Depth versus Speed

The title of this blog post might not sound out of place as a line in a Carry on movie but in my opinion it's an important topic with regards to metal detecting. There's a lot of debate on metal detecting social media about depth and how deep you can find things with your metal detector. To me, depth isn't that important...for the most part.

Why don't I think depth is that important? Read on McDuff, read on.....

Most of the things I have found metal detecting have been within the top 5 - 6 inches of the surface. Any half decent metal detector would have found these items with the right detecting technique. I should probably talk about technique in another blog post but let's stick to the subject in hand.

So, Speed, within reason, is the most important element in searching when detecting, not depth. Here's why. When you're searching, more often than not you will be in a field that you know very little about, whether there any hot spots (productive areas) or scattered hoards etc. That is unless you know others have been there before you and found things or you've done your research and identified interesting areas to target. Or, you might be on an organised dig and you hear of finds coming up and you head for that area.

Let's talk about speed first:

I feel the need, the need for Speed!

Speed enables you to cover the most ground as possible, look out for signs of habitation such as pottery and building material etc. Speed also means because your not searching for deep finds as such you will be digging more shallower finds and not spend a long time digging for deep targets that might just be buttons, or shotgun cartridge ends etc. If you hit a good area with roman or medieval finds or whatever age, you will almost certainly find them in the top few inches of soil as well as at depth. So my point is, if you go for speed, you will find these areas quicker than if you are searching for depth. You'll be digging less deep items and spend less time digging. You'll be covering more ground and finding those product areas (hot spots quicker). I use a Deus 1 and we're a pretty good team now. I have my own programme set and we don't often dig iron and we cover the ground quickly because it might not be quite as deep as some of the other newer and higher end detectors. I'm not saying that depth isn't important too and I'll talk about that next.

And a caveat, when I talk about speed, I'm talking about a sound swinging technique, keep that coil as flat to the surface as you can and dig those signals out as quickly, neatly and efficiently as you can. Speed does not mean swinging your detector as quickly as you can. And Speed does not mean leaving your holes not filled in properly. Remember, when digging a hole, the aim is to leave the ground as if you were never there. Do not leave your scrap finds in the hole or next to it as you will probably dig them up again next year. So take your rubbish home. I'll talk about find recovery in another post down the line.

And with that, let's talk about depth.

Depth - when is it important?

In my opinion, depth becomes important when you have identified those productive areas on a field. You've found the area quicker because you spent less time digging those deeper targets. Now you have found that area, hit it hard with your normal detector, get round it and dig out those targets. Once the area quietens down, it's then time to pull-out the big guns or deep seeking detector. Listen for those faint targets that might be just beyond your quicker detector and winkle them out. So depth does come into play, if you want to clear an area quicker. If you're lucky and the farmer ploughs regularly then those finds will come to the surface year after year and you can pluck them out of the ground with your shallower detector. If the farmer doesn't plough often, or at all then you definitely need a deep seeker too for that ground penetration.

Summary

In summary, don't get hung up on depth. Speed equals more finds at a shallower depth and more ground covered, cos you're not digging as deeply which takes longer in itself.

Depth doesn't always mean you will discover older finds such as roman or hammered coins. The plough turns the soil over, puts modern items deeper down and brings older finds to the surface. You stand as much chance of finding old items in the top few inches which in all honesty I almost always do.

And to finish, in the words of Forrest Gump, that's all I have to say about that. What do you prefer? Speed or Depth? Tell me online.