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Pinpointer buying guide

Updated: October 2026

You are looking at a row of orange wands on amazon.co.uk, most of them between about £13 and £43, and every bullet seems to promise 360 degree detection. That phrase only means the sides of the tip can respond. It does not mean the probe will search a pasture the way your detector coil does. This pinpointer buying guide puts the decisions in an order: the water claim you can point at, the job in the hole, the alert and the holster, then the lines that disagree, and only then the price. The [pinpointer comparison](/hub/measuring-equipment/pinpointer) shows the same eleven listings with the conflicts left visible. What follows is the order, not a winner.

You are looking at a row of orange wands on amazon.co.uk, most of them between about £13 and £43, and every bullet seems to promise 360 degree detection. That phrase only means the sides of the tip can respond.

Our top picks

DR.ÖTEK DR.ÖTEK MT6 pinpointer

Best overall

DR.ÖTEK DR.ÖTEK MT6 pinpointer
9.4/10about £42.59
View offer
Minelab Minelab PRO-FIND 40

Alternative

Minelab Minelab PRO-FIND 40
6.5/10about £139
View offer
SUNPOW SUNPOW OT-MD12 pinpointer

Preis-Tipp

SUNPOW SUNPOW OT-MD12 pinpointer
8.7/10about £22.77
View offer
On this page
  1. 1.What the probe is for
  2. 2.Water, as the file states it
  3. 3.Alert, holster, and a table that fights the bullets
  4. 4.What this guide will not choose

What the probe is for

A handheld pinpointer is for the plug and the hole after the detector has marked a patch. Pinpoint mode centres the dig under the coil. It still does not work inside a hole of about 15 cm while the coil sits on the grass. Stated detection on the cheaper listings sits around 5 cm to 8 cm. The EXTSUD at £13.07 prints 5 cm. The DR.ÖTEK MT6 at £42.59 prints 8 cm. The hazlewolke bullet's 28 cm on larger items does not turn a 250 g probe into a search coil. The hole steps are on the how to use a pinpointer page.

Water, as the file states it

Start with the water line you can quote. Under the usual buyer reading of IEC 60529, IP66 is dust-tight protection against powerful jets, not a dive. IP68 is continuous immersion on the depth and time the manufacturer states. The digit alone is not three metres. A tip-only bullet overrides a waterproof headline. Flintronic, GLOBAL TECH and the EXTSUD are IP66, and flintronic keeps the battery end dry. BBjinronjy prints IP65 and a PVC case, and a UK review says not to get it wet. Quote a depth only where it is printed: 10 ft / 3 m on CKG, 20 feet on hazlewolke with an empty IP field, and 3 m on the Minelab bullet beside an IP65 table. SUNPOW and RoserRose leave the IP field empty. The full sort is on the waterproof or splashproof pinpointer page.
DR.ÖTEK DR.ÖTEK MT6 pinpointer

Testsieger

DR.ÖTEK DR.ÖTEK MT6 pinpointer
9.4/10about £42.59
View offer

Alert, holster, and a table that fights the bullets

You then want sound, vibration, or both, stronger as the tip closes in, and a holster, because the probe is put down in grass. Flintronic has no sensitivity adjustment. Only the Minelab PRO-FIND 40 bullets name ferrous tone ID and DIF, which is why that row is £139 and why its amazon table has to sit beside Minelab's own page. The OT-MD12 names a belt loop and a wire, not a holster. Flintronic prints 1 g, GLOBAL TECH prints an extended length of 113 cm, and RoserRose is 4.5 from two ratings with a table size of 5 × 3 × 5 cm. That is not 4.4 from 6,568 on the OT-MD12, or 4.5 from 3,539 on the MT6.

What this guide will not choose

This page will not name a winner. Quote the water claim, decide you are buying a hole tool, check the alert and the holster, then set aside any listing whose table fights its bullets. If two probes survive, the larger rating count is the stronger shop signal. A £13 probe can be enough to learn scanning the plug, if the bullet does not pretend the battery end can swim. A Garrett Pro-Pointer AT is not one of these rows. Peter F. compared the listings on 16 October 2026. Depth and seals were not lab-tested. A qualifying purchase can earn a commission at no extra cost to you.

Common questions

What should I decide before I look at the star line?
Decide the water claim you can point at in that listing, then whether you are buying a probe for the hole rather than a second detector. After that, check that sound or vibration strengthens as the tip closes in, and that a holster or a belt loop is actually named. Stars come after those checks. A 4.5 from two ratings and a 4.5 from 3,539 ratings are not the same kind of evidence, even when the number on the left matches.
Does pinpoint mode on the detector replace a probe?
No. Pinpoint mode centres the dig under the coil. The handheld probe searches the plug you have cut and the sides of the hole, which the coil cannot enter. UK guides treat those as two steps. If you only use the button, you still widen the hole while you hunt the target in the spoil with your fingers.
Is IP68 a depth in metres?
Not by itself. IP68 means the maker claims dust-tight continuous immersion on conditions they state. If the listing never prints a depth, you do not have three metres. In this set, quote 10 ft / 3 m only for the CKG bullet, 20 feet only for the hazlewolke bullet, and 3 m for the Minelab bullet while you also read the IP65 table line.
Why do two lines on one listing disagree?
Because the bullet and the specification table are often written as separate blocks, and this folder keeps both. A 1 g weight, a 113 cm length, a battery that is both required and not required, or IP65 beside a 3 m sentence should stop the purchase until you know which line you are buying. Do not average them into a tidier product.
Is a £13 probe enough to try the hobby?
It can be, for a dry or rainy hole, if you read the limit. The EXTSUD at £13.07 is IP66 and the 9 V is not in the box. The flintronic at £14.99 tells you the speaker and battery end are not waterproof. Neither is a substitute for a probe whose own field says IP68. Joan Allen's buying note is wary of a very cheap wand that promises every feature at once.
Which row actually names iron sorting?
Only the Minelab PRO-FIND 40 bullets name ferrous tone ID. The other listings talk about detecting metal, sometimes including gold, which is a response to metal and not a tone that separates iron. If iron sorting is the reason you are paying more, that is the row to read, together with the conflicts in its amazon table. Reading that row is not a reason to ignore those conflicts.

Related pages

Best pinpointer

Pinpointer

How to use a pinpointer on the plug, then the hole

Metal detecting rules UK: land, monuments, treasure

Waterproof pinpointer: a stated depth, not a digit

Sources

Public UK sources on treasure, scheduled monuments, the 2017 Code of Practice, Minelab's PRO-FIND 40 page and ingress protection, plus the amazon.co.uk listings for the eleven ASINs. Listings checked 16 October 2026. Prices move.

  1. Treasure Act 1996, section 8 (retrieved 16 October 2026)
  2. GOV.UK, Report treasure (retrieved 16 October 2026)
  3. Portable Antiquities Scheme, treasure summary (retrieved 16 October 2026)
  4. Code of Practice for Responsible Metal Detecting in England and Wales (2017) (retrieved 16 October 2026)
  5. Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Areas Act 1979, section 42 (retrieved 16 October 2026)
  6. Historic England, section 42 consent (retrieved 16 October 2026)
  7. Minelab UK, PRO-FIND 40 tech specs (retrieved 16 October 2026)
  8. Nemko, ingress protection and IEC 60529 (retrieved 16 October 2026)