"Everybody's Lying": Some Detectorists' Opinions on Deep Detecting

A newbie detectorist "who appears to know so little he doesn’t realise how little he knows" claims that he is being lied to constantly by archaeologists (except ones who say what he wants to hear who are the only truthful ones) says that a new breed of metal detectors "won’t go that deep":

Anyway, infinitely more experienced detectorists (than someone who has only ever found two recordable finds in their life!) have settled the depth issue entirely in Farmer Brown’s favour. (“Hello there, Neil Jones here aka slow_n_low, i can now get 24″ on the same small coins as i know the machine inside out and a lot lot deeper on the larger finds”).

There was a video made on the Corfe rally showing Neil Jones demonstrating what he'd learnt, he was filmed digging an enormous hole in pasture to extract a single Roman coin from some considerable depth. Unfortunately, with Gary Brun's mysterious parting of the ways with Minelab, that video went with him, and cannot now be found on the internet. But here's a thread about it: 
Thread: Slow-n-Low GPX 5000 Depth Advantage Video, and here are some of the comments made at the end of October 2010:

great video that machine looks awesome,you certainly had to dig deep neil

Good video. I love the way Gordon stands there chatting while Neil spends 10 minutes digging.

Very impressive!

Impressive, that machine definately does its job!  Just have to hope you can do some searching between digging those craters!

Very impressive depth!!

unbeliveble depth,,,,,great video.....

Well done lads - impressive that.

Interesting approach as todays finds become more rare at the 6 to 10 inch depth, this may open a whole new style to coin and releic hunting? Well done boys.

Get used to digging deep holes boys [...].

Now that was impressive

very impressed wouldnt mind a go on one to try on our never been ploughed pasture land we've got, we've had a few deep roman but i reckon theres loads more there but out of reach of the se or etrac so this machine looks as if its capable of finding the deep ones,it would be interesting to have a bash on one

Weve got some pasture that has had loads of shallow finds on it, mostly bronzes and brooches so we're getting to the stage now where we need to investigate deeper so The GPX hopefully is going to be our answer. I think more than a few others on the forum are thinking the same way also.

we have alot of untouched pasture and theres alot of goodies we think that are just out of our reach so it would be interesting to see what the GPX is like so yeah you will be getting an invite soon mate and poor old dave doing all your digging i bet hes knackered after being out with you,digging them 2ft+ deep holes

I do not understand why digging a hole, say two feet deep, poses any threat to anything, provided it is properly filled in as that hole was.


Loved the vid, great finds and just goes to show the power of the new GPX's and what they are capable of - Awesome!

Well done. Clearly shows the advantage.

Neil proved beyond all doubt in the film that the new GPXs are capable of discrim far deeper than the few inches your suggesting. I havent used mine more than an hour at the moment but the few good finds Ive had like a nice roman brooch were well down below normal Explorer depths. Time will tell but I think we are maybe on to a real winner here.

Is this all lies? Gary Brun responds: "Do people really belive I would make à video to mislead folks??? Do you thinking I would post it to mislead my friends??? Minelab dont own me.".

I also think they may be of use on fields that have produced hoards, I am lucky enough to have found two hoards in the past, so am tempted to buy one to use on those particular fields and go over previously productive ground. Yes, they are very expensive machines but I think that the investment may be worthwhile for some detector users. Has anyone used one to locate deep stray coins from previously found hoards with success?

I would suggest it has two places in the UK market. 1. Good,heavily detected sites. 2. Known hoard sites where there maybe stragglers/more coins etc below normal depth but still within plough soil (in case this gets C&P elsewhere).

I would also put a third place on your list... 3. On sites that have only been shallow plowed. I have several sites, one of which has a Roman bath house, which for various reasons are only allowed to shallow plow. I don't think the plow has gone more than six inches on some sites. The bath house site has a restriction on deep plowing because of the archeology. Some sites have very chalky soil and some have been pasture and never been plowed in living memory!.

(omegamike, Rochester, Kent: 02-11-2010, 11:29 AM #65).

The site is protected from deep ploughing, but not deep artefact hunting and hoiking? Has the Kent FLO contacted Omega Mike about this post and this site?


as for sensitivity

"You couldnt use it on the rallies Whiggs theres too much interference to other tecterists, you need a wide berth", and "Yep and quite a wide berth from anything metallic on your body. First thing I noticed I just happened to leave the wrong boots on first time I used mine. Two metal lace eyelets sounded off big time, . Minelab even warn in the handbook about carrying loose change in your pocket and about keeping the battery pack well behind your back".

I think Andy Baines, the man who accuses myself and Nigel Swift of "lying" over this really has not been following the discussion on the detecting forums properly, and I bet he's never learnt how to use for artefact hunting the GPX 5000 or any related machine. But he seems to think that those with far more experience than him are all lying or misled too. It does not occur to him to read around the subject or find out whether he could be wrong.