Bounty Hunter Quick Silver Review: Is it a Good Choice?

Treasure hunting is fun. But treasure hunting with a good quality metal detector is totally awesome!

With entry-level metal detectors like Bounty Hunter Quick Silver, you can enjoy hunting without drilling a hole in your pocket. 

With an attractive price tag, a host of practical features, and ease of use, The Bounty Hunter has been the go-to choice for novice hunters who want something simple and functional. 

But as with most gadgets, the Quick Silver isn’t flawless. 

So, to help you decide whether this metal detector is worth the investment, I have deconstructed its key features and weighed the pros and cons in this review. 

Here’s a detailed review of everything the Bounty Hunter Quick Silver is (and isn’t) capable of.

Highlights of Bounty Hunter Quick Silver Metal Detector:

• Simple four-button operation. 

• 4-segment digital target identification and 3 tone audio feedback will help you find out the nature of the buried object.

• One-touch depth control and push-button discrimination.

• Preset Ground Balance neutralizes the response from ground minerals, resulting in better detection accuracy.

• The 8” coil on the detector is waterproof. 

• Can detect coins buried up to 8” deep and larger objects up to 3” deep. 

• Small but easy-to-read LCD display.

• Has a 1/4” headphone jack. 

Features Of The Bounty Hunter – That Stand Out the Most

Bounty Hunter has been rolling out some seriously high-quality metal detectors at an affordable price for quite some time now. 

Even with limited features and capacities, the Quick Silver is still very reliable in regular ground conditions. 

To find out why Quick Silver a force to be reckoned with among its similar-priced competitors, let’s shed some light on its salient features.

Practical and Streamlined Design

Entry-level metal detectors need to be efficient above all else. Quick Silver’s no-nonsense and effective design and functions are one of its biggest strengths. 

The rod is long but ultra-lightweight and therefore, easy to carry around for a long time. 

Additionally, the lightly padded armrest along with a conveniently positioned no-slip handgrip also helps to keep fatigue to a minimum. 

The model uses concentric 8” waterproof search coils instead of the more common DD search coils. 

The coil, along with the shaft, is submersible. So if your hunting goals involve working near shallow water or wet sand, it should be okay to use. 

However, under no circumstances should you fully submerge the detector in water as the computer part isn’t waterproof. 

Coming back to the other design elements, other key components include the control box which dwells inside the s-shaped rod. 

Slightly longer than the control boxes of newer models, this elliptical control box features four buttons. More on that later. 

At its heart, the Bounty Hunter Quick Silver is a simple detector with a couple of useful features. 

It has only four buttons – two for powering on and off the device, one for Target Reject, and another for Depth Select. 

Depth Selection

With the Depth Selection button on the control box, you can set what depth you wish to target. There are three options to choose from – shallow, medium, and deep. 

All these options are indicated by their respective icons at the side of the screen. 

In ideal soil conditions, it can detect small objects like coil and trinkets buried up to 8” deep into the ground. 

The max depth of detection would be up to 3” for larger objects. 

The depth range should be adequate if your sole intention is to just have some fun hunting cool hidden treasures. For serious deep soil searching, it simply won’t cut it.

Visual Depth Indicator

The visual depth indicator feature is present in many other budget Bounty Hunter models. 

This nifty little feature lets you know how deep you have to dig in order to unearth your target. 

However, it won’t show the exact depth in numbers. Instead, it will classify the depth as shallow, medium, or deep on the LCD screen. It’s pretty neat. 

Last update on 2024-05-05 / Affiliate links / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API

4-Segment Target Identification and Audio Tone Feedback

Another unusual feature for a Bounty Hunter detector – this feature identifies the nature of the target before you dig.

Put simply, it spares you the trouble of digging for nothing by letting you know if the object is an ancient relic or a mere piece of crap. 

It pairs the 4-segment target ID with 3-tone audio feedback for higher detection accuracy. 

To inexperienced hobbyists, all audio feedback might sound the same. 

But once you get the hang of it, you will be able to perfectly distinguish the different feedback sounds for each material group.

For instance, if you hear a high pitch sound, it’s most probably coins, brass, or some highly oxidized object.

A moderately loud tone indicates materials in the AL ZN-AL 5¢ group, and a “grrhh” noise for ferrous objects like iron pipe and nails (made of steel). 

Sometimes, it can also mean small gold objects such as rings. 

Preset Ground Balance

Another amazingly useful function of the Quick Silver is preset ground balance, which allows you to avoid dealing with tons of false alarms triggered by ground mineralization. 

Even though the Quick Silver doesn’t allow you to manually adjust the sensitivity for mineral-rich soils, the preset is decent enough for accurate detection in normal soil conditions. 

Progressive Discrimination or Notch Mode

There are different things that can cause frustration while metal detecting. 

For instance, finding only a bunch of nails when the detector says a coin is a big frustration for any detectorist, even more so when the weather sucks. 

Take this from me. 

Want your detector to do you a favor and stop detecting unwanted targets?

The push-button discrimination mode will allow you to selectively focus and filter out certain objects to minimize false alarms. 

You will find a list of four material types on top of the display which are:

Iron: Covers anything and everything that is made of ferrous metal e.g iron and steel. 

When this mode is activated, the machine will also detect nails, gold, and aluminum. 

If your luck is in bad shape, the device can register the foil part of a candy wrapper as AL on the LCD screen. 

AL ZN: This distinction will allow you to find pennies made before 1982, as well as zinc coins and gold rings. 

However, keep in mind that it can also pick signals from metallic junk like foil, aluminum bleachers, zinc coins, and so on. 

AL 5¢: This distinction comes in handy when you’re specifically looking for large gold, aluminum, and nickel objects. 

Coins: Ideal for coin hunting and finding hidden treasures, this distinction allows the device to detect quarters, dimes, nickels, and even copper pennies made before 1982. 

If you want your detector to avoid any of the above-mentioned groups of material, all you have to do is select the Reject icon below the corresponding material name. 

Like all low-priced detectors, Quick Silver can have some issues with discrimination. 

When detecting deeply buried objects in certain soil conditions, it can mistake a tiny piece of foil for a dime. 

It’s a frustratingly common issue with a lot of metal detectors. At times, you just have to dig and pray that it’s not a false alarm. 

Bounty Hunter Quick Silver Detector Review 2024

Here is a clear overview of the pros and cons of the Bounty Hunter Quick Silver Metal Detector:

Pros

• Beginner-friendly.
• Visual depth indicator and 3-tone audio feedback. 
• Preset ground balance to neutralize the signals from ground minerals. 
• Easy setup – just install the batteries and go!
• Great for coin hunting.
• Decent detection depth for the money.
• Quite loud as it is so headphones aren’t necessary.

Cons

• The Progressive Discrimination setting is sub-par.
• The ⅛” headphone jack isn’t suitable for regular headphones. You will need a mono converter jack.
• Not waterproof. 

Last update on 2024-05-05 / Affiliate links / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API

Comparison with Close Competitors

Quick Silver can be a great beginner detector for the budding detectorist in you. 

It’s easy to use and remarkably functional on regular ground conditions. Nonetheless, it undeniably has its fair share of limitations. 

If you want to explore more options similar to Quick Silver, let me draw a couple of comparisons for you before you make up your mind:

Bounty Hunter Quick Silver vs Tracker IV

Often pitted against each other for sharing several identical features. The price gap between the two isn’t huge either. 

Tracker IV is another great option from Bounty Hunter especially designed to be beginner-friendly. 

The major difference between these two models is that Tracker IV doesn’t have audio and/or visual target ID like Quick Silver. 

I’d suggest spending a couple of extra bucks for those features to improve your chances of finding real treasure instead of metal trash.

Quick Silver vs Garrett Ace 250

Although more expensive than Quick Silver, the Garrett Ace 250 metal detection kit is an incredibly well-made, value for money detection set. 

The kit consists of a headphone and a small shovel among other accessories. 

And the metal detector itself is a beast in its own right. One noticeable difference between the two detectors is the size of the LCD screen. 

Ace 250 has a larger, brighter, and easier-to-read screen. 

Quick Silver Vs Lone Star

Lone Star makes every important aspect of metal detecting completely automated. 

Thanks to its auto-notch mode, the unit can automatically filter out metal crap and pull-tabs from the detection. 

Quick Silver lacks the precision and accuracy of Lone Star. 

Having said that, if you are a total beginner who wants something incredibly simple with just basic features, you will be better off with the Quick Silver. 

Final Verdict

Bounty Hunter Quick Silver is a surprisingly good metal detector for the price. 

Its no-frills design belies its capability as an entry-level coin and relic hunter. 

Sometimes it’s uncannily accurate and at other times it’s not. However, for a beginner it’s a great choice to get started.

If you have a kid or adult at home who is really into treasure hunting but doesn’t want to tinker with the complicated settings of a serious metal detector, the Quick Silver can be a good place to start. 

I hope this Bounty Hunter Quick Silver review has helped you decide whether it’s the right metal detector for you

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