My back hurts just thinking about it... 😓😢😭
I would think hunting with just a pinpointer would severely limit depth--even if the pinpointer were supercharged (I forget the term).
Any time I have (accidentally) detected with only the pinpointer (like when laying it down and it goes off), the target has always been ≤ ~3". Most of my targets are deeper than that. I'm also beginning to be able to tell more about a target from the sounds, numbers, and other subtleties that I cannot discern with just the pinpointer.
I didn't think so either until I went to my first MD event with a seeded surface hunt. 🤣
Even then, hunting with just a pinpointer wasn't necessarily advantageous; using the detector in pinpoint mode was faster.
I think I may still have some unresolved feelings about that whole situation.
So my thing about it is just this:
If I'm out on a designated relic hunting adventure then yes, I have my big coil along and will use it in the typical way. The reality of my situation is that I'm often too busy to spend much time doing metal detecting specifically. My girlfriend and I go out adventuring every week, often we're in remote or hard to reach locations. We engage in foraging, scavenging, wildlife photography, relic hunting and other exploratory pursuits. We're equipped to do a number of different activities in the field and it's absolutely a game of opportunity, right place at the right time. Those opportunities do include limited metal detecting. I pack a lot of gear in, all the stuff we need and use, I have no room in my kit for a full sized detector when we're out there. I need quick and dirty gear that fits on my already bristling utility belt and the pinpointer fits there beautifully, I can just have it out fast if we come upon a promising looking spot. Actually a large percentage of the metal objects I find are only with the pinpointer, I've turned up some reasonably old relics with it for sure. Many places we go have seen little, if any modern development which often means any relics are often closer to the surface, if not right on the surface making a pinpointer a more viable searching tool. The simple reality is that I don't do sufficient metal hunting in particular to warrant bringing in big kit every time, I go equipped for general recovery and recon and a large percentage of materials recovered aren't even metal, they're organic in origin. There's more I could say regarding why I go about it in that way but it boils down to logistics honestly. If I have time and space to do metal detecting as the primary activity then i pack in the big coil otherwise it's pretty eclectic, no telling what may end up in the recovery bag, medicinal or edible herbs, cool rocks, dead insects in good condition, little trinkets from some past, baby red squirrels, snakes in need of rescue, old bottles, fossils etc. We break for anything cool we happen across and the fact of the matter is that metal objects only make up a small percentage of items collected. Folks on this site see only a sliver of what I recover out there, for a start I'm getting very selective about the types of metal objects I'll even bother with, for a second so much of it isn't what I think most folks here would deem "treasure" even if it is of value. I won't bother posting images of the big bushels of wood betony, mullein, verbena, wild strawberry, yarrow, the pinecones (for the aforementioned red squirrel), Osha, rose hips, cleavers, wood sorrel, gentian, wild chives, parsley and etc. etc. they aren't relics exactly.
99% of the time I don't have time to grid large areas, I choose hot looking spots to detect and if it yields something cool, awesome, if not, then oh well, next time. We're not leaving this place empty handed regardless of what was found and how. Metal detecting is just one tool for the field, not necessarily the end game at least when we're out in the sticks tromping around. I get out to metal detect in more committed ways in the cooler months and for that I'll use my regular detector, pinpointer of course lol and even a magnetometer if I come across a possible BIG target. You might say it's a meta-hobby for me in most settings lol. It might seem unlikely but overall I'm kind of impressed with the things I've found only pinpointing, depth can matter but location seems to be a bigger factor in terms of what I find or that's been the experience thus far.
All that being said I'm ready for fall, I'll get out on a few dedicated metal hunts then and we'll see if I can't rustle up a neat artifact or two!
