About DetectorCalc

DetectorCalc publishes machine-specific reference material for metal detecting: target ID charts, depth and frequency tables, settings by site type, head-to-head comparisons, researched reviews and complete kits with running totals. It is an independent site run by Cozy River Studios, which publishes a number of hobby and equipment reference sites.

Why the site is shaped this way

Almost every detecting question has two versions. There is the general one, which an assistant can answer in a sentence and which nobody needs a web page for, and there is the specific one, which depends on your machine, your coil and your soil. A page called "what is a metal detector" helps nobody. A page that tells you what a silver dime typically reads on a particular machine, on a particular scale, and how that shifts in wet mineralised ground, is worth opening. Everything here is written to be the second kind.

How the research is done

We do not test machines in person, and you will find that stated on every page rather than buried here. Pages are compiled from manufacturer specification sheets and owner manuals, published listing data, waterproof ratings and warranty terms, and the recurring themes in verified owner reviews. Where a figure cannot be traced to one of those, it does not get printed. Products are checked against Amazon's own catalogue data so that the name, the price and the photograph on a card all describe the same object.

What we will not publish

• Fabricated testing. No "we tested", no "our unit", no "after six weeks in the field".
• Invented finds. No dig stories, no depths achieved, no photographs of somebody else's good day presented as evidence that a machine works.
• Invented ratings. There is no star score anywhere on this site, because we have not earned the right to give one.
• Specs we cannot source. A range with its conditions stated is more useful than a confident single number that happens to be wrong.
• Anything that helps somebody detect where they should not. No guidance on protected land, on avoiding permission, or on not reporting a find.

On target ID numbers specifically

This is the part of the hobby most often written about badly. Target ID is a conductivity ordering, and that ordering is real: iron at the bottom, foil and small gold low, nickel and pull tabs through the middle, copper and silver at the top. The exact number is not a fixed property of an object. It moves with soil chemistry, moisture, depth, how the target is lying, how corroded it is and which firmware your machine is running. So the charts here give ranges, name the scale, state the conditions, and tell you to bury known targets in your own soil and write down what your own machine says. That last step is worth more than any chart, including ours.

How the site pays for itself

Through affiliate links. If you buy something after following a link from here, we may earn a commission at no extra cost to you. It does not change what gets recommended, and the cheapest item is frequently the right answer: several pages on this site exist mainly to talk somebody out of a purchase they do not need. The full terms are on the affiliate disclosure page.

Detecting responsibly

The hobby continues to exist because most detectorists get permission, stay off protected ground, report what the law requires them to report, and leave a field looking like nobody was there. Please be one of them. There is more on this in the guides.

Get in touch

Corrections are genuinely welcome, particularly on the reference tables: if a figure here disagrees with your machine's manual, we want to know. Use the contact page. Brands and retailers should use the partner page.