Bounty Hunter Educational Junior Metal Detector with Coin Collecting Kit

Bought this for my 11 year old grandson for Xmas. He loves it! The perfect size and weight for a child and the perfect start to a great hobby!

I bought this item for a steal on Amazon ($35.00 to be exact). I was not happy even at that price and decided to return the product. Don't get me wrong. I have a budding treasure hunter (8 years) and she was thrilled by the ability to throw coins on the lawn and find them. However, after repeated tests I determined the max depth at which any metal object could be reliably detected was 2-3 inches in soft earth. We took this item to the beach and found it completely worthless beyond what I term an "imagination toy."

After extensive research, it appears spending anything less than $150.00 will keep you in the toy category despite claims contrary. As a toy, and at $35.00, perhaps it has a function.

Some specific observations:

-Item is made of mostly cheap plastic and cheap metal (pole is metal). The battery cover would not stay secure (requires 2 9 volt batteries) and the batteries bounce around inside the handle (annoying)...Read more

I was not impressed with this item. I bought this and the national geographic metal detector so my two young daughters could go metal detecting with me. I bought this one for my older daughter and the less expensive national geographic one for my younger daughter since I didn't want to spend a great deal on something that might break.

Surprisingly, The bounty hunter item really didn't seem to signal items nearly as often as the less expensive national geographic detector. I would have been happy with it if I had purchased two, but when compared side by side with the national geographic detector (which looks more like a toy), I was disappointed with the performance as was my daughter. We gave up using this item and they took turns with the national geographic one.