Most beginners find less than they hoped for in their first few outings. That’s normal, and it has more to do with technique and choice of land than with the detector. These tips are the ones that make the biggest difference in UK conditions.
Before you go
1. Get permission, always. Every piece of land in the UK belongs to someone. Get permission in writing. See our guide to getting permission.
2. Learn your detector in the garden first. Bury a few coins, a ring-pull, a nail and some foil at different depths, and learn what each sounds like. An hour of this is worth a day in a field.
3. Read the manual. Beginners often run the sensitivity too low or the discrimination too high and miss good targets without knowing.
4. Get insured. NCMD membership costs £8 a year and includes public liability cover, which many landowners and clubs ask for. See our clubs and rallies guide.
5. Pick the right season. On farmland, autumn to early spring is the main season. See the best time of year for detecting.
Technique
6. Swing low and slow. Keep the coil level and just above the ground, the whole way through each swing. Lifting it at the ends of the swing is the most common beginner mistake, and it costs depth.
7. Overlap your sweeps. Step forward about half a coil’s width after each swing, so you don’t leave strips of ground unsearched.
8. Dig most signals at first. You’ll dig a lot of rubbish, but it’s how you learn what good targets sound like. Detectors can’t tell a gold ring from a ring-pull reliably.
9. Use headphones. They let you hear faint, deep signals that the speaker drowns out. See our headphones guide.
10. Check a signal from two directions. Swing across it, then at right angles. A good target usually gives a clean, repeatable signal both ways.
11. Use a pinpointer. It finds the target in the hole in seconds, so you dig smaller holes and damage fewer finds.
Digging and leaving no trace
12. Cut a neat plug. Cut three sides of a square with a proper spade, fold it back on the uncut side, and put it back afterwards. See our guide to detecting spades.
13. Take your rubbish home. Ring-pulls, foil and scrap all go in a separate pocket of your finds pouch. Landowners notice.
14. Record where each find came from. A GPS pin on your phone is enough. Bag finds separately and write on the bag.
15. Don’t clean old finds. You can destroy their detail and value. See our guide to cleaning finds.
Where to search
16. On farmland, look for where people gathered. Field corners, gateways, paths, old boundaries and the areas near old buildings tend to be most productive.
17. On beaches, work the tide. Detect wet sand around low tide and after storms for older finds, and the dry sand where people sat for recent losses. See our beach detecting guide.
18. Research old maps. Old Ordnance Survey maps show lost footpaths, cottages and fairs. The Portable Antiquities Scheme database shows what’s been found nearby.
Staying on the right side of the law
19. Never detect on a scheduled monument. It’s a criminal offence even with the landowner’s permission. See our guide to the law.
20. Report treasure within 14 days. Gold and silver objects over 300 years old, and some other finds, must be reported. See what to do if you find treasure.
The kit that makes the biggest difference
You don’t need to spend a fortune. These are the items that most improve a beginner’s finds rate and enjoyment.
A good first detector: Minelab Vanquish 340 (about £199)
The detector most often recommended to UK beginners. It's multi-frequency and sets itself up automatically. Rated 4.3 stars from 704 Amazon UK reviews. For a tighter budget, the Minelab X-Terra Voyager (about £150) comes with headphones. See our beginner detector guide.
A pinpointer: Garrett Pro-Pointer AT (about £117)
The most popular pinpointer in the UK, rated 4.7 stars from over 8,600 reviews and waterproof to 6 metres. Our pinpointer guide has cheaper options.
A proper digging tool
The CKG carbon detecting shovel (about £64, 4.6 stars from 199 reviews) cuts neat plugs in heavy UK soil. For parks and gardens, the INCLY double-serrated hand digger (about £19, 4.7 stars from 625 reviews) is excellent value.
A finds pouch with separate pockets (about £30)
Keeps finds and rubbish apart, with a holster for your pinpointer. Rated 4.4 stars from 1,883 reviews. Add write-on grip seal bags (about £4.50 for 100) to bag and label each find.
Headphones: Garrett MS-2 (about £35)
Volume control, comfortable pads and a tough coiled cable, rated 4.4 stars from 480 reviews. They have a 1/4-inch plug, so you may need a 3.5mm adapter. The folding Garrett Easy Stow (about £28) is a cheaper option.
Comfort in cold, wet fields
Waterproof thermal work gloves (about £10, 4.4 stars from nearly 6,000 reviews) and 20mm strap-on knee pads (about £11) make a long winter day far more pleasant.
A book to learn from: Metal Detecting, All You Need to Know to Get Started (about £12)
A UK beginner's book covering technique, the law and finds, rated 4.6 stars from 332 reviews. When you're ready to improve, Advanced Detecting (about £18) covers technique in more depth. As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases.
Frequently asked questions
Why am I not finding anything? Usually it’s the land, not the detector. Heavily detected parks produce little. Farmland with a long history of people living and working there produces more.
Should I use discrimination? Lightly, at first. Too much discrimination can hide good targets, especially small gold. Most experienced detectorists dig more than beginners expect.
How long before I find something good? It varies enormously. Many detectorists find their first hammered coin or Roman coin within their first season on good farmland.