Beach Detecting 101

The beach looks like one big stretch of sand. It's not. Once you learn to read it, you'll stop randomly swinging and start hunting with intention.

Read the Beach

The Five Zones — and What Lives in Each

Every beach has the same five zones. Most beginners hunt one of them their whole first season without knowing the other four exist. Here's what you're actually walking past.

1. Dune Line

What it holds Old coins, relics, occasionally pulled from storms. Mostly junk from beach camping.

When to hunt Worth a slow grid pass after a big storm. Otherwise low priority.

Don't dig in sea oats or protected vegetation — you'll get cited and it's not worth it.

2. Dry Sand / Towel Line

What it holds Jewelry, modern coins, sunglasses, keys. This is where people lay out their blankets and take off their rings.

When to hunt Summer weekends and holidays are when it loads up. Hunt it early the next morning before the crowds return.

Rings tend to fall off in dry sand when people apply sunscreen or shake out towels. Work this zone slow.

3. Berm / Flip Zone

What it holds Mixed bag — older coins if there's erosion, newer stuff if the berm has built up. Watch how the sand moves here.

When to hunt The berm is where a lot of activity concentrates during the day (volleyball, kids, people walking). Post-storm it can be cut clean.

The 'flip zone' is where the face of the berm meets the flat beach. When this cuts, you'll find stacked layers of targets.

4. Wet Sand

What it holds Coins and jewelry that have migrated toward the water over months or years. Heavier objects concentrate here naturally.

When to hunt Outgoing tide is your window. You want as much wet sand exposed as possible — it narrows fast on incoming tide.

Wet salt sand will drive your ground balance crazy if you're not set up for it. See the settings section below.

5. Waterline / Surf Zone

What it holds Where the good stuff ends up. Rings, gold, older coins. Objects work down-slope over time and end up here.

When to hunt Low tide. Post-storm. Period. Don't bother when it's waist-deep and churning — you won't hear anything and you'll lose your machine.

Wading into shin- to knee-deep water at low tide is where most serious beach hunters find gold. Invest in waterproofing or a purpose-built beach machine.

Search Patterns

How to Cover Ground Without Missing Targets

Random swinging is how you walk a lot and find little. These four patterns cover different situations — use the right one for the right zone.

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Zig-Zag (Find the Coin Line)

Walk diagonal across the beach — toward the water at an angle, then back up toward dry sand — in a long zig-zag. You're crossing multiple zones in a short distance. When you start hitting targets consistently at one depth/zone, stop zig-zagging and switch to grid.

Best for: first pass on a new beach. Helps you locate which zone is currently holding targets.

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Grid (Work a Hot Spot)

Once you find a productive zone — say, a stretch of wet sand that's been giving you coins — set up a methodical grid. Walk your rows parallel to the water with enough overlap that your coil passes cover every inch. Mark your start and end mentally so you don't re-hunt the same ground.

Best for: concentrations of targets, structure zones (near lifeguard towers, stairways), post-storm cuts.

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Spiral Out From a Find

When you dig something good, don't move on immediately. Items tend to cluster. Slowly spiral outward from the find spot in circles of increasing radius. A lot of detectorists leave a pile of targets behind because they got excited and walked away.

Best for: after digging a ring, gold, or older coin. Jewelry clusters near where people sit repeatedly.

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Slow Overlapping Sweeps

Keep your coil 1–2 inches off the ground (not 4–6 — that's signal loss). Sweep slow enough that the coil is moving about one foot per second. Overlap each pass by about one-third of your coil diameter. Speed kills depth — the faster you swing, the shallower your effective detection.

Best for: all the time, everywhere. This is just good technique. Develop it early and it becomes automatic.

Storm Cuts & Erosion

Why Bad Weather Is Your Best Friend

Most people pack up their gear when a storm rolls through. You should be planning your next morning hunt.

When wave action and storm surge attack the face of a beach, they erode the sand that's been building up over weeks and months. Objects that have been buried — sometimes for years — suddenly appear inches below the surface. The productive window is 24 to 48 hours after the storm, before new sand fills in the cuts.

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What a cut looks like — A vertical or near-vertical face in the sand, anywhere from 6 inches to several feet tall. It runs parallel to the waterline. The sand below the cut is older and often darker — that's the exposed layer you want to work.

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Black sand — pay attention — Dark or black-colored sand (heavy minerals, magnetite) concentrated in bands or layers is one of the best signs you're in a productive cut. Gold and heavy coins concentrate in the same places these heavy minerals do. When you see black sand, slow down.

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The 24-48 hour window — Nor'easters and tropical systems produce the best cuts. The window closes fast — incoming tides and wind start rebuilding the berm quickly. Check the beach the morning after a storm. If you can't get there within two days, the opportunity often passes.

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Where cuts hit hardest — Pinch points — where the beach narrows, near inlets, around points and jetties — tend to experience the most aggressive erosion. On the East Coast, any beach that faces northeast or east gets hit hardest by nor'easters. Learn which beaches in your area are erosion-prone.

Timing

When You Hunt Matters as Much as Where

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Early morning — Go before the crowds. You're hunting targets left the previous day, the sand hasn't been trampled, and the beach crew hasn't come through. On summer beaches, the window between first light and 8am is gold.

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Outgoing tide — Outgoing tide exposes more wet sand and brings the waterline down. More beach = more area to hunt. The best window is from high tide turning outgoing to about two hours after low — you're working into freshly exposed sand the whole time.

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Post-storm windows — Already covered in the Storm Cuts section, but worth repeating: plan to hunt the day after any significant weather. It's the single biggest factor in finding old and deep targets on East Coast beaches.

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Summer vs winter — Summer concentrates targets in the dry sand and towel line — lots of recent drops from beachgoers. Winter pulls the sand away and exposes older layers. The wet sand and cut zones produce far better in the off-season. Many experienced hunters prefer January through March on East Coast beaches for this reason.

Reading the Crowd

Where People Go, Targets Follow

Metal detecting is partly archaeology, partly human psychology. Think about where people congregate, then go there the next morning.

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The towel line — Where people lay out their blankets and towels. Rings come off with sunscreen. Jewelry falls when people shake out towels. This strip runs parallel to the water about halfway between the berm and the surf zone. It's the highest-density drop zone on the beach.

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Volleyball courts — Posts are fixed reference points — people set up near them season after season. Deep in the sand around permanent or seasonal volleyball setups you'll often find years of accumulated drops. Heavy hitting, jewelry-producing spots.

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Lifeguard towers — Families with kids cluster around lifeguard towers all day. The sand around the base of a tower and in a 20-foot radius is high-activity ground. Hunt it early before the tower opens.

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Beach access points and stairs — The foot traffic funneling through beach accesses means more targets in a smaller area. Steps and walkovers concentrate people — and drops — in a predictable zone. The soft sand at the bottom of a stairway is worth a careful grid pass.

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Umbrella holes — Concrete or plastic umbrella stake holes mark where rental umbrellas are set. Families rent these for full days, eating, drinking, playing. The sand within 10 feet of rental umbrella rows is worth a slow pass.

Detector Settings

Setting Up for the Beach

Beach conditions are the most challenging environment for a metal detector. Salt water is conductive and throws off ground balance. Here's what matters.

Ground Balance

This is the big one on the beach. Wet salt sand reads as a target to your detector if ground balance isn't set correctly — you'll get endless false signals. Either use auto ground balance (tracking mode), which adjusts continuously, or manually pump your coil over wet sand to balance before you start. Re-balance when you move from dry to wet zones.

Sensitivity in Black Sand

Black sand (heavy minerals, magnetite) saturates your signal and causes chatter. If you're getting constant falsing in a mineralised area, dial sensitivity down until the machine quiets. Yes, you lose some depth — but a noisy machine is useless. Find the threshold where it runs stable and accept that depth trade-off.

All-Metal vs Discrimination Mode

All-metal mode detects everything. Discrimination mode filters out certain conductivity ranges (typically iron/foil). On the beach, all-metal at the waterline gives you maximum depth for gold. In the dry sand zone, some discrimination helps reduce pull tabs and foil. Learn both modes — conditions determine which to use.

VDI Numbers — What They Actually Mean

VDI (Visual Discrimination Indicator) is a number that represents the electrical conductivity of the target. Low numbers (1–20): iron, foil, small gold. Mid numbers (20–60): pull tabs, nickels, some gold rings (gold varies a lot by karat and size). High numbers (60–95): silver coins, copper, aluminum cans. A thin gold ring can read in the teens. Never skip a low signal near the waterline.

Coil Height

Keep the coil as close to the sand as possible without dragging — 1 to 2 inches max. Every inch you raise the coil costs you signal depth. Most beginners swing too high because the coil keeps hitting the ground. Slow down and keep it low.

Etiquette

How to Not Be That Guy

Metal detecting exists in public spaces. The hobby's reputation depends on how its members behave. These aren't suggestions.

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Fill your holes — every single one — Every hole. There is no exception. An unfilled hole on the beach is a twisted ankle waiting to happen, a complaint to the parks department, and a reason for the next municipality to ban detecting. Plug and press. Leave no trace.

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Don't detect around people — If there are people sitting, lying, or standing nearby, come back later. Swinging your coil within arm's reach of someone minding their business is rude and makes detectorists look bad. Read the beach, find empty space, and be patient.

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Pack out trash — When you dig a pull tab, foil, or bottle cap, pocket it. Every piece of trash you remove makes the beach better and makes the hobby look better. Many experienced detectorists carry a second pouch specifically for trash. Set the example.

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Headphones on — Use headphones. Your machine's speaker chirping constantly is annoying to everyone around you, and headphones let you hear faint signals you'd otherwise miss. It's a win in both directions.

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When asked, be an ambassador — People will ask what you're doing. Answer honestly and warmly. Show them what you've found. Explain how it works. The more people who understand the hobby, the fewer complaints to parks departments, the more beaches stay open. Every interaction is an audition for the hobby's public image.

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