Best upgrades and support gear
Best First Upgrades for a New Detectorist: In the Right Order
Quick answer
The pinpointer is the highest-return purchase in the hobby and should come before a better detector, because recovery time, not depth, limits most people's finds per hunt. A Garrett Pro-Pointer AT at $109.99, then a Lesche Digging Tool and Sod Cutter with sheath and a CKG Finds and Digger Pouch, then a second coil, is the order that pays off fastest.
A new detectorist's instinct is to fix the machine: a better screen, more depth, a second frequency. That instinct spends money in the wrong place. The thing that actually limits how many targets you recover in a session is not what your detector can find, it is how long each recovery takes once the detector has already found something. A five-minute blind hand search repeated forty times a session is the real ceiling on most people's find rate, and a pinpointer collapses that five minutes to ten seconds.
This page sets out the order upgrades actually pay off in, based on what each one changes about a typical session rather than on price or excitement. It deliberately puts a second detector nowhere near the top of the list. The full pinpointer roundup and pinpointers under $100 cover the purchase itself in depth; this page is about sequencing.
Top pick
Garrett Pro-Pointer AT
Submersible to 20 feet, made in the USA, and the pinpointer most often recommended without qualification, which makes it the safest single first upgrade for almost anyone.
Price was accurate when this page was compiled and changes often.
On this page
- Why does a pinpointer out-earn a better detector?
- What is the correct order after the detector itself?
- What is the very first upgrade, before anything else?
- What comes right after the pinpointer?
- What is the upgrade after that, before you buy a new detector?
- What should you deliberately not buy yet?
- How do you know you have actually outgrown your current machine?
Why does a pinpointer out-earn a better detector?
Because most of a detecting session is not spent detecting, it is spent recovering. Without a pinpointer, a signal means widening a hole by hand, checking, widening again, checking again, sometimes for several minutes on a single target. With one, the same recovery takes seconds: sweep the pinpointer around the hole, follow the strengthening tone, done. Multiply that saved time across every target in a session and the pinpointer changes your finds-per-hour more than nearly any detector upgrade can, because a detector upgrade only affects targets you would not otherwise have found at all, while a pinpointer affects every single target you dig.
Run the dig time budget calculator with and without a pinpointer's recovery time and the arithmetic becomes obvious quickly. It is also the reason a beginner with a modest machine and a pinpointer consistently outperforms a beginner with a better machine and none.
What is the correct order after the detector itself?
- Buy a pinpointer. Before anything else, including a better detector. It cuts recovery time on every single target you dig, not just the ones a better machine would have found in the first place.
- Buy a proper digger with a sheath. A serrated blade that cuts a clean plug and folds back cleanly is what keeps permissions open. A dull or improvised tool tears turf, and torn turf is how permissions get withdrawn.
- Buy a pouch with separate compartments. Finds mixed with trash in one pocket get lost, dropped or misidentified at the end of a session. A pouch with a dedicated finds compartment solves this for under $30.
- Learn your machine's target ID in your own soil. Bury known targets at marked depths and record what the screen says before spending on anything else. This costs nothing and changes how you read every future signal.
- Buy a second, smaller coil. Only once the pinpointer, digger and pouch are already in the bag. A small coil changes what a machine finds on trashy ground more than a new detector at three times the price does.
- Only then consider a new detector. By this point you know your machine's limits from real hours in the field rather than from a spec sheet, which is the only sound basis for choosing a replacement.
What is the very first upgrade, before anything else?
A pinpointer, without exception. The Garrett Pro-Pointer AT at $109.99 is submersible to 20 feet, made in the USA, and the model most often recommended without qualification regardless of which detector you own. If the budget is tighter, the Minelab PRO-FIND 15 at $69.00 does the core job, audio-only pinpointing, for under $70. Either one changes your first season more than any other purchase on this page.
Garrett Pro-Pointer AT
$109.99Submersible to 20 feet, adjustable sensitivity across three levels, a fast retune feature to tune out mineralised ground, and a one-button control layout. Made in the USA.
Best for: nearly everyone, including water hunters
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Minelab PRO-FIND 15
$69.00Audio-only pinpointing with DIF interference-free technology and a lost alarm, waterproof to 5 ft, for under $70. Does the core job the pricier models do at a fraction of the cost.
Best for: a first pinpointer on a strict budget
Check price on AmazonWhat comes right after the pinpointer?
A proper digger and a pouch with separate compartments. A Lesche Digging Tool and Sod Cutter with sheath at $59.95 has a serrated blade that cuts a clean plug rather than tearing turf, and it matters because torn turf on someone else's property is how good permissions stop being good permissions. A CKG Finds and Digger Pouch at $24.99 keeps finds, trash and the pinpointer in separate compartments, which sounds minor until you have spent a session fishing a good coin out from under a handful of pull tabs.
Lesche Digging Tool and Sod Cutter with sheath
$59.95A serrated blade with a sheath included, cutting a clean plug and surviving being levered on hard ground for years. The tool a large share of experienced detectorists eventually settle on.
Best for: cutting a plug that can be replaced so the ground looks untouched
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CKG Finds and Digger Pouch
$24.99Dedicated compartments for finds, trash and a pinpointer holster, with drainage holes so the pouch does not stay wet in damp conditions. The pouch layout that actually works.
Best for: not losing a good find under a handful of pull tabs
Check price on AmazonWhat is the upgrade after that, before you buy a new detector?
A second, smaller coil for the machine you already own. A 6 inch Double-D such as the Minelab EQX 06 Coil (6 inch) at $225.00 changes what an Equinox finds on trashy ground more than a new detector at three times the price would, because separation, not raw depth, is usually what is missing on a hunted-out site. Coils are machine-specific, so check the coils for trashy ground roundup for the equivalent on a Legend, an AT or an ACE before buying.
Minelab EQX 06 Coil (6 inch)
$225.00A 6 inch Double-D built for high-trash areas, waterproof to the same rating as the machine it pairs with, and the single accessory most likely to change find rate on an already-hunted site.
Best for: Equinox owners whose stock coil is blending targets together
Check price on AmazonWho should not buy this tier: Do not buy a second coil before you already own a pinpointer and a proper digger: the coil changes what you find, but a missing pinpointer is still costing you minutes on every single target regardless of what the coil finds. It is also not a substitute for time spent learning your machine's target ID in your own soil, which costs nothing and which most people skip in favour of buying something instead. If you have not yet built a test garden, do that before spending on a coil.
What should you deliberately not buy yet?
A second detector, almost always. By the time a pinpointer, a digger, a pouch and a second coil are all in the bag, you will know your current machine's actual limits from real hours in the field, which is a far sounder basis for choosing a replacement than a spec sheet read before your first outing. The best for the money roundup covers that decision properly once you actually reach it, and the choosing a metal detector guide is worth rereading once you have a season of hours behind you rather than before it.
How do you know you have actually outgrown your current machine?
Not by comparing spec sheets, by comparing what you are actually missing in the field. If most of your frustration is slow recoveries, that is a pinpointer and technique problem, not a detector problem, and buying a new machine will not fix it. If your frustration is specific signals you cannot separate from iron in a specific kind of ground, that is a coil problem more often than a whole-machine problem, and the coils for trashy ground roundup is the cheaper fix to try first. A genuine case for a new detector usually sounds like "I keep finding non-ferrous readings my machine simply will not resolve at depth," which is a narrower and less common problem than most upgrade urges actually are.
Keep a simple log of what each session's frustrations actually were, site by site. After a season, patterns in that log are a far more reliable upgrade signal than any single bad outing, and they often point at a fifty-dollar accessory rather than a five-hundred dollar machine. It is a habit that costs nothing and pays for itself the first time it saves you from an upgrade that would not actually have solved the problem you had. Ask the same question of every future purchase on this list too: what specifically will this change about my next outing, and can I name it before I pay for it.
How we chose
The order here is built from what each purchase measurably changes about a session, recovery time, hole quality, and target separation, in that priority, rather than from price or from what looks impressive on a comparison chart. Every specification is quoted from the maker's listing or manual named in the sources. Nothing on this page has been timed by us in the field.
Sources
- Garrett Pro-Pointer AT and Minelab PRO-FIND 15 product listings
- Lesche digging tool product specification
- Minelab EQX 06 coil product listing
Frequently asked questions
What is the best first upgrade for a new detectorist?
A pinpointer, before a better detector, a second coil or anything else. It cuts recovery time on every single target you dig rather than only on targets a better machine would have found in the first place, which is why it changes a first season more than any other purchase.
Should I buy a second coil before a pinpointer?
No. A second coil changes what your machine finds, but a missing pinpointer is still costing you minutes on every target you already found. Buy the pinpointer, the digger and the pouch first, then a coil, in that order.
Is it worth buying a second detector as a first upgrade?
Almost never. A second detector only helps with targets your current machine could not find at all, which is a smaller category than most new detectorists expect. A pinpointer, digger, pouch and second coil each cost less and improve every single outing rather than an occasional edge case.
How much does a pinpointer actually save in the field?
Enough to change your find rate meaningfully. A blind hand recovery commonly takes several minutes per target, and a pinpointer collapses that to roughly ten seconds by locating the target inside the hole rather than requiring you to widen the hole until it appears.
What should I skip entirely as a new detectorist?
A flagship detector and a large aftermarket coil collection. Both assume a level of understanding of your own machine and your own ground that only comes from hours in the field, and buying either before that experience usually means money spent on capability you cannot yet use.
Researched, not professional advice. This page is compiled from published specifications, manuals and owner-review consensus, not hands-on testing. Target ID numbers, depth figures and settings vary with soil chemistry, moisture, target size, depth, orientation and firmware version, so treat every figure here as a starting point and verify it against your own machine's manual and your own ground. As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases.