“My Detector Sucks!”

Know Your Detector

Closets everywhere are filled with unused metal detectors. Many are purchased, used a few times, and then set aside to collect dust. Excuses why the detector morphed from a relic finder to a dust collector range widely.

“My metal detector sucks. I find nothing but tin foil, bolts, and washers. I’m gonna attach a cutting blade to the bottom shaft and use it as a weed-eater.”

“I’m done with this hobby. I thought I’d find more than pull tabs and rusted old tools.”

One fellow told me when he found and dug up a rusted frame of an old car buried in a farm field, that was when he decided to toss his detector in a basement closet for good.

While I understand the frustration, my answer is always the same.  

“Your problem of not finding anything more than junk is not the fault of your detector”. Although there is one metal detector manufacturer that produces detectors that would have a hard time finding the entire car, let alone the rusted frame.

“No, the problem is you”. I tell them. “You never learned how your detector operates.”

Most often, the person that is complaining about not finding enough goodies and wants to quit the hobby are the same individuals that have never learned how to correctly use their detector. Some areas are indeed more trashy and picked over from years of detecting from others, but even those areas can produce good finds if the user understands how their metal detector functions.

I tell newbies when they buy a detector from me to have patience and learn their detector. That means at least fifty hours of metal detecting and digging every signal. You should get to the point where just by listening to the tone admitted from the detector without looking at the display screen, you know what your detector is sounding off too.

I’m good at knowing what I’m going to dig before I even dig it. The main reason why is the fact that my metal detector is twenty years old, and does not have an LCD display.  I rely on my ears, to relay to me the sound that is omitted from my detector which in turn I can decipher with almost certainty what I will be digging.

Now, I've been a metal detector dealer for many years. Yes, I have used many of the new technologically enhanced models from all of the manufacturers, and I own a few of them. All of them have LCDs, but, I find no difference in the amount of good finds I retrieve between using a modern detector or my trusty twenty-year-old sweetheart. My point is, to use the ears that God gave you and listen to the sounds of your detector as it rings to different metals. Also, LCDs have been known to cheat. Their technology is not perfect.

In addition, understanding the sensitivity control of your metal detector and how it is affected in certain soil conditions is also important.  Soil mineralization will affect what you are finding. Some soils will affect your detector to the point where it is chirping like a mad robin. If you do not dial in your detector's sensitivity correctly in those soil conditions, you’ll be digging ghost holes, while swearing at your detector.  

Whether we are in trashy areas, highly mineralized soil, or on the manicured lawn of a home, digging lots of junk is disheartening. We all want to find those old silver coins and gold rings. But patience in metal detecting is a virtue. It takes time and practice to become proficient at finding more keepers. Yet, by practicing with your metal detector and understanding how your detector reacts to different metals, your rate of good finds to junk will get better. Practicing by digging every target and cultivating the understanding that every piece of junk you dig is a learning piece toward digging more and better finds.

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My metal detecting/treasure hunting TV series, “Exploring History’s Treasures” EHT, was the first REAL, reality, show of its kind. There was no scripting, no planting or salting the ground with finds before we dug them. Exploring History’s Treasures can now be viewed here.