Bounty Hunter Quick Draw II
John Castle
The Quick Draw II is the second up in the range and shares a similar outward appearance, stem and coils with the others. It is a motion detector offering variable discrimination, notch, target ID, tone discrimination and more.
From the front (or the back for that matter) the control box is an ovoid egg-shape. It is of black ABS plastic and is strong and durable. The rest of the unit is black too, except for the control panel. The stem is of the normal "S" configuration, with integral padded arm-rest and stand.
The standard 8 inch coil is of the open "spider" type and the optional 10 inch coil is of a similar type. The smart 4 inch coil, however, is solid. At a little over three pounds weight with batteries, the Quick Draw II is light enough to be used for long periods without fatigue. Just two PP3 alkalines are needed, and the initial set is supplied with the unit.
Control layout is good. The controls are logically laid out and simple to use and access. They consist of two rotary knobs and three tactile switches, which offer more than you think at first sight.
Light, attractive, functional. These are terms which have often been used before, but they have rarely fitted a detector so well as they do the Quick Draw II.
Handbook
The handbook is of medium format, which seems to be the norm these days. An abridged setting-up procedure is followed by an in-depth explanation of all control functions. There are plenty of good diagrams and a few photographs. Read, study and learn! This is a good handbook and is, together with the detector, CE approved.
The Control Panel
There are two horizontal liquid crystal display meters which both remain operational as long as the detector is switched on. The upper one has targets marked above it and an arrow will appear and point upwards to one of them when a target is located. Marked coins are American ones, but you soon learn to transpose them to our coinage. In ascending order they are:
Iron/foil
5c
Pull tab
S-caps
Zinc 1c
1c 10c
25c
50c
$1
A similar arrow appears in the lower meter, pointing downwards at the inches depth scale which is marked beneath it. Between the two meters is the low battery alert, which glows red when the batteries need changing. A continuous tone may be heard as well.
To the left is a rotary knob which is used to switch the unit on and off and increase and decrease sensitivity. Set the sensitivity as high as the site allows, but be prepared to reduce it on really bad ground.
To the right is the second rotary knob which is used to adjust the discrimination or notch, depending on which mode is selected.
There are three modes, selected via tactile switches located below the lower meter. From the left, they are:
Disc/All-Metal - The discrimination in this mode functions as a normal variable type but, unlike other motion detectors of this sort, its minimum position is all-metal and is marked as such. It can be useful to be able to ‘fine tune’ the discrimination setting at this low level as the factory setting one normally finds can be a little too high for tiny Celtic coins, etc.. More iron will be dug of course, but that’s a price well-worth paying on the right site and you won’t dig all the iron present even then.
Notch - Press this and iron reject is now at a fixed, factory setting. A thin band of discrimination (the notch) can then be moved via the knob. Items falling in the notch are rejected while items below it (but above iron) and above it are accepted.
Auto Notch - The iron discrimination level and the notch starting point are factory set. Rotating the knob one way or the other widens or narrows the notch ‘window’, but the start point doesn’t change.
Either of these notch systems are useful providing the users accepts the loss of a few finds which fall into the notch together with the junk it is set to reject. Using one or the other to reject ring-pulls, for instance, will save you much time if the site is infested with these pests. It is a good idea to set one or the other so that some ring-pulls are accepted to keep the loss of desirable finds to a minimum. You can always return when you have more time of course and use the Disc/All-Metal mode to dig the ring-pulls and any finds previously lost.
Whatever time you have available, or your particular patience level, the Quick Draw II has a setting to suit. As well as the meter information, the Quick Draw II features three-tone discrimination: low tone for low conductive objects, medium for higher ones, and high tone for the most conductive.
It is important to note that, again unlike other tone discriminators, a low tone doesn’t necessarily mean iron. If you set the control to reject iron, but not high enough to reject a 5p, our smallest coin will cause a low tone to be emitted and the arrow will point to 5c. Many other low conductive finds will read thus, so don’t ignore low tones!
The three-tone system also functions in both notch modes although you may hear only the low or high tone, depending where the notch - and especially its width - is set.
All of this only takes a few seconds to set up. Switch on, choose your mode, set the discrimination and away you go! No fuss is involved, just get on with what you’re there for - detecting!
A standard quarter inch jack-plug socket allows headphones to be used.
Putting It Together
The control box attaches to the stem with two knurled bolts. Don’t over-tighten them and don’t lose them if you wish to remove the control box. Stem length is set with a slide-in lower stem, held in place by a Posi-Lok spring button. All goes in or out cleanly.
The coil is held in place with a knurled bolt. Don’t over-tighten it. Wind the cable snugly, but not too tightly, around the stem before plugging it in to the control box. Always look after the cable. A break near the plug can be repaired by cutting it back and re-soldering the plug, but break it near the coil and you’re going to need a new coil!
The battery door is at the rear of the control box and is accessed via a door held in place by two tabs and a spring catch. Two PP3s attach to snap buttons (always use alkalines or better). One drains faster than the other, so swap them over every six hours or so. Replace both when the red LED glows.
Out On Test
I mostly carry out my tests on the same sites as I know them well and that they will produce something, but this time I decided to try something new. I always keep a look out for sites of the public recreational sort when I am out and about.
I had spotted one of these during a previous beach foray. A beautiful sunny morning - chilly, but with the promise of much more heat later - found us driving through deserted villages at a very early hour. The site, a fairly rough grass area but mown and with mature trees round two sides, was still wet with dew. Such sites are always junky, so it was the standard 8 inch coil that I used here. The area under the trees produced pre-decimal coins and a few artefacts. Hard ground and small roots slowed down my digging, but depths were good and it was well worth it! I found a few small toys and two silver threepences dated 1835 and 1897 respectively. These were found about 10 yards apart and both about 6 inches down.
Time was getting on so I moved to the open area. Plenty of decimal under the grass and plenty of junk too! I recovered no less than nine large, modernish brass buckles, so some horsy events must have been held here in the past. A couple of these were a good 10 inches deep, so I was glad the digging was easier here! Horsiness was further confirmed by two blinker brasses and a brass hinge with ‘The Milk Standard Can’ marked on it.
The notch mode got rid of most ring-pulls, I was anxious to save time as we intended to hunt a beach the same day and the tide would be going out by now. So back to the car, a quick cuppa, sandwich and banana, and off again.
Encouraged by our success on the new site, we drove past our usual beach in search of pastures (or rather sand) anew. We found a nice beach where the many abandoned sand castles, names scratched in the sand, etc. told us of much activity the previous day. The beach consisted of a shingle bank, with dryish sand below and very soft wetter sand below that. On other beaches the drier sand had proved the most productive, but it was not to be here. This was proof once again that you cannot have hard and fast rules regarding beaches: the sea being such a fickle thing. The tide had turned already... we’d got it wrong again!
It was Maureen who first ventured on to the soft wet sand and immediately began to find coins. I followed suit. No ring-pulls or silver paper! The sea had obviously taken them all away. This was one of those places where the optional 10 inch coil would be very useful. Luckily I had brought it with me. I covered twice as much ground as normal and depths were enhanced too. The Quick Draw II coped perfectly with the wet sand and such fatigue as I did feel was caused by the continual bending down to retrieve coins rather than the weight of the detector. Only decimal coins were found here, but plenty of them. In fact I achieved more than my average ‘score’. A ring I found turned out to be a junk one. As the weather warmed up the day-trippers started to arrive. It was time for us to leave the beach, which was rapidly shrinking anyway as the tide advanced.
We certainly enjoyed our ice-creams, the first sale of the day for the van. We paid for them with some of the cleaner decimal coins we found. Free ices taste better!
We next popped over (70 miles each way!) to see our daughter and grandson and to take some photos. A park I hadn’t been to for at least ten years was the venue. Ann, who hadn’t used a detector for even longer, soon grabbed the Quick Draw II and conned me into doing all the digging. Some 44 coins in 50 minutes was a good score before rain stopped play. All except one were decimal however. Ann got to grips with the detector almost at once, finding it very easy and light to use. She didn’t want to give it back!
I have spoken in other tests about our very junky farm site, but we like it there, so we didn’t diversify this trip. It was a cloudy day this time, but dry and calm. I had never been able to use a large coil on this site and I wasn’t able to this trip. But, like its brothers in the Bounty Hunter range, the Quick Draw II coped very well indeed. After two hours, I put on the 4 inch coil and headed for the really junky bits.
There were no problems at all with this coil. It has fantastic sensitivity to tiny targets and a great ‘wheedling’ ability. This allows it to get close to iron and retrieve targets which the close proximity of the iron would have blanked out otherwise. The smaller coil meant reduced depths of course and I didn’t cover too much ground. However, this little coil on the Quick Draw II will really crack the very worst sites. It was back to the 8 inch coil for the rest of the day, which is the coil that would be used most of the time.
Finds included a tyre valve cover from a very old car, a badly corroded horse pendant, a ring buckle, a religious medallion, and some of the grottiest Roman coins I have ever found.
An intriguing find was a gilded object which, after studying Richard Hattatt’s book, appears to be a Roman seal box lid.
Detectors are really getting very good these days and it’s a privilege and a pleasure to be able to try them out. The Quick Draw II, at only £299, is very good indeed! Remember it features a Target ID mete - usually detectors with this feature cost much more. Personally I like meters as I like to see as well as hear target responses. I dig less junk that way since two similar audio responses might not give the same meter response. Our current coins read thus on the Quick Draw II:
COIN
TONE
ARROW
1p
medium
zinc 1c
1p (pre 1992)
high
1c/10c
2p
medium
zinc 1c
2p (pre 1992)
high
25c
5p
low
iron/foil
10p
low
5c
20p
low
5c
50p
medium
pull-tab
£1
medium
zinc 1c
Please note that the discrimination was first set to reject a 3 inch nail, and the current (post-1992) 1p and 2p, which have steel cores, tended to make the LCD arrow bounce around.
Parting Words
Another test over and time to write it up from my notes. Time also to look back and reminisce over the last few weeks and say a reluctant goodbye to the Quick Draw II. What struck me most?
Well, there were several things. It was a very user-friendly, light and easy to operate detector. At the same time it offered a choice of easily accessible modes to adequately deal with all site and find situations.
Providing some of your sites warrant it, the purchase of the optional 10 inch and 4 inch coils is recommended. The thing that struck me the most has to be the value for money. Like its stable mates in the Bounty Hunter range, the Quick Draw II offers performance and specification at a price much lower than one would expect.
The Bounty Hunter Quick Draw II is available from Joan Allen Electronics Ltd, 190 Main Road, Biggin Hill, Kent TN16 3BB, UK. Telephone: +44 (0)1959 571255, Fax: +44 (0)1959 576014, E-mail: sales@joanallen.co.uk.
