There are so many options when it comes to purchasing a new metal detector. Where do you start? The first step to figuring out what metal detector is best for you is deciding on a budget. Many people who are beginners decide they want to start off with a low-budget, cheap metal detector and work up from there. Although they are referred to as cheap metal detectors, these detectors can offer great quality and performance.

It all depends on what you plan on detecting. If you’re just getting started in the metal detecting world, these affordable options are perfect. As a beginner, you may not want all the bells and whistles some of the higher-end machines have. On the other hand, you want one that works well and leads you to treasure! Both beginners and pros alike can benefit from recommendations.

Different metal detectors are better at some things than others. In essence, metal detecting is easy — wave the search coil over the ground and dig when it beeps! Unfortunately, the “dig everything that beeps” approach can lead to a lot of needless digging, missed targets, and a mountain of pop tabs.

If you’re looking specifically for gold, for example, you’ll want a completely different detector than if you were scuba diving or metal detecting on a beach.

All-purpose entry-level machines cannot detect small gold nuggets or flakes, but they will find enough coins, jewelry, and relics to keep a beginner busy and enthusiastic.

Whether you’re a beginner or are looking for a cheap backup metal detector, we hope this guide will help you determine which machine is best for you. We’ve tried to combine quality with affordability, so while there may be cheaper detectors out there, they may not be the best for the job.

Kellyco has a long history of providing some of the world’s leading cheap metal detectors as well as advanced, high-end metal detectors. Founded in 1955 by Stuart Auerbach, our company has always offered a huge selection of detectors and accessories for the public.

Because we carry many different brands, we feel like we can offer unbiased guidance on what to look for and, ultimately, what to buy.

Metal Detector Technology Basics

The main elements of a metal detector include the body of the machine, a control box, and one or more search coils. It’s the coil that transmits an electromagnetic field into the ground. When that magnetic field encounters an object, it sends a signal to the coil and creates a sound. You can see the response on your screen as well.

Some detectors make a different sound depending on what type of object has been detected.

You can swap out a coil and replace it with one that is more sensitive or one that can search deeper. The larger the coil, the deeper in-depth it can detect, but it can also lose sensitivity to smaller objects. Smaller coils tend to have higher sensitivity but can’t detect as far down.

Each brand of metal detector markets its own coils, so best to purchase coils from the original manufacturer.

Detectors primarily use one of three technologies: Very low frequency (VLF), Pulse induction (PI), or Multi. Multi means you can hear more than one frequency at once.

VLF is like having a conversation with someone but with frequent interruptions. The VLF coil is the transmitter and the coiled wire is like an antenna that “sees” a target in the ground and amplifies the sound to let you know there is a signal.

A VLF machine will have two coils — the transmitter coil and the receiver coil. Electricity is sent to the transmitter coil, which is the outer loop, in one direction and then the other. Cheap metal detectors as well as other advanced metal detectors, work on the principle of transmitting a magnetic field and analyzing a return signal from the target and environment. The changing magnetic field causes electric currents to flow in metal objects.

Most machines use VLF technology.

PI works much differently. A transmit voltage is applied to a transmit coil, which then creates a transmitted magnetic field. When that magnetic field is suddenly turned off, the metal detector measures a received signal produced by a magnetic field from the environment.

Compared to VLF, PI is like a steady conversation. The PI coil is both the transmitter and receiver. It sends a constant signal to the ground without the interruptions that a VLF detector has.

Terminology & Definitions

Like every great hobby, metal detecting is an activity that is filled with special words that outsiders may have a hard time understanding. Here we will define some of the words you may not be very familiar with.

Metal detecting experts, feel free to skip ahead to the next section.

Ferrous: Metals that contain iron. Non-ferrous metals are metals that are not magnetic, like brass, gold, silver, nickel, tin, and lead.

Frequency: Frequencies vary on cheap metal detectors and the different frequencies are used for different types of detecting. The frequencies are measured in Kilohertz and measure the number of magnetic fields sent to the ground. Different metals react to different frequencies based on the characteristics and conductivity of that metal.

Mineralization: The amount of iron and salt in the ground. Examples of mineralized ground include black sand on beaches (from the iron), redness in the dirt (iron), and the salt in the sand on saltwater beaches.

Interference: Anything with an electromagnetic field, like cell phones or power lines, can interfere with the detector’s signal.

Control box: Contains the controls, speaker, batteries, and processor of a metal detector.

Search coil: This is what “sees” the metal in the ground. Different search coil sizes and shapes perform differently. Generally speaking, smaller coils are most sensitive while larger coils can penetrate deeper underground.

Discrimination: You can filter out different types of metal or objects by adjusting your settings.

Ground balance: Adjustments made to the detector for different types of soil and mineralization.

Evaluation Criteria for this Buyer’s Guide

For this guide, we took a lot of different things into consideration. While basic things like weight, ease-of-use, and size are important, factors like the durability and reliability of the machine are too. The latter can be subjective, so we based some of it on customer reviews and physical features.

Does it have a warranty? What’s the price point? What do people say about it once they’ve used it? These are just some of the questions we tried to answer for you as you decide which of the cheap metal detectors will meet your needs.

Best Cheap Metal Detector for Coins, Rings, and Jewelry Detecting

If you’re coin hunting or looking for rings or other types of jewelry, search areas with high traffic. Parks, beaches, schools, churches, even sports and complexes, and bleachers are great places to look for things like this. Some of the very best locations for coin hunters are places that are abandoned today but were very busy in the past.

When you shop for a metal detector for coins, rings, or jewelry, choose one that’s easy to use and has good target separation or discrimination. That allows you to filter out what you don’t want. Parks mean you have a high chance of finding coins and jewelry, but these areas also have a lot of “junk” like foil and pull tabs.

Some machines include a feature called notch discrimination, which is very useful for this kind of hunting. That allows you to pick a target and filter out everything else that is outside that target’s feedback range.

Choose a machine with a frequency of 10-15 kHz and a depth range of 6-8 inches. Some of the best cheap metal detectors for coins, rings, and jewelry detecting are the Garrett ACE 400 or the Nokta Makro Simplex.

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Best Cheap Metal Detector for Relic Hunting

Relics are a big draw for metal detecting enthusiasts. There are relics scattered across the world from past wars and other historical events, and it can be very exciting to uncover a colonial buckle or part of a musket. This is where metal detecting meets archaeology and true history buffs thrive!

The best places to search for relics include churches, old homesites, and areas where people used to congregate in the past. Think about abandoned train depots, large trees in the middle of town square — commonly referred to in the hobby as a money tree — and old steamboat landings.

To be an effective relic hunter, you’ll want a tough, rugged machine, because you can wind up pretty far off the beaten path.

The main features prized by relic hunters include good target separation. This is important because coins can be masked by old construction materials like nails or railroad spikes. Highly effective discrimination is important because you need to kill the audio for iron targets and focus on what’s valuable.

A good relic machine should have a depth range of 12-14 inches and use a frequency between 12-15 kHz. To be effective, you’ll probably want more than one coil. Coils that are a minimum of 12 inches wide allow you to detect at deeper depths, which is important when hunting for relics. Waterproof coils are an important feature to look for as well because you never know what terrain you’ll encounter when you’re out looking for historical locations deep in the woods.

A machine that has a true all-metal mode or zero discrimination is useful if you’re not on an old homesite because many Civil War relics tend to ring up as iron. Horseshoes, railroad spikes and shell fragments would be not be heard, for example, if your discrimination settings are too high.

Many top-performing relic machines are fairly heavy, so consider a harness or guide to help you distribute the weight.

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Best Cheap All-Purpose Metal Detector

All-purpose metal detectors can be used pretty much anywhere and in most conditions. These machines are often the choice made by detectorists who are looking for a workhorse to do more than one job. They’re also a good fit for beginners since you can use them in different types of terrain.

These machines can be outperformed by the best-in-class machines described in the various categories above. However, because they are highly capable machines that have a “do-anything” attitude, they are often the first purchase (and sometimes only purchase) by thousands and thousands of metal detectorists across the country.

This category of cheap metal detectors represents many of our best sellers. Think of these as go anywhere, do anything machines. They are the utility infielder of the metal detecting world. They are the Magic Johnsons of the metal detecting world. If Chevrolet made a Corvette SUV it would fall into this category.

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Striker Detectors z60 Metal Detector

Nokta Makro Simplex

Best Cheap Metal Detector for Underwater Detecting

Underwater metal detecting takes this hobby to a different level. Whether you’re scuba diving with a detector or walking along the beach, having a fully submersible metal detector is important. If you’re already an avid scuba diver, taking a metal detector along adds another element that could even help you find real treasure! Even if you’re a beginner, you won’t have any trouble using these detectors.

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Best Cheap Metal Detector for Saltwater and Beach Detecting

Beaches are one of the best places to metal detect because of their popularity. People lose all kinds of things at the beach, and, of course, things wash up on the shore, too. Beaches are especially known for “fresh drops.” Imagine a beach filled with hundreds of people each day being tossed around by waves and slathering their bodies in sunscreen. It’s a perfect storm for finding gold rings and chains.

Being able to manually adjust ground balance is important when you’re detecting at the beach. Saltwater affects cheap metal detectors in the same way highly mineralized soil does. It becomes difficult to focus on valuable items when those items are surrounded by so much potential noise. A multi-frequency detector will be very useful because the ground is continuously changing at the beach, from dry sand to wet sand to surf. Ground tracking is another important feature so that the machine itself can detect what kind of soil or sand conditions you’re on as you hunt.

Beach detectors need to be waterproof. A wave could knock you down while detecting and ruin any machine that is not waterproof.

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Best Cheap Metal Detector for Detecting Gold

Panning for gold or using a pickaxe for hours on end isn’t necessary anymore if you use a metal detector. Detectors made specifically for gold hunting make the hobby a whole lot easier. Visit mountains or areas like rivers, streams, and exposed rock bed to increase your chances of finding gold, especially in the western U.S.

Look for a metal detector that works well in highly mineralized soil. A frequency of 20 kHz or higher is great for gold. You’ll also want a waterproof coil, but the machine itself doesn’t need to be waterproof. As with relic hunting, a harness or guide will be helpful to distribute the weight of heavier machines, since finding gold can take a long time.

One of the most important features in a detector used for gold hunting is that it is stable — meaning less noisy — in mineralized ground. Soil out west has a lot of iron ore that will interfere, so having a detector that can find a gold nugget that’s surrounded by iron ore is really important.

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Final Word

We hope this guide helps you decide which cheap metal detector is best for you. There are many things to take into consideration, including where you will use your metal detector and what you’re looking for.

In our experience, once you start metal detecting, you never want to stop. There are so many different adventures you can experience with a metal detector. Visit our Treasure Finds page to read about all the different items our customers have found over the years. Our customers range from beginners all the way to professionals!

If you have more questions after reading this guide, please feel free to give us a call or pop open the chat window on our website.