pendant. Unfortunately, I probably could've done this without the metal detector, as it was actually just sitting on the cement a hundred feet away from the area we thought she lost it in. However, due to its size and my whole family's lack of vision, none of us would've seen it. I actually had to kneel down and squint to figure out what the metal detector was beeping at.Regardless, the praise I received inflated my ego, and now I'm at risk of the Gods striking me down for my hubris.In conclusion—I proved my mother wrong, returned her beloved pendant, had fun with my dad and sister, made my whole family think I was an expert treasure hunter, and now I have a super rad device that I kinda wanna take out to the desert next weekend. Tons of fun, 10/10. Highly recommend.

Discriminater is easy and affective to use. I use rechargeable 9v batteries which hold up very well in this product. Have compared this detector with friends higher end detectors. Not only does it work just as well it sometimes catches items the others do not. Great value for a quality product. A friend and I both use this product. Easy to disassemble and strap to our bikes to find good locations to search for lost treasures. Wonderful way to stay active while having some exciting fun.

I have had little experience with metal detectors, except for having built one once about 40 years ago as a project I found in an electronics magazine. I still understand in principle how these devices work from that experience and from a general background in electronics. Basically a balanced circuit is produced in the two coils at the end of the unit. When the flux lines in the coils are changed by induced eddy currents (by passing near a metal object), a difference signal is generated from the unbalanced conditions which lets the operator know that something has changed in the field of the detector coil. BTW, this is why one must move the coil in order to induce a signal. A static coil does not experience any changes. Different metal groups produce different phase responses, which allow for some rough discrimination of the type of metal producing the response.My point is that these things can finicky as most anything that changes the reluctance of a tuned circuit will generate a difference signal. So the trick is to just generate a signal when an object of interest is passed over.All of that said, I am favorably impressed with the operation of this moderately priced unit. It is rugged. It is very stable. It is sensitive without being too sensitive so that too many false signals are generated. The notch filter function seems to work well. It does not seem to be much affected by soil mineralization (at least in my yard) or soil moisture levels.I purchased the unit to find nails in the yard. I had my roof replaced a couple of months ago and even though the crew did an excellent job and ran magnetic nail sweeps over and over the yard, I could still go out with a powerful hand held magnet mounted on a short wooden handle and find nails. After several weeks of this sporadic activity, I realized that if I were to have a shot at finding 99.9% of the extant nails, I would need a better way to detect them. Hence this detector.I use the detector in the non-discrimiating mode and have found nails that were obviously left over from when the house was built almost 20 years ago! For this purpose it has worked and worked well. I have even done a small amount of digging to get the long buried metal up and out of the yard for no other reason than I can locate it and then retrieve it.No treasure, so far.Learning to narrow down the source of a signal by making "X" sweeps takes a bit of practice. After only a few minutes, however, even a novice such as I can quickly get an idea of whether the object is on or under the surface and if it is iron/steel or not.The grand daughters, 6 going on 7, and 9 going on 14, have taken to this device in a big way.Let me explain.I salted two areas of my rather large yard with 1- $1 coin, 5 quarters, 5 dimes, five nickels, and five pennies each. These areas were well removed from one another. I made sure that the coins were not very visible, but otherwise were dropped randomly. When the grand daughters last came to visit, I asked them to help me find treasure in my yard. I produced two wadded up "treasure maps" and let them select which one they wanted. Then I showed them the metal detector and explained how it worked. I had a minute timer along with two baggies labeled with their names in my pocket. The timer was to keep the peace as each girl got ten minutes alternately. The baggies were to keep the loot separate and separated.I believe the 6.5 year old would still be out there looking, if we had not forced her to come in that evening. All in all the youngest found all but 6¢ but oddly enough, she ended up with 4¢ more than I had planted. You see, she found a dime that I had not put there! The older one came up 11¢ short and was most disappointed that her sister had found more than she! As a bonus, they did find 7 nails that I had not expected to find as these were in areas well removed from the perimeter of the house.I also had an opportunity to explain to the older one that this was an application of science, where she could use a device to sense things that she could not see, hear, or feel. This made an impression on her, I could tell.They want to come back and do this again!Suits me fine.So what does this have to do with a review of a purchase? This unit has worked well in not only my hands but in the little, inexperienced, and often clumsy hands of two children (after shortening the pole). It is light enough in weight that neither I nor the children had any difficulty using it. The smaller did have to use two hands, however.I am pleased with it in general, but I have yet to test it for unsalted "coin shooting" (I love that term), relic hunting, prospecting, or general treasure hunting as in finding objects of value say at a public beach, park, etc.I would recommend it as a good, affordable, general purpose metal detector, with the caveat that I have few benchmarks such as how a higher end unit would perform for comparison, such as a unit that worked by pulse induction, for example.