Is Metal Detecting A Good Hobby?

Asking the question "Is metal detecting a good hobby?" from a metal detector hobbyist, expect the answer to be "Yes". 

It is really a very enjoyable outdoor activity but there's actually more than that. Unlike any other outdoor activities, metal detecting has a lot more to offer. 

It is actually very exciting, fun and can be very rewarding.

If you are the type of person who loves taking challenges then you will surely find metal detecting as an interesting hobby. 

These challenges involves physical, mental and emotional aspects.

It obviously involve physical because it is an out-door activity where you need to walk around while holding your equipment but the hardest part is digging a lot of various places pin-pointed by your MD (metal detector). 

Your mental ability is also required because you will need to do some investigative researches particularly about the places where you are going to metal detect. And for the emotional aspect, this hobby actually requires a lot of patience. 

You may be surprised to know that individuals with less patience do often easily give-up on their first day of try.

Despite the challenges that are involve, metal detecting always comes with good rewards. 

This means that either you found something valuable or just pieces of junks, you still reap many other benefits which we are about to discuss below:

1. Gain Profit

If you want to consider metal detecting as your hobby, you should not view it as a stable source of money. 

Since it is just a hobby, any valuable items that you find must be treated as a “reward” which means, you don’t get it every time you go out there in the field.

Although, some experienced individuals go extreme by treating this activity as a serious form of business or their day job. 

They are called “Professional Metal Hunters” where they choose metal detecting as their preferred profession over their regular jobs. 

For some reason, they are earning more money as compared to their regular job while others choose this kind of job because they simply enjoy it.

A professional metal hunter can actually find dozens of precious old coins, rings and relics that can be sold for a good price. 

But for amateurs, luck plays an important role to find their first single piece of precious item.

2. Good for your Health

As mentioned above, you will still reap something in return regardless whether you find something or nothing and this is “good health”. 

Since metal detecting is an outdoor activity, you get to visit various places allowing you to breathe fresh air. 

Aside from this, there will be a lot of walking around and diggings involve which is a great form of exercise for your body.

3. Stress Reliever

Many individuals claims that they are able to relieve their stress through their hobbies. It makes them feel more relax allowing them to forget the busy world of their work. 

When it comes to metal detecting, it actually offer such kind of treatment. 

Majority of individuals who are involved on this hobby claims that they tend to relieve their stress due to their full interest and engagement diverted so much on this activity.

According to most experts, stress can be easily relieved by performing simple physical exercises. 

Metal detecting is actually a physical outdoor activity involving constant body movements especially walking around the field, bending and crouching. 

Aside from the physical aspect, you also get to breathe fresh air from the natural environment which will make you feel so energized.

4. Good Way to Spend your Time with your Family or Friends

If you have some kids then you might want to try and introduce metal detecting activity to them on their coming summer vacation. 

You have to know that children are always full of curiosity which makes this type of activity perfectly suitable for them. Surprisingly, even adults are affected by the curiosity involve. 

This curiosity often occur when your equipment found something buried under the ground. Everybody wants to know what could be it and hoping to be a piece of precious item such as a diamond ring or gold coin. 

This is the most engaging part of the activity that will surely keep the whole family to participate.

If you are one lonely guy who simply wants to make some friends then you should also give metal detecting hobby a try. 

How? Again, the answer is due to “curiosity”. 

As you go around various places to metal detect especially on the parks and beaches with people around. 

You should expect that there will be some individuals who will approach you and ask about what exactly you are doing. 

In most cases, this is often the beginning of a friendship. Others who are already long involved on this activity who notices you around might even ask you to join their club or organization.

5. Gain Knowledge about your Local History

Another interesting aspect about metal detecting hobby is that you get to learn about your local history. This is actually one of the basic and most important step to achieve successful findings. 

Why? 

It’s because knowing about your local history gives you some hints or clues about the best places to metal detect.

Aside from historical places, you also get to learn historical relics of the past. Let’s say, you have uncovered a military badge. 

At first, it is most likely that you don’t know anything about it. Thus, you will end up conducting your own research. Thanks to the internet, searching for such kind of information is now an easy task.

6. Coin or Artifact Collector

As you tend to recover old coins, relics or artifacts, you may end up being enthusiastic about keeping them as your collections. 

Majority of individuals with this hobby often chooses the path of being a collector rather than to make profit out from their precious findings.

Wrong Notions about Metal Detecting Hobby

Unfortunately, majority of individuals doesn’t know anything about metal detecting activity. 

Others don’t want to give it a try because of the false notions spread by people who really knows nothing about this type of hobby.

Here are the following wrong notions about how outsiders view this type of activity:

- Metal detecting hobby are only for old or retired individuals who has nothing to do with their time.

Correction: This outdoor hobby has no age limitation. You don’t really have to wait until you reach the age of 70 before you can have your very first MD. In fact, most organizations are composed of many young members. 

Even children do love to play with MDs. The only reason why older people particularly retirees are more well suited for this activity is that, they have more free time on their interests.

- They only care about making profit from their findings

Corrections: Some individuals who follow this path often end up giving up because their true interest is all about making money. Yes, you can make money from this activity which can be very rewarding. However, the interest must come from doing the activity itself and not from the money. 

Some hobbyist don’t actually metal detect just to make money. It is more about gathering their set of collections.

- Spend thousands of dollars on their machines

Corrections: It is true that most advertised MD products costs around thousands of dollars. But, you have to know that cheap metal detectors also do exists and they are also quite effective as the expensive once.

- There are only few and secretive hunting grounds

Corrections: Perhaps, majority of outsiders views metal detecting as a form of treasure hunting. The main difference between the two is that, treasure hunters aims to recover large pile of treasures hidden in secretive places. On the other hand, metal detectorists can perform their activity at any place they want. There is no secret locations because they are targeting lost items that were accidentally dropped by people in the past.

- It is so completely boring that you are much better off watching a paint goes dry

Corrections: Some people will say that it’s a boring type of activity due to their lack of interest. But coming from individuals with interest, they will say it is quite interesting, engaging and fun. Why?

Here we are again with the topic about “Curiosity”. This is actually a human characteristic that can be quite hard to resist. This means, it is our human nature to uncover secrets. So when it comes to metal detecting particularly on a situation where you have detected something under the ground, your curiosity comes into play. You consciousness will suggest, “It could be a piece of gold or diamond”. As a result, this will cause your interest to dig it just to satisfy your curiosity.

- You need to be a techy individual to know how to operate a MD

Corrections: Back in the old days, technical knowledge may be necessary to operate a MD but today, MDs are now designed to be “user-friendly”. In fact, you don’t even need to read the manual. All what you just need to do is to figure out how to turn the Power ON and OFF. Once turned ON, you can now start using the equipment. It’s all that simple as opposed to what outsiders claim as you must be a rocket scientist to be able to operate a MD.

Moreover, the best way to for you to know if you have the interest in metal detecting is to try it for yourself. 

And as a tip, you should start by using reliable but cheap metal detectors. If there are Metal Detecting Hobby Shops near your place the better. It’s because you can try to borrow their equipment for a certain amount of fee they charge.