Field setup

Beach kit

The detector, scoop, and beach tools I use for Orange County metal detecting hunts.

Loadout

Built for wet sand, quick reveals, and clean footage.

The core setup is listed first. I keep this page focused on gear I actually use in the sand.

Main detector

Minelab Manticore with Pro-Find 40

Multi-frequency, high-power waterproof detector bundle for the beach hunts.

Multi-frequency Waterproof Pro-Find 40 bundle

View detector

Featured recovery tool

CKG Titanium Sand Scoop

Lightweight titanium beach scoop with hexahedron holes for recovering targets in the sand.

Titanium 1.5mm bucket Hexahedron holes

View scoop

Pinpointer

Minelab PRO-FIND 35 Waterproof Pinpointer

Waterproof recovery pointer with adjustable sensitivity, tone ID, built-in flashlight, holster, and lanyard.

Waterproof Tone ID Paid Amazon link

View pinpointer

Digging tool

CKG Heavy Duty Double Serrated Digger

Compact digging shovel with double serrated edges, depth marks, sheath, and a bright handle that is easy to spot in the field.

Double serrated Sheath included Paid Amazon link

View digger

Finds pouch

CKG Metal Detecting Finds Bag Waist Pouch

Waist pouch for carrying finds, trash, a pinpointer, a digger, and the small tools that need to stay close during a hunt.

Finds bag Tool carry Paid Amazon link

View finds bag

Audio

DJI Mic Mini wireless lavalier

The wireless mic I use for beach hunts. The sound is far better than my iPhone mic, it includes a wind sock, and the receiver has passthrough charging to help keep the phone alive during long hunts.

Mine has lasted 10+ hours on a single charge when I remember to charge it. If I were buying again, I would look at the two-mic kit with the case so one mic can stay ready as a backup.

Wireless audio Wind sock Paid Amazon link

View mic

Camera mount

ULANZI CM028 adjustable chest mount

I bought this when I first started thinking I wanted to film my hunts, assuming I would eventually upgrade to a nicer chest rig. It has held up well and still works great, so I have not found a real reason to replace it yet.

The adjustable mount works for phone POV filming and action cameras, which makes it useful for quick beach hunt recording without overbuilding the setup.

Phone POV Action cameras Paid Amazon link

View chest mount

Phone camera

iPhone 17 Pro Max, 2TB

I film my hunts on an iPhone 17 Pro Max with 2TB of storage. The extra storage mattered more than I expected once I started recording regular beach hunts in 4K.

When I started, I had an iPhone 16 Pro Max with 256GB. I could only get about one hunt on the phone at 4K before I had to start purging old videos and data. That got annoying quickly, and I upgraded within a week or two of filming regularly.

4K hunt footage 2TB storage Phone camera

Find cleanup

48KHz ultrasonic jewelry cleaner

I bought this the day I found the platinum ring. It is a solid little cleaner, and my wife used it on her ring recently with really nice results.

If I were buying again, I might look at a nicer one from the start, but this one has worked well for cleaning rings and small finds after the hunt.

Jewelry cleanup Small finds Paid Amazon link

View cleaner

How I started

Initial purchases before I knew I was hooked.

This was the budget-minded setup I used to figure out whether I even liked metal detecting before spending more on beach gear.

Starter detector

Minelab X-Terra Pro

This is what I started with. It was enough to learn signals, swing time, and basic target recovery, but I would keep it to parks, dry sand, and low-risk starter hunts.

Budget start Dry sand / parks Paid Amazon link

View starter detector

Starter scoop

Budget stainless sand scoop

This scoop lasted a surprisingly long time before I upgraded. The twist-lock shaft had more play than I liked, and I eventually wanted a lighter single-shaft scoop, but this can work while you figure out if detecting is worth the investment.

Budget scoop Twist-lock shaft Paid Amazon link

View starter scoop

Editing & workflow

Editing software helps with the repetitive cuts.

Editing has always been my least favorite part of creating videos. I use DaVinci Resolve and CapCut, with some help from a custom application I have been working on that removes a lot of the manual, repetitive work from cutting.

My recording style is simple: I press record when I step onto the beach and do not stop recording until I am done hunting. That means every trip contains a lot of walking, digging, and dead time between finds.

I still finalize the videos myself in DaVinci or CapCut depending on how I am feeling that day. They both work fine, but I like CapCut's audio normalization feature, so I am mostly using that.