DETECTORIST WORLD
About the Author: Steve Race
A Lincolnshire detectorist with around 15 years on the fields, sharing honest reviews based on first-hand experience where I have owned or used the machine, and in-depth research where I have not. I run Detectorist World and make clear which kind of review you are reading.
15 years
Detecting experience
Lincolnshire
Fields, pasture and permissions
First-hand & research-based
The review type is stated
Steve Race
Founder of Detectorist World
Real finds, real permissions, real opinions.
Founder of Detectorist World
Real finds, real permissions, real opinions.
THE HUMAN BIT
Hello, I'm Steve
I’m 43, I live in Lincolnshire, and I’ve been swinging a detector for around 15 years. I’ve got three kids, and until recently I was the landlord of a village pub. These days I’m back doing what I did before that: digital marketing and content creation, which is partly how Detectorist World came to be. The detecting, though, has been the constant the whole way through.
Why this page exists
A lot of review sites are written by people who’ve read the box but never dug a plug. I’d rather you knew exactly who’s talking to you, what I’ve actually owned, and where my opinions come from. So here it is, warts and all.
WHERE IT STARTED
Spain planted the seed
I’ve been into antiques and history since I was a kid. Years ago I worked in a Cash 4 Gold place in Spain, and one customer used to come in every week through the summer with gold he’d found beach detecting along the coast. That planted the seed.
On a trip back to England I bought a detector and went out with a mate, and that was that. Honestly, detecting was one of the reasons I ended up moving back from Spain for good.
WHY LINCOLNSHIRE
History under your boots
England has this incredible depth of history sitting just under the surface, and the laws here actually let you go and look for it responsibly, which isn’t the case everywhere.
The hobby’s got harder over the years, mind. It’s more popular now, so a lot of farmers are sick of being asked, and permission is tougher to come by than it was. But my love for it has only grown.
OWNED, USED, LEARNT FROM
My machines, the real progression
Everything I write about detectors on this site comes from this lot. I’m not going to pretend I’ve owned flagships I haven’t.
FIRST MACHINE
Garrett Ace 150
My first machine, bought on price more than anything. I didn’t want to spend big before I knew I’d stick with it, and Garrett was the brand everyone pointed beginners towards. Simple and cheap, which was exactly what I needed. The discrimination was poor though, it would throw up iron as a lovely strong signal and give the odd ghost signal. Best find: a silver Irish shilling. I’d only really recommend it to someone on a rock-bottom budget or a young teenager just starting out.
NATURAL UPGRADE
Garrett Ace 250
The natural next step up. A bit more power, and if I remember right it added a pinpoint mode, which made recovery easier. Still simple, still easy to live with. I pulled plenty of Victorian, Georgian and Edwardian coins with it, including off an old school field. The same Garrett Ace quirk applied, where the tones can flatter a target and make it sound better than it is.
FIRST SERIOUS STEP
Garrett Euro Ace
This felt like my first proper, more serious detector. I put a NEL Tornado coil on it to cover more ground and chase a bit more depth. It had an all-metal (zero) mode that I found genuinely useful. The thing that drove me mad was the control buttons, far too stiff. Best finds: a Roman fibula and a medieval purse bar.
LEARNING CURVE
Minelab X-Terra 705
I bought this when I started taking detecting more seriously and wanted better discrimination and handling on dodgy ground. I’d been eyeing a Garrett AT Pro, but a 705 came up at a bargain price so I jumped on it. Once I got my head round it, I loved it. The discrimination was a big step up from the Garrett Aces and the numeric target ID felt like a blessing, with better depth too. The learning curve was real, mind, coming from switch-it-on-and-go Garretts to ground balancing. Finds included a cricket belt buckle, silver sixpences and shillings, another Irish shilling, and the usual Roman odds and ends.
FAVOURITE ALL-ROUNDER
Nokta Simplex
My favourite, and the one I’d point most people at. Serious features at a budget price, the kind of machine that keeps up with detectors twice the money. Wireless headphones, brilliant battery life, lightweight, easy to set up. The discrimination’s good and the numeric ID is very accurate. Only real gripe is that the shaft can feel a touch flimsy. And it gave me the find that means the most to me, so it’ll always have a soft spot.
The honest beginner recommendation
If a mate had £300 to spend today, I’d tell them to look hard at the Nokta Simplex, or whatever current model sits closest to it on price and features. It gives a beginner or a returning detectorist a properly capable machine without spending silly money.
FIELD STORIES
The finds that stuck with me
My best find ever, and my first ever hammered coin, was a 1571 Elizabeth I half groat. I found it in a farmer’s ploughed field just down the road from the pub, on maybe my fifth visit to that permission. Solo, Nokta Simplex, around October. I got a cracking signal, dug down about eight inches into clay, and as I levered the spade back a lump of clay fired off across the field. The signal vanished from the hole, so I knew the coin had gone with the clay. I spent twenty minutes hunting for that one lump, nearly gave up, then spotted it sitting right on top, almost like it wanted to be found. I did a little dance in the field. I’d had the milk-bottle-foil heartbreak a few times before that, so this one really meant something. I gave it to the farmer, who later sold it and split the money with me.
1571 Elizabeth I half groat
My first hammered coin, dug from a Lincolnshire field after one of those “nearly gave up” moments.
Roman brooch fragment
One of the finds that makes you think about the actual person who once wore it.
Victorian military belt plate
A proper bit of history, and a good reminder that “recent” finds can still be brilliant.
My oldest finds are Roman. Around places like Navenby, which is steeped in Roman history, the bronze grots seemed to turn up everywhere. I never did find a silver Roman, but I had a few nice fibula fragments, which I love because a brooch makes you think about the actual person who wore it in a way a coin doesn’t quite.
Funniest lesson in value: I once sold a token on eBay for £300. It just looked like an old token to me, but it was rare apparently and the auction took off. That taught me you can’t judge a find by how exciting it looks coming out of the ground.
LINCOLNSHIRE
Where I detect
Lincolnshire is a brilliant county for this. There’s a huge amount of land and the history runs deep: Roman, Viking, Celtic, medieval, Tudor, Georgian, Victorian, it’s all here if you’re lucky enough to get the right permission.
My most common finds are Victorian and Georgian bits, buckles, musket balls, strap ends and buttons, with Roman turning up in the right spots. My favourite period is Tudor, but honestly half the joy is standing on a bit of ridge and furrow letting your mind build a picture of who worked that land.
I mostly detect pasture and ploughed fields. I’ve always had better-condition finds in pasture, but plough is easier digging. And one thing the years have taught me is that the field you’re sure will be amazing often gives you nothing, while the one you wrote off keeps producing. That unpredictability is half the addiction.
FAVOURITE PERIOD
Tudor
USUAL GROUND
Pasture and ploughed fields
COMMON FINDS
Buckles, buttons, coins and Roman odds
RESPONSIBLE DETECTING
How I do things, and how I think about the law
I’m an NCMD member, mainly for the public liability insurance and the trust it signals to a landowner. I want to be straight with you here: I’m not a heavy Treasure-process reporter, for the simple reason that I’ve never personally dug anything I judged significant enough to go through it. I’ve been around it, and if I ever did find something that qualified, I’d follow the correct procedure without thinking twice. I know of people who tried to cut corners with hoards and ended up in serious trouble. It’s just not worth it.
The basics are non-negotiable for me: fill every hole, shut every gate, don’t damage crops, be sensible around livestock, ring ahead even when you’ve got an open invite, and report your finds to the landowner honestly. I’ve had people dig with me and not fill their holes, and they don’t get asked back. That sort of thing loses permissions for everyone. I never dig iron, by the way. Ever.
LANDOWNER TRUST
Permission first
Face to face has always worked best for me. Door-knocking, word of mouth and local connections are what actually land permissions.
FIELD ETIQUETTE
Leave it right
Fill every hole, shut every gate, don’t damage crops, be sensible around livestock, and report your finds honestly.
TREASURE PROCESS
No shortcuts
If I ever find something that qualifies, I’d follow the correct procedure without thinking twice. Cutting corners is never worth it.
NO PRETENDING
What I review here, and why you can trust it
Reviews on Detectorist World are written from the swing-it-in-the-mud angle, not the spec-sheet one. If I’ve owned a machine, I’ll tell you what it was really like to live with, the good and the annoying. Where I haven’t personally used something, I’ll say so plainly, and that page will lean on data, owner reviews and field reports rather than pretending I’ve had it on my arm.
If I’ve got something wrong, or you’ve owned a detector I’ve reviewed and your experience differs, the contact form is read by an actual human. The site’s better for being corrected.
The review promise
Owned it?
I will say what it was like in the real world.
I will say what it was like in the real world.
Not owned it?
I will say so clearly and lean on specs, owner reports and field feedback.
I will say so clearly and lean on specs, owner reports and field feedback.
Got something wrong?
Tell me. I would rather correct a page than defend a mistake.
Tell me. I would rather correct a page than defend a mistake.
THE REAL REASON
The honest reason I still do it
I’ll finish with the bit that matters most to me. I struggle to switch off. My head fills with noise and stress, and detecting quietens all of it. It’s helped me through some genuinely tough patches over the years and it’s done a lot for my mental health. Out in a field, it’s just me, the signal, the next step and the hope of what might be under the coil. Even on a day where I dig nothing but BOATs and moo tubes, there’s still that hope. The next signal could always be the one.
The finds are a bonus. The peace is the point.
Cheers, Steve
