Bounty Hunter Discovery 3300

STINKS!!!!

John in Delaware -
These are very cheap detectors that false alot and I mean alot. Save your money and buy a whites, Tesoro ect..

Mar 31, 2007

13 Yes
52 No

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A great Detector

Kerry Page in Rehoboth Beach, DE -
I received my BH3300 as a father's day gift and I love it. It has found "bobbie pins" in the beach sand 14 inches deep and I found a buried soda can 27" deep in the sand. It picks up coins like there is no tomorrow. I recommend the 3300 to anyone looking to metal detect without going into debt for the detector because it works great.

Sep 27, 2006

37 Yes
1 No

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Must have the only one

Stan B in New England -
I muast have the only 3300 in the world that doesn't do what others are saying it does. Not only is it fairly difficult to set up to perfrom adiquately , it also does NOT ground balmace well. I had to use the preset all the time. The detector does not keep its settings when switching to the pinpoint mode and the battery drain is terrible. (for me under 7 hours then dead). In my 15 to 16 year old test garden i could not find any coins under 8" and this was a quarter that I barely got a signal on. From what I also read online ; for every posative comment I read 3 to 4 that are negative with most being about how they had to have their detector repaired after a short ownership time.
The box is of less quality and is mounted pretty loosely. When compared to the Ace250 : the Ace will outperform it in all conditions I encounteres after extensive testing side by side. As far as the previous test against a Prizm V , The Prizm V was far and above the better detector for ease of use ,performance and depth. Also it was mis-stated that the V has no ground balance adjustment. It does but most don't know where it is.
If I had a choice and I do ; I would never recommend or buy another one of these detectors. The reason the price was so low at 112.00 was the fact that RS was discontinuing the detector line because of poor sales.

Sep 25, 2006

17 Yes
22 No

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Stomps the competition

David R. Stone in Arizona -
I got sucked into thinking that BH detectors were bad by reading articles online. So I thought I would up grade to a tesoro vaguero.When it arrived I started comparing the two, both with air tests and inground tests (test garden). The 3300 blew the socks off the "V" plus you get multi tone feed back and visual feed back, notch control, Zap control, selectable discrimination, plus many other features. With the "V" you get a squawk when your over something and a dial discriminator thats gets you close. DON'T WALK BUT RUN OUT TO RADIO SHACK AND GET ONE.note: The Titan 3000 is the 3300's twin

Sep 12, 2006

32 Yes
2 No

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BEST FOR THE MONEY!

Felix in Miami -
I was looking for an entry level detector about 6 months ago for about $250 and was deciding deciding between the 3300 and the ACE 250. When I saw the BHD 3300 go on sale at Radio Shack for $112 - the decision was a no brainer! Since then, as of today, I have collected over 1400 clad coins, over $105 basically doing park playgrounds. So the detector has paid for itself. I have found wheat & silver coins, lots of gold & silver jewelry. The detector is easy to learn, has excellent pinpointing, and target id is right on for the most part. When it says its a quater, dime or penny - 90% of the time it is. The only troubles I've had are with the usual pull tabs and foil masquerading as other signals. But from what I've read, expensive detectors can have these problems too. It is light and I can swing it all day. I find that the two 9v batteries don't last long, but since I use NiMh rechargeables it's not an issue. There may be more expensive detectors out there that can go deeper, but for my kind of hunting it's all the depth I need. If you can find one for the $112 (or mayble less I've heard) get it.

Aug 29, 2006

28 Yes
1 No

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Even better value than the Ace 250 from Garrett

Andy,NM in Alamogordo,NM -
Let me say first that i didn't hear much good stuff about bounty hunter detectors.
I bought the Discovery 3300 because i go it for 112 $ at Radio Shack. I didn't expect much but was surprised how well it worked after using it a few days. The fact that it can be ground balanced gives it an advantage over the Garrett Ace 250 with has only fixed GB.
Target ID surprised me too, because if you GB the detector right and don't use to much sensitivity it IDs right on the money. With numbers from 001 too 199 you have a better ID resolution than Garretts Ace 250.
Depth is still good for a detector at that price.
Don't swing it too fast because response time is a little slow. Retail price is 299$ when not on sale. I wouldn't pay that, but 112 $ is a great deal on that Discovery 3300.
Buy one and it will surprise you for the money.

HH,
Andy

Aug 19, 2006

14 Yes
2 No

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DISCOVERY 3300 AFTER 1 WEEK

CJ in Seal Beach, CA -
As a newcomer to MD, I don't have much background to compare this unit against. I had a Tracker IV and it found a bunch of coins on the beach. This seemed like a step up, and at the bargain price of $112 at RS I went for it. First, it finds coins very deep at the beach...blows away the Tracker. It identifies what it finds with very good accuracy. It is very sensitive, so I keep it at level 2 at the beach. Its easy to learn, and fun to use. It seems to go through batteries a bit more than the Tracker. After you use it awhile, it really grows on you. I am quite pleased and would recommend it....especially at the low price.

Aug 03, 2006

12 Yes
3 No

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Worth every penny

miket in Chicago, IL USA -
After purchasing a BH1100 last month for my son, I decided to pick up a 3300 for myself from RadioShack for an incredibly low $112.

Unfortunately, the first one they shipped me was an out of box failure and I returned it for a refund and had them ship me another new one. In the interim, the 'tectin bug got the best of me and I purchased a White's Prizm V from a local dealer who happened to have one in stock. I had fully expected to return the 3300 when it arrived a few days later, but was intrigued by the 3300's features and low price and decided to try it out and put it head-to-head with my White's Prizm V.

Well, the results were surprising to say the least, and the BH3300 at $112 held its own and in some ways even surpassed the Prizm V at over $500!

An air test with both detectors set at their factory default sensitivities yielded the following:

BH3300 - Detected a copper penny at 8.5"
PrizmV - Detected a copper penny at 8.0"

With both detectors set to max sensitivity:

BH3300 - Detected a copper penny at 9.5"
PrizmV - Detected a copper penny at 10.5"

Keep in mind that the Prizm V has a larger 9.5" search coil compared to the BH3300.

Since air tests are not a true test of how a detector works in real ground situations, I also tested them in my backyard on different objects. From the start, the BH3300 had an advantage over the Prizm V in that I could easily adjust the ground balance for my mineralized conditions via the front panel. The Prizm V has a preset ground balance and as I would lower the coil to a "clean" part of the ground the threshold would rise noticeably, indicating the GB was less than optimum.

Detecting with the BH3300 had a more positive feel in that objects that were not discriminated out would immediately trigger a sharp, positive tone. The Prizm V would respond to the same objects with a delayed, almost restrained response.

Pinpointing was incredibly accurate with both machines since they both have a non-motion pinpoint mode. However, when pinpointing with the BH3300, the Target ID and depth are not displayed, wheras they are displayed and updated on the Prizm V.

Although I really like my new Prizm V and will keep it for years to come, I probably wouldn't have purchased it had the BH3300 showed up on my doorstep 2 days sooner. As it turned out, I decided to keep the BH3300 and give it to my 9 year old son and will be returning his 1100 instead. As you can imagine, he is thrilled that he now has a detector that in many ways is even better than his dad's!

All in all, the BH3300 is a superb detector for the beginner as well as the seasoned detectorist. I can safely say that you won't find another detector out there with the same professional features and performance that the BH3300 offers for only $112.

Jul 11, 2006

41 Yes
4 No

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Cheap fun

G. Sunderland in Portland, OR -
Well, I just got back from vacation to New Smyrna Beach Florida. I had purchased this detector at Radio Shack for the low price of $120.00 great price. I had owned a XLT spectrum for many years and had to sell it. The discovery did well for the price. I didn't have a sand scoop with me and couldn't find one in Daytona so all I had was a regular garden trowel. I decided not to dig the pull tabs so I zapped them. The battery life was fantastic with the headset. It was lightweight I found many coins and someone had lost their silver ring on the beach and asked if I could find it. In less than 3 min I had found it and were they happy to have it back. Compared to the XLT I was afraid something would break on it, so I took extra care when handling it. Main control box cheaply made, extensions thin gauge, battery compartment kind of hoakey but all that in mind it worked well. Glad I took a chance and purchased this one easy to operate. I wish now I would have dug everything because I know now I zapped rings with the pull tabs... I need a good sand scoop before I try the coast here in Oregon.. g1968sund@verizon.net

Jun 14, 2006

15 Yes
0 No

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Can't be beat for the money!

Anonymous in Midwest -
I picked this detector up for $112 new at Radio Shack. It has an almost cheap feel to it but it seems to perform great. Could easily pick up a buried quarter at 6". The pinpointing is right on the money, many times I was able to feel the coin with a probe and pop it out of the ground without having to dig. The detector uses 2 nine volt batteries and so far does not seem to have a long battery life. The warranty is only 90 days unless you buy a display model and then they will double it.

Would I pay $299 for it? Probably not, but well worth the $112 I did pay. Have only had it a few weeks but have already found coins, silver, buttons, pocketknife, etc with it. I think this would be a good detector for someone just starting out.

May 21, 2006

21 Yes
4 No

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