Bought a $300 ground penetrating radar for backyard digs, total waste

Grabbed a cheap consumer GPR unit off Amazon to scan my yard for potential artifacts before digging. Thing flagged every buried rock and old pipe as a target, gave me zero useful data on actual finds. Anyone here had better luck with budget gear or is professional rental the only way to go?

2 comments

2 Comments

jamiew531mo ago

Yeah, those cheap GPR units are basically metal detectors with extra steps (and way more false positives). I made the same mistake once, ended up digging up a bunch of old plumbing I didn't even know was there. Save your money and just rent a professional unit for a weekend, or better yet, find a local archaeology club that might let you borrow their gear for free.

sam_thomas1mo ago

Yeah, @jamiew53, did you ever try using it on bone dry soil? I found those cheap GPR units are useless after rain. Ground moisture messes with the signal something awful. What finally worked for me was scanning the yard early in the morning when the ground was still cold and dry. Had to take it slow, like really slow, making passes in a grid pattern. Still got a ton of rocks flagged, but at least I could spot real targets by the shape of the blips. Training mode on the rental units is night and day different.