Wasted $60 on a metal detector that couldn't find a nail in a sandbox

I bought this cheap detector off Amazon thinking I'd find Civil War relics in my backyard, but it beeped at every rusty bottle cap and piece of foil for two weekends straight. What's a decent starter detector that won't break the bank but actually works on real archaeology sites?

3 comments

3 Comments

piper7791mo ago

Started my detecting hobby finding a 1950s pop tab in my own driveway, so I feel your pain. The Garrett Ace 250 is a solid starter that won't cost you much more than that Amazon special.

avery2191mo ago

Start with a return window if you can, that's what I did with mine... Amazon has a decent return policy for stuff like this. @piper779 nailed it with the Ace 250, that's what I upgraded to after my first cheap one and it actually finds coins and buttons at my local park. The secret sauce is learning the tones though, you'll dig a hundred pull tabs before you figure out what good signals sound like. For actual archaeology sites you really want something with a good discrimination mode, the Ace lets you knock out most iron and foil so you're not digging every bottle cap. Just don't expect to find Civil War relics in a modern backyard, you gotta hit old homesteads or fields where people haven't been messing around for a hundred years.

markh851mo ago

Holy moly the Ace 250 was a game changer for me too. I remember my first season with it, I found a 1917 mercury dime under a tree root in a park that was only built in the 1960s. The discrimination notching is super handy, you can pretty much dial out the aluminum junk once you learn what it sounds like. I've got a buddy who runs the Ace 400 and he swears by the iron audio feature for old home sites, makes it way easier to avoid that big iron chatter. Honestly the whole trick is just getting out there with whatever you have, because every signal you dig is a lesson about your machine.