The Bounty Hunter Prospector is a metal detector sold exclusively at Big 5 Sporting Goods. It is almost exactly the same as the Tracker IV, but it has a closed coil instead of open. Normally it costs $199.99, but it often goes on sale, so I got it for $99.99.
It is a nice detector for this price. It's comfortable and solid, and the coil has pretty good depth (about 6" when I air-tested it). It also has discrimination controls, which helps greatly in places with a lot of trash. Flipping the Discrimination switch automatically gets rid of iron (nails and stuff), and you can discriminate more by turning up the Disc knob. It also has a tone mode, where you can discriminate things, and it will make a low beep when it senses trash. It also has an analog sensitivity meter, which isn't particularly useful, but it does help a little when trying to pinpoint a target. A common complaint about Bounty Hunter detectors is that their batteries run out quickly. This isn't the case with the Bounty Hunter Prospector. I've used it for days on the same pair of 9v batteries - and they're not even good batteries! They were just cheap ones from the dollar store.
But there's some bad things about it too. The detector must be moving for it to sense a target, and the coil isn't perfectly accurate. This makes pinpointing difficult when compared with other detectors such as the Garrett Ace 250. Plus, it doesn't have enough features - all it has is a few different modes, a sensitivity meter, a sensitivity knob, and a discrimination knob. It would have been nice if it had more features.
Overall, the good outweighs the bad. It's a great beginner detector if you don't want to pay much, but If you're willing to pay a little more, I would recommend getting a Bounty Hunter Quick Draw II. Still, it's a good deal at the sale price of $99.99. At the regular price, it's not a good deal - You might as well get an Ace 250.
Pros: Nice and solid; Simple; Good price when on sale; Great for beginners and for kids; Decent depth; Coil is waterproof
Cons: Detector must be moving to sense metal; Accuracy not perfect; Not very many features
