Bounty Hunter Land Ranger Pro

I had the opportunity to use a Land Ranger Pro for awhile recently and I was quite impressed with all of the features of this detector and with the detector in general. I have used many FTP detectors and Bounty Hunters too. This detector worked fairly well in my high EMI and high mineralized soil conditions and should be a blast in more detector friendly environments. It locked on to targets well at 3" to 4" and only suffered a little from EMI. I think part of that is the 11 x 9 DD coil that came with the detector I used. I have to say that the two negatives for me were the somewhat flimsy build quality and of course the malfunctioning to non-functioning pinpoint button. I especially disliked the flimsy DD coil. On my Minuteman and Gamma the same 11"x 9" DD coil was much more robust, sturdier and had better quality coil cables and screw on connectors. I really was afraid I could easily damage the LRP's coil. Otherwise, this is a lot of detector for the money. With a working pinpoint button, coil connector modification and some better quality coils, this detector would be really fantastic.

The Good: The Land Ranger Pro is definitely not your father's Bounty Hunter. Bounty Hunter has gotten a bit of a bad rep in the world of serious metal detecting over the years, often overlooked as "toys" because of their presence in big box stores and a long list of models with often whimsical names. The Land Ranger Pro appears to be a step in the direction of rebuilding the brand. It continues to be one of the best deals on the market for all that offers. Above average depth and a very precise discrimination system you don't find on machines at this price level. You are able to notch items out by single VDI rather than by VDI segments. This machine, like most First Texas machines is great in iron and dense trash. Super fast recovery. The ergonomics are great and it is aesthetically well crafted. 

The bad: there's not much negative to say about this machine. It would mostly involve features it doesn't have, but I believe what it offers as far as price to performance and feature set, that would not be fair. The one weakness I found with this machine is that the pinpoint button is prone to wear or wearing out and that it is not an isolated issue. I don't know it to be a particularly wide spread issue either, but it is something to be aware of.