Pro tip: I blew $95 on a cheap pinpointer and it almost cost me a find at a dig in Tucson | Archaeology Discoveries

Eric Johnson · 2026-10-20T00:05:04.64595+00:00

I want to warn people about buying the $95 pinpointer I grabbed online for a salvage dig near Tucson last month. It drifted so bad in the desert soil that I dug three false holes in a row, and I nearly walked away from a small copper bell that turned out to be the best thing I found all week. Here is the debate I keep having with myself: is it worth spending $300 or more on a name brand unit, or do you just learn to work with a cheap one and check it against a coin every ten minutes? The guy running our unit says a bad pinpointer trains you to slow down, but I say it just wastes daylight you could spend screening. I lost about four hours over two days, and at the day rate we were paying that adds up fast. What do you all use out there, and has a cheap one ever actually paid off for you?

🐿️Pinecone Attack

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Pro tip: I blew $95 on a cheap pinpointer and it almost cost me a find at a dig in Tucson | Archaeology Discoveries - Pinecone Attack