Bounty HunterTK4 Tracker IV Metal Detector – All-Terrain Gold, Silver, Coin & Relic Finder with 8" Waterproof Coil, 3 Detection Modes – for Adults & Kids – Made in USA

I remember as a kid wanting a metal detector. And I have a vague recollection of actually using one when I was about 10 years old. It belonged to a friend of mine. I don't remember much about it other than how it made me feel. It was like someone gave me a treasure map and said, "Go find the treasure." I was excited at the idea that maybe I was going to find something worth thousands of dollars. No, hundreds of thousands of dollars. It was my destiny! Hehe. Well, that's what I felt when I was a kid holding that thing for the first time.Anyway, forward a good number of years, and now I have a couple nephews around that age. I think long and hard about what to get them for Christmas. I always get them interesting, unusual gifts each year. I try to imagine what I would have wanted when I was their age. And I insist on it having some aspect that makes them think or learn about stuff.And so for Christmas 2010 (a little over a year ago), I was making a list of all kinds of stuff I might want to give them for Christmas. Then it came back to me how I would have loved a metal detector growing up. And so, that's what I got them. My youngest nephew was 9 years old and the other was 12, by the way, when I gave them this.I'm real picky about what I get, though. It took me a while of shopping and looking at specs and reviews before I decided that this was the best metal detector for the price. Most people said they thought it was of better build quality than most others for this price. It's ergonomic also, which was important to me since I didn't want my nephews to feel like it was too heavy or putting too much strain on their wrists. It can be used by kids or adults.No, it doesn't have the fancy displays and bells and whistles that some of the more expensive models have, but that stuff isn't even something most people care about. What people care about is if it can find stuff. And according to my nephews' results and all the other reviewers out there, it is definitely up to that task. You don't need a fancy LCD or LED display. Those things add very little to the overall experience, and I personally think having an old fashioned analog display like this is actually cooler. It certainly makes it easier to understand, especially if you're a kid. And you don't have to worry about not being able to see the display in bright sunlight like you do with LCD displays.This product even has swappable parts, so you can swap out the head with another one that detects more gold or another one which detects a smaller area or a larger depth. The head that comes with the unit is pretty good for finding metals in general, though, so I doubt we'll ever get those other parts. But it's that sort of thing that caught my eye about this product. It says that the manufacturer has put a lot of thought into its design and doesn't just want to sell you a new unit each time.Actually, this metal detector went to only one of my two nephews, the older (12 years old at the time) one. I thought about getting them both one each, but I expected they would share it. And I was right. My brother tells me they both love it. The older nephew moves it around while the younger one digs for the treasure. They're a two man team, and it goes a lot faster that way since one can continue looking while the other is digging away. It was maybe just a little too big for the younger nephew (9 years old at the time), but he could still use it just fine.Anyway, my brother tells me they bring it with them on family trips and vacations. Especially to the beach. Apparently they've already found some things of real value. They found a watch valued at over $250 on the beach one day. They found an expensive knife once. They find coins. And of course bottle caps. This just adds a whole other dimension to any family outing. My brother tells me that they look forward to being able to use the metal detector whenever they go on trips now. They take it everywhere.Here's something you'll want to do. I told my brother before giving them this Christmas gift from me that he had to throw some coins around the yard ahead of time. Then when they open up the present, I told him to tell them that there are coins hidden in the yard for them to find and go to it! They enjoyed that a lot, and it got them hooked on day one. I think my brother said they found most of the coins he put out there, too. And they found some stuff he didn't even know about. Cool!As for the educational value of this, it's phenomenal. The kids learn about electro-magnetic fields and metals. They also dig up pieces of history and try to research what it is they've found. And poking around nature, they get to see the natural world, which is something a lot of kids don't do these days.Actually, for older teenage kids and adults, there's yet another educational level to this, which I didn't even know about until I saw something on TV about it. Apparently there are "historical" treasure hunters out there. They learn about historical places that used to exist but are now just uninhabited wilderness or maybe public parks and such. They're not historically famous places like Valley Forge or something. Those places don't let you do any metal detecting, I don't think. But at these non-famous places, you can use your metal detector and dig all you want. Since they're obscure places, they may not have already been gone over by others with metal detectors yet. And that means you can sometimes find really interesting things.So to any parents, grandparents, aunts, or uncles out there, this is a great gift to get the young ones. It has stood the test of time. My nephews are still excited about it and take it everywhere. They now have iPhones, iPads, PS3's, and laptop PC's. You can give them yet another video game to add to their collection, and it will be cool for all of a couple weeks or so. The metal detector isn't something they'll outgrow or get bored of that easily. It's something they'll keep coming back to when they get bored of all the other stuff they have. It also gets them out of the house and into the real world for a change. For the price, it's well worth it for the entertainment and educational value. I highly recommend it.Hope that helps.

As a low cost metal detector I give this thing five stars. I bought this Detector several months back and enjoy it's relative ease of use, and it DOES find what you are searching for (coins, rings, earings, necklaces, etc). The other reviews here pretty much wrap it up as a good (affordable!) unit, but I wanted to make a few comments from an amateur's point of view:- This detector has, of course, the discrimination circuitry used to tell the difference between the various metals helping you to avoid digging up junk like soda can pull tabs which are everywhere. It does work pretty good, BUT - I have found that by using the Tracker IV discriminator, you will most likely be missing some good stuff. I have gone back over "Discriminated" areas again in "All Metal" mode and found some nice stuff that Discriminate didn't catch. Granted I am no pro, but the fact is if you want to get every coin, every ring, or every cool item of various metals, you may want to consider just using "All Metal" mode. I almost exclusively use it now and although I sift through some absolute junk. I have found a bunch of coins, necklaces, pendants, etc that I would have otherwise missed. Use the Discriminate mode when looking for that gold wedding ring your wife through at you in the back yard...- Invest in the 4 inch "Gold Nugget Coil" which is far superior at pinpointing metal. The stock coil works fine but is a tad ambiguous as to precisely where your coin, ring, (or pull tab) is. The smaller coil reduces search time and I am glad I have one.- I bought the recommended Bounty Hunter Headphones (to save battery power), but have found them to be a bit more trouble than help. When I detect something I squat or sit down and dig. I set the detector down so the coil is near the dig zone so I can waive clumps of dirt (or sand) in front of the coil as I search. The problem is the headphone's wire tends to be always in the way when I perform this move. I get tired of "untangling" so I don't use them anymore. Maybe I'm just getting old.- The meter is of no value for anyone who can hear the audible report. It has no "range" to judge metals you are passing over. It simply swings hard to the right no matter what from what I can tell. I have tried different modes and different metals to test it, but it seems to merely swing hard to the right as you pass over any type of metal / alloy. I can see how this would still be useful to a deaf person, but it just as easily could have been a bright light bulb instead of a meter. I won't ding this low cost detector for that though because I'd still dig if it was half scale or pegged.- And lastly a warning. If you go into a park, or any area attended by kids, you will be spotted. Within a short amount of time you will be surrounded by kids "helping you" to dig up buried treasure. At that point you have to decide whether to be a meanie and bark at them, or write the rest of the hunt off and let them shred the area every time the detector beeps. I generally tell them how it's been a long day and "see ya" since they will invariably have their hands in there digging away no matter what you say...