Please note that my review is based on the use-case that I purchased it for. My ratings are based on a single experience, not as a result of any comparison against competing units.

I needed to find the property markers for the home I just purchased in order to build a fence, and I wanted to give this a shot before I spent much more on a professional survey. This was a lot more cost-effective, and it did the job well enough in the end. I may decide to use it more for finding buried goodies later on, but it wasn’t on my mind at the time of purchase.

After it was delivered on time, I assembled the detector. It went together easily and took no more than a few minutes. The length is adjustable, so it is easy to find the most comfortable position. I put the batteries in and started searching.

I have no experience detecting, so I set the sensitivity to max and didn’t set any metal discrimination. This probably caused me to lose some time, since I kept hearing the beeps and would start digging where I thought the buried post might be. I was getting a bit frustrated by finding a spot that would look like it was hitting a target and digging, only to find nothing. I am fully convinced that this was user-error, and not the fault of the detector.

I gave up after about an hour and went back inside to read the manual. I’d seen the “Pin Point” button while I was searching, but it didn’t seem to do anything. After I read that you had to hold the button down for that feature to work, I went back outside and tried again, even though it was after dark. The yellow color was appreciated, since it was easy to see when it’s on the ground at night.

Using the pin point feature, I found the buried stake in about five minutes. The detector homed right onto it, and I could watch the signal bars to find the maximum level and center the target right in the middle of the coil.

The next day, I used it in the back yard and found a nail about three inches down, so it’s definitely able to find buried metal objects. I’m sure that with more practice and adjustments, you could find plenty of objects with it.

Since I’m pleased that I saved several hundred dollars with this, I’m giving it a perfect score.