If you are new to the hobby of metal detecting, you have probably heard the term “air test” or “nail test” thrown around once or twice.  If you were to ask many experienced metal detectorists what they think about air or bench tests, the response is often loud and clear... 

Air tests are worthless.   Nail tests?  What a joke!  A test garden in the backyard?  A waste of time!  

Twist it and spin it any way you like.  Certain metal detectorists just do not like to bench test their metal detectors.  They very well may even scoff at the suggestion of it in forum or blog posts.  In their eyes, you should take your relic machine and go hunt a nail infested relic site to learn.  You should take you gold detector and go find gold.  Testing is rubbish.   

While I will never say somebody is wrong because they do something different, I just cannot subscribe to that logic.  I think many veterans of this hobby forget what it was like to be a rookie.  There is a learning curve to almost everything in life and metal detecting is no different.  There is tremendous value in testing your metal detector in multiple ways - no matter how long you have been in the hobby. 

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So you want to become a metal detectorist?  You've seen the TV shows and the Youtube videos.  Guys hooting and hollering at every find.  Unearthing history right under their feet.  It looks like great fun right?  Maybe not all the cartwheels and yelling - but the metal detecting part sure does seem neat.

Heck, it’s free money and jewelry coming out of the ground.  Gold nuggets beeping their way into your pockets. Relics from ages past just waiting to be uncovered.   It’s literally the hobby that pays you back for enjoying it!

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Relics - gold nuggets - coins and jewelry - saltwater beaches.  There’s a detector for each, and sometimes a detector that will try to do it all. So without further ado...let’s take a look in no particular order.

#1.  GOLD PROSPECTING

Some hardened veterans say this is the hardest aspect of treasure hunting.  You must literally dig every beep to be truly successful here.  99% of it being iron bits and not gold, it could easily be mistaken as work rather than a hobby.  While retirement type finds have been made in a single hole, it should be noted that it is usually the accumulation of many small to medium sized targets that wins the day here. 

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Wagon loads of gold bars.  Chests full of gold coins.  Barrels of missing dimes that have supposedly fallen over a cliff.  There are dozens upon dozens of treasure legends waiting to be uncovered.   All we have to do is find it. 

Sounds easy enough when there are books, websites, and internet forums dedicated to the sole purpose of retrieving them.  Maps and GPS coordinates spread across the pages.  Pictures of what the treasure may or may not look like.  Stories of failed attempts where hunters were positive the treasure laid.. 

A little research, a canteen and shovel, and off we go to find the riches buried below.   Easier said than done... 

Especially when many of those treasure legends sound like complete nonsense.  Either too good to be true, or just plain illogical to begin with.  

That being said, we do know for a fact that hoards of coins and jewels have been hidden for safe keeping for centuries.  We know of stories across the globe where very real treasure has been uncovered.  Usually by accident....

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