Bounty Hunter Land Star

Love my Landstar

Ken Lehocky in New Lenox, IL -
In June of this year I bought a Radio Shack Version of a Bounty Hunter Landstar metal detector on ebay for $117.00.
As of today, (December 9th) I have found two silver rings, five silver coins, four silver charms, a silver chain, fifteen wheat pennies and
$135.00 in clad coins. I have also found several pieces of costume jewelry, a civil war button, several matchbox cars,
and an old horseshoe.

After having spent a great deal of time with this detector, I thought that I would write a review based on my personal experience.
You won't be very interested in this thread unless you have a Landstar, or are thinking about purchasing one.

In this review I will give you some insight into the modes that I most commonly use, and some advice that will help you optimize its performance
that you might not find in the operator's manual.

General:

The detector has a no motion "all metal" mode that sounds a single tone for all metals. A three tone "motion" discriminate mode, a three tone
"notch" mode, and a three tone "auto notch" mode.

It is light, and two 9V batteries will last me about 10 hours of hunting before they require replacement (using headphones).

There are three coils available for this detector. The standard 7" coil, the 4" coil, and the 10" coil.
I most commonly use the 7" coil, and only use the 4" coil in excessively trashy areas.

In all modes I generally hunt with the sensitivity knob between the 2:00 and 4:00 positions.

Hunting in the all metal mode:

The "all metal" mode is the deepest mode that is also the only mode that utilizes the manual ground balance knob.
I generally hunt in this mode when I am in an area that I suspect may have deeper targets and not a ton of trash.
To optimize the sensitivity in this mode I set the ground balance knob to the 12:00 position, hold the coil about 2" above the ground and
press the "ground track" button a few times until I no longer get false signals.

If I find that the detector becomes too noisy, I turn the ground balance slightly clockwise and then press the "ground track" button a few
times again. Note that when you make any changes to the sensitivity or ground balance, you must press the "ground track" button a few times
or you will not be detecting very deep at all.

Conversely, if I want the detector to be a bit more sensitive I follow the same procedure turning the ground balance knob further counter clockwise.
Note that the manual will tell you to start with the ground balance knob in the fully clockwise position, but in my experience you will be losing a lot
of depth if you follow that advice.

Another thing that I should mention is using the "all metal" mode this way will make your target separation really stink, so setting up the detector to go deep like this
has a draw back.

In this mode I hit quarters at depths of 7-8" routinely and sometimes deeper if I am in an area where I can crank up the sensitivity.

With my version of the Landstar the target ID and depth displays still work in the all metal mode. I understand that newer Landstars will not display
target ID and depth while in the "all metal" mode.

I find that the target ID is accurate down to about 5-6". For targets deeper than that the accuracy of the target ID gets kind of sketchy.

Hunting in the Auto Notch Mode:

The "auto notch" mode is a three tone motion mode that I like to use when hunting trashy areas or areas where I am trying to rake in a lot of shallow clad.
It is nice because this mode will discriminate out the iron and foil, but still allow you to pull nickels.

In this mode the detector will sound a low tone for nickels, a medium pitch tone for zinc pennies, and high pitched tones for copper pennies, dimes,
quarters, and silver.

For things that are discriminated out, you will still hear a click in your headphones in this and the other motion modes, and although you do not hear a tone
the target ID and its depth will still be displayed.

To eliminate a lot of the trash in this mode, I only dig signals that give me repeatable tones if the depth is displayed between the surface and 6".
Targets deeper than that will tend to bounce around a bit both tone and target ID wise, so you might want to dig those deeper targets just to be on
the safe side.

Generally twist off beer bottle caps will give a high tone in one direction, and a low tone in the other.
Screw caps that come off of two liter bottles, and rusty beer bottle caps tend to sound and ID like quarters.

Copper pennies will some times jump around between medium pitched and high pitched tones.
You will also hear a little squeal in the tone for coins that are near the surface which helps out a lot in determining wheter I grab my coin probe
or pull out my trowel to recover the target.

Pinpointing in the all metal mode:

The most accurate way to pinpoint a target with this detector is to put it into the all metal mode and then detune the detector to increase its accuracy.
To do this, move the coil over the target until it justs starts to give a weak signal. With the coil stationary in this position, press the "ground track" button a few times.
This will effectively reduce the sensitivity of the detector and allow you to get a much tigher fix on the target.

This method is very accurate for pinpointing with this detector.

The only other advice that I can think of regarding the use of this detector is that keeping the coil cable tight to the shaft of the detector will help eliminate
a lot of falsing. I use velcro wraps to secure the coil cable to the shaft and it seems to work pretty well. Also swinging at a slower pace will help eliminate a lot of falsing.
You will also get false signals if the coil is bumped on this detector.

All in all, I really enjoy this detector. It has the capability of going pretty deep if you optimize its set up, and the target ID and depth are right on the money for
most targets. Its only drawback is the target separation/recovery time isn't that great.

I have used my buddie's Ace 250, and in my opinion the Landstar blows it away.

Hope that this was helpful.

Thanks,
Ken

Dec 09, 2011

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I love my Land Star

Sean in Manchester, NH -
I got a Land Star a few months ago. I've been out maybe a dozen times to a few local salt water beaches.

It's winter here so there is a lot of sand on top of all the goodies left from people last year.
I have found a lot of change at 8"+. The depth of the land star is quite impressive.

I found my first GOLD RING this past weekend. It was around 6" down in the damp sand.
The Land Star is great on the dry sand and does not false at all. Once you start hitting the wet you have to hunt in notch mode or lower the sensitivity if you are in all metal mode or you will false. At least in my area.

I hunt in all metal mode most of the time.
I would absolutely recommend the Land Star to any new hunters. It's easy to learn and you will have a blast with it.

Mar 01, 2011

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Swear by it!

james in Madison, SD USA -
I have owned my bh land star for 7 years now. I have found civil wars belt buckles, mini balls, new coins, old coins, and I am not sure if its where these other people are looking or what but have found tons of silver coinage, and even raw silver nuggets. I used to own a compass and it was a decent detector but wanted to upgrade to something with a discriminator on it. Yes like any other disc detector if it reads a nickel there is a chance that its a pop top.

The real treasure that you find with this machine is that you pay less than 200 dollars and it works just as well or better than 1000 dollar white's machine. With anything it takes practice. Read the manual and understand it and you'll be fine. I hope this helps you save a little money and makes your hunting enjoyable.

May 24, 2010

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For $200 is one of the best for the money

moderntimber in Huntington Beach CA -
I got this from Costco for $200 (now, as of 03/20/2010 they have a newer Bounty Hunter for $159!!) and was very pleased with it. I think if you want to get a taste of metal detecting hobby you can't go wrong with this. I used it primarily at the beach (not water) and found plenty of coins in the 10 hours I used it there. I also went to the local school field and found 3 coins in 30 minutes.
This thing loves the depth range of 4 to 6 inches. Most targets I found were in that depth range, both on normal ground and beach sand. Ground Tracking works great once you read the manual twice and understand all features.

And if you find you need to upgrade, you can get most of your money back for this one, as they sell between 140-180 used on ebay now. I just upgraded (as I'm sure you will too) to a used Minelab XS 2 for more depth at the beach.

Mar 19, 2010

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Learning the Landstar

Mark in Frederick, MD -
I was really into detecting many years ago, and recently decided to jump back into it after a lengthy absence from the hobby. Read some good reviews of the BH Landstar, so I got one. After using it for a while now, I am very happy to read some of the other reviews here. Yes, I do seem to get many false signals. This has been really bothering me, but apparently is normal for this machine. I have noticed that I get good signals in Disc mode, but when I switch to All Metal to pinpoint I often get no signal at all.

Also, to date I have found lots of shallow, recent coins but not much at any depth ... could just be my bad luck. But I'd sure like to find something older at a little depth, just to reassure me I'm not passing good targets by!

Aug 26, 2009

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Great Detector, Good Value

Mike S in Central Texas -
I have been metal detecting for 17 yrs. and recently purchased the Bounty Hunter Land Star off of Ebay for $165 (with a pinpointer, carrying case, trowel & headphones). To date, I have put about 206 field hours on this detector and absolutely love it! Here's the breakdown:

Yes, you will experience false readings (tones and item indications) like myself and several other reviewers with this detector. But this is the case with high dollar detectors as well. However, with practice, your treasure to trash ratio will increase.

I've been running my detector with the sensitivity at the 2 0'clock position in the Auto Notch Mode. I do not pay attention to the type of audible tone or the item indicator, just repeated tones. For instance, I have found several coins that will give off a medium tone and register as zinc. With a second pass over the same target, it will have a higher tone and register as a penny or dime. The commom factor is that, regardless of what tone or the indicator tells you, as long as you get some kind of tone on every pass, DIG! You won't find coins on every target but I've unearthed a few civil war buttons and pieces of jewelry along with of course, some trash.

The depth indicator works well and you can get about 10 hrs from two 9v batteries. Overall, this detector is well worth the money. As with any detector... just practice.

Feb 17, 2009

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My first detector

metaldetectorsg in S'pore -
Well, I would say the depth meter seems to be pretty accurate. Could get a crushed can at around 7 inches into the ground. However it appears as a zinc or 1 cent coin on the display.

Pinpointing seems to be pretty accurate.

For me, I am using it in the disc or notch mode. Sensitivity set at around 10 o'clock position, notch around 12 o'clock position.

Hope this helps

Jan 23, 2009

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Excellent for the money

Dave in Pennsylvania -
I decided to wait a few months before reviewing this detector, so I could be well accustomed to it. I've found it to be an excellent detector for the money.

It gets good depth, and pinpoints right on. The no motion all metal mode is fantastic for pinpointing. The target id has been fairly accurate, although I've found that the more experience I get with the detector, the more I just listen to the tones. This seems to be common with all detectors.

I've found plenty of silver with it and a good number of old coins, hunting primarily parks, yards and woods. Nice to have the 5 year warranty if you need it, and the coils are very reasonable. I bought the gold nugget coil for trashy areas off of ebay for $35. It's a little gem.

Apr 19, 2007

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maybe mines broke

digit rich in ames, ia usa -
Excellent for copper period. 6-7 inches on pennies. okay in shallow fresh water, better than on land. however after having it only 1 month i know i have to upgrade to a better one because this one cannot see silver and every large piece of iron this thing calls a silver dollar, 8 inches of digging later ive found a nail, not impressed. when they say only dig repeating over and over exact tones and id's they meen it, you will be a full fledged garbage man if you dont take that advice. some soils pinpoint well, hot rocks and trashy areas bring yourself a back hoe. The tuning might be off on this one, its a allergic to silver, but if your into iron relics or lots of pennies (it id's them perfect, depth to)its decent.

Sep 10, 2006

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Land Star = Work horse

crpando30 in Wakulla Co. Florida. -
First off a little about my self. I?ve been metal detecting off and on since 1982. This would be my third metal detector I?ve own. I like to own equipment that I could keep for years and still be up to date. I am not a dealer, this is one of my hobbies.
I?ve owned the Land Star for over a year now. Type of hunting I do the most is coinshooting, either in the parks or at the beach. This past year I?ve had the most coins found, have dug up less trash , found more rings, and deeper valuables this year than any other year. This detector is a work horse.
The manual is easy to read. The ground balance took some understanding but, didn?t take long to get that nailed down.Pinpointing is right on. In ?all metal? mode you can re-ground balance and ratchet right onto the target. In other modes, yes you?ll get a tone after the peak of the targets? signal. Using the X pinpointing method, the target is in the middle of the 4 tones. No problem, learned this with-in 5 minutes.
At the parks and trashy areas I use the 4? coil mainly. Using ?Disc? mode it?s not a problem pulling coins 5- 6? deep with that coil . The display and indicators are very accurate on telling you what?s under the coil. One key principle for coins and ?goodies? when pinpointing is good, repeatable tone/indication.
Beach hunting , is not a problem using the 4? or the standard 8? coil.
The BH users at the forum www.detecting.com ( bulletin board) are a great bunch and helpful. Bounty Hunter?s customer service is also excellent.
To sum it up in a nut shell. The Land Star is easy to learn, good depth, and good discrimination. I?ve enjoyed my Land Star and plan on keeping it for a good while.

Jan 26, 2006

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