THE ROMAN FOUND GEAR LIST
One of the most common questions that we get asked is all about the gear: What do you need? What should you use? Do you have any recommendations? So here it is, the full breakdown on our metal detecting gear, what we have tried and tested and use to this day alongside our best recommendations with direct links to every item. So settle in because it’s time to get technical.
The Official Roman Found Kit
There are 5 main essentials to your metal detecting kit that you really can't go digging without:
THE BASIC KIT
Metal Detector (kind of goes without saying really)
Spade
PinPointer (trust us it's worth it)
Finds Bag / Tin (you’ll be surprised how much you end up carrying!)
Gloves (protect those hands!)
Alongside these essentials we have 3 extra essentials that come highly Roman Found recommended to be added to your kit:
THE EXPERT KIT
6. Headphones (we found they unlocked a new level of digging!)
7. Edge Digger
8. Finds Spray (spritz that dirt away)
Then when you’re really getting into it, things are getting serious and you’ve gotta be prepared for every condition:
THE ALL SWINGING ALL DIGGING KIT
9. Small Coil (technical)
10. Snake Skinz (fancy)
Keep reading for our experiences and specific recommendations for all of these items.
THE METAL DETECTOR
The Roman Found Choice : Equinox 800 / Minelab Vanquish 340
‘What’s the best metal detector?’ , ‘What metal detector do you use?’ ‘What’s the best metal detector for a beginner?’ Your questions answered, here’s our experience and what we love and use.
We started off with a Minelab Vanquish 340 after Ellie joined every metal detecting group on Facebook and sought the advice of the Facebook Experts. (and they came through for us!) We stuck with the Vanquish for well over a year and loved every single second of it, an excellent starter machine for anyone looking to get started in the hobby from our experiences. Switch on and go, what more do you need.
Now the best experience you can get with your machine is literally out in the field, digging all those targets and even the dodgy ones to really learn those tones. We learnt alot from large deep iron that turned out to mostly be horseshoes. Overall it took us a couple of months and some stellar advice from friendlys at the group digs to become practically family with the Vanquish and we found everything with this little powerhorse right from Roman Coins to Tudor Gold.
Then came our upgrade to the Minelab Equinox 800 (we have become quite partial to Minelab, something about the tones, they just sing to us). At this point we thought we were machines with the Vanquish and had swept through the fields leaving nothing behind yet (after the steep learning curve) we found ourselves revisiting fields that felt like they had never been touched before, a full finds tin every time! That Equinox power.
The Equinox is a lot more technical than the Vanquish and did take us a little bit of getting used to but we just started in Field 1, learnt the tones and then added our own little Roman Found tweaks to the settings, feeling like every time we went on another dig a new layer was unlocked. We still feel like that to this day a whole year down the line, it really is the machine that keeps on giving.
But then there is that classic saying that it doesn’t really matter what machine you have and we are firm believers that a large part of the hobby is just down to walking over it. If you spend the time with your machine and become not just friends but family then it will look after you very well.
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THE SPADE
The Roman Found Choice: B&Q Special / Red Ada Spartan
A firm essential if you’re planning on finding out what’s under that coil!
When we first started we really didn't think much about this part of kit, surely any old spade will do? Well two years down the line we can confirm that no it won't, whilst any old spade will dig a hole to really do the job efficiently and well there are ones better than others.
This spade is going to see some use and abuse and we’ve broken several through our digging adventures (clay soils are brutal!). It needs to be strong and sharp to put up against rocks, roots and hard clay soils in the summer months. Whilst we are quite partial to our £12 Pointed Micro Spade which is nice and sharp for cutting through the soil cleanly and easily, as well as being light and easy to carry, our Red Ada Spartan is giving it a run for its money.
The large boot saver stirrups on the Ada give a great purchase for getting some good depth to your hole whilst not wearing away the tread on Ellie’s hiking boots at an alarming rate like the narrow B&Q Special was doing. It digs just as well as our little favourite too after some abuse breaking it in. Maybe a better choice in the long run, save those gore tex boots!
Shop here: Red Ada Spartan
THE PINPOINTER
The Roman Found Choice: XP MI-4 / Garret Pro Pointer
A rather essential piece of kit and one that in the beginning we foolishly believed we could dig without. It turns out that finding the targets is just one part of it, actually finding that object in the hole that you’ve dug, now that’s a whole other tricky task in itself.
When we first started in our Granddad’s back garden we had our metal detector, any spade we could get our hands on and a soil sieve. Yes that’s right you heard it here, a soil sieve. The sieve did actually prove quite useful in the sandy soil of Grandad’s backyard but when we took that to our first group dig in sticky clay the following week, well … we did look like idiots.
How we even found those 12 nails on that day we still to this day do not know. We marvelled at everyone around us with these magic torches they could just stick in the hole and know instantly where the target was.
Needless to say one was ordered on the car journey home.
We started our digging adventures with the trusty Garrett Carrot (Pro Pointer) and it was a firm favourite until its untimely death (the battery capacity just failed, we went from replacing the battery once every 3 - 6 months to every single time we switched it on) had us venturing into XP MI-4’s.
Ellie was a die hard Carrot fan yet reluctantly found herself converted to the MI-4.
Now it is by no means perfect and there are some improvements we would make if we could with the main (well the only) improvement being its ergonomic - ness or lack thereof. The Garrett Carrot has a large button, easy to feel and find whilst wearing gloves and you seem to intuitively know which way round it is whereas Ellie often struggles to find the button on the Mi4 due to both sides feeling very similar (especially covered in mud) and the smaller button hard to press.
But this is all rather trivial as it's a lot more sensitive and on target whilst also being rechargeable through a USB cable so there’s no more dependencies on batteries! You could even charge it in the car if needed! Saving the dolphins and saving the frantic trips to Tesco that happened far too often with the Garrett Carrot.
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THE FINDS BAG / TIN
The Roman Found Choice: Searcher Finds Case / Searcher Bag
When going out hunting for those goods it is incredibly important that you have somewhere safe to put them once you’ve found them. Can’t have that gold getting scratched! You would also be shocked just how much you will uncover from the ground in just one dig as well, far too much for your pockets. And not just the trash and treasure that you find needs a place to go as well, what about a water bottle, your pinpointer, an edge digger maybe everything needs to be accessible and on you.
The Searcher Pro Finds Bag does everything. Ellie can’t even think back to the days when she had just a bum bag with all sorts of things jammed round the strap. The Searcher bag has everything in one place, coming with a holster for your pinpointer, a hook to attach your pinpointer bungee to (and the edge digger one we would recommend after being on our 4th edge digger the latest currently residing under some winter wheat seed), a small pocket on the other side perfect for finds spray, two large inside compartments with more than enough space for your finds case, trash finds and drinks bottle all alongside a mesh bottom because trust us there will be enough trash in that bag that you don’t need a kilo of dirt dragged along as well!
Our Searcher Finds Case has seen some digging life and is excellent. We used to have the iconic Roman Found Toffee Tin but after a lot of abuse that was struggling to close which really isn’t something you need from a finds tin cant have that treasure rolling away! The Searcher Case closes easily and tightly holding those precious finds safely inside, has several layers of foam for different types of finds in there and handles mud very well with those large clasps easy to close in the stickiest of conditions.
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THE GLOVES
The Roman Found Choice : Searcher Gloves
Gloves, some people don’t wear them, some people refuse to dig without them. A controversial topic but one that we believe is a must for your digging kit.
In the beginning there was worry that a pair of gloves would mean that you wouldn’t be able to feel what you were doing and a breakage of a target could happen. However after two years of digging every single week (fondly named Digging Wednesdays) and some times thrice a week we can confirm that this is a myth. There are some gloves to be avoided as they are rather clunky and clumsy (leather gardening gloves) but you can protect your hands and know what you're doing at the same time with a good pair of gloves.
Wearing through the fingertips of gloves was a particular problem of ours as they do get some use and abuse, but since being treated to a pair of Searcher Gloves it has been a revelation. Not only can you still use your phone due to the screen compatible tips on the thumb and two fingers so that you can easily record finds and (in our case) manage a TikTok Live without hassle but they are durable and built to last. We haven't had to replace them yet several months in and Ellie used to require a new pair of gloves every couple of weeks!
Protecting your hands is important especially as you are digging in arable land where fertilisers are sprayed, pasture land where animals venture and you never know what sharp piece of metal could be lurking under that soil. Gloves, a Roman Found essential.
Shop Here: Searcher Gloves
THE HEADPHONES
The Roman Found Choice: Nokta Bluetooth Low Latency Headphones
When we first started we didn’t believe in headphones, it was only going on a group dig when we had to wear them to meet the requirements that we realised we were missing out! It is definitely a win having bluetooth headphones as after a year with the non bluetooth Vanquish 340 getting rid of that cable between the two was a godsend. Lucie could set down the detector without getting yanked with it.
Headphones lock you in the zone allowing a deeper concentration of the tones with no distractions and we have found ourselves digging and finding better with them.
Rather unconventionally Lucie’s favourites are the Nokta Legend Headphones we’ve ‘borrowed’ from our Legend. They talk to you! Handily letting you know ‘Power On’ ‘Power Off’. Very important as the poor Equinox Headphones always got left on for days, that blinking light just wasn't quite noticeable enough. It’s all down to preference but Lucie finds the Legend Headphones a lot more comfortable on the ears for the extended periods that we dig for.
Shop Here: Nokta Bluetooth Low Latency Headphones
THE EDGE DIGGER
The Roman Found Choice: Nokta Makro Premium Digger
Looking back we kind of always had an Edge Digger right from the start. It just took the form of comedy trowels we would whip out for delicate excavation of finds and we can confirm it is a lot better having the correct tool for the job.
There’s a lot that happens after digging the hole, the identification of where that object is and then the extraction and an Edge Digger can be crucial for this. Allowing for a delicate extraction with minimal chance of hitting the object with a larger tool like the corner of your spade.
We have had many in our times, Ellie does have a habit of losing them which is why Edge Digger Mk 4 is currently sporting a lovely drilled hole and bungee cord (we would recommend this alteration if you have a habit of losing things like Ellie).
Our current favourite is the Nokta Makro Premium Digger, a strong, narrow, sharp blade that does the job brilliantly. Slim enough to be able to really control where you are digging and strong enough to tease the largest of deep iron out from that soil. It gets the thumbs up from us! Plus it looks great on camera too, a lovely contrast against the dark soil.
Shop Here: Nokta Premium Digger
THE FINDS SPRAY
The Roman Found Choice: Searcher Finds Spray Bottle
Spritz that dirt away! The slightest bit of dew or drizzle and suddenly you’ll find yourself in a mud bath struggling to work out what exactly it was that you’ve just found. This is where a little bit of distilled water in your spray bottle really comes to hand, spritzing that dirt away much more effectively than any type of wiping with muddy hands that only seems to layer more dirt onto the object!
Shop Here: Searcher Finds Spray Bottle
THE SMALL COIL
The Roman Found Choice: Minelab Equinox 6" Coil
Coils come in all shapes and sizes and getting some of the alternative sizes can be a great addition to your kit so you can really load yourself up with exactly the right equipment for the conditions.
Large coils are better for covering more area however can be heavy for the extended amounts of digging that we do so we prefer having a smaller coil at our availability ready to swap on. A small coil really comes into its own in stubble, where a larger coil gets caught and stuck, this small little beast can weave through those stems getting closer to the ground and covering more of the tricky terrain. It also performs brilliantly on really trashy sites where there are lots of targets like on Roman Sites where you find a lot of Iron targets mixed in, the small coil is able to help in distinguishing the good targets from the bad ones when they are grouped together able to pick apart the signals where a bigger coil would struggle.
It’s always good to have a few different options in your arsenal and we’ve found ourselves winning with the small coil on group digs where other people were struggling stubble bashing with their beast coils. First learn your machine then learn how to adapt it best to your terrain.
Shop Here: Minelab Equinox 6" Coil
THE SNAKE SKINZ
The Roman Found Choice: Orange
Simply because who wouldn’t want a little bit of bling to their machine that also protects the cable from snags along the way! We have gone for the boujee orange colour, no basic machines over here. It also proves very handy on a group dig when trying to spot us from a distance and everyone has the same machine, just watch out for that bright orange glint.
Shop Here: Snake Skinz
There you have it, the full comprehensive list of the Roman Found Gear all tried and tested by us out in the field! If you find yourself tempted don’t forget to use our 10% LP Metal Detecting Discount Code: ROMANFOUND
