Sweep and Sift started the way most good obsessions do: with a cheap detector, a muddy field, and an afternoon that was supposed to last an hour but turned into six. That was back in 2017, when our founder, a former landscaping contractor named Tom Halvorsen, picked up a secondhand Garrett Ace 250 at an estate sale because it looked interesting sitting next to a box of garden tools. He found a 1943 steel penny two hours in and was completely hooked. Within a year he'd gone through four more machines, joined two local detecting clubs in Ohio, and started keeping a notebook ranking every detector, coil, and digging tool he tried by how well it actually performed in the dirt — not how it looked on a shelf.
That notebook became Sweep and Sift in 2019. What began as personal notes shared with a few club members turned into a full site because, frankly, the information out there was thin. Most detector reviews online were either rewritten spec sheets with no hands-on testing behind them, or forum threads so old the products weren't even sold anymore. Tom wanted a place where someone brand new to the hobby, or someone upgrading their third machine, could get a straight answer: is this thing worth the money, and will it actually find what you're looking for.
Who's Behind the Site
Sweep and Sift is run by a small team of people who detect regularly, not occasionally. Tom still leads product testing and writes most of the in-depth reviews. He's joined by Priya Chandran, a geologist by training who handles our coverage of ground mineralization, soil conditions, and how different detectors handle tricky terrain like iron-heavy fields or saltwater beaches. Rounding out the team is Dave Kowalski, a longtime relic hunter and Civil War history buff who focuses on accessories, digging tools, and pinpointers — the unglamorous gear that often makes or breaks a day in the field. Between the three of us, we've got close to forty years of combined time swinging coils across farm fields, beaches, parks, and old homesteads.
None of us came from a media or publishing background. We came from the hobby itself, which is exactly why this site exists in the first place.
How We Review Products
Every detector, coil, or accessory we recommend has been physically tested by someone on our team. We don't accept products with strings attached that would affect what we write, and we don't publish reviews based solely on manufacturer specs or press materials.
- Field testing: We take each detector out to at least three different environments — typically a mineralized field, a trashy park or yard, and either a beach or riverbank — to see how it actually performs where real finds happen.
- Target testing: We bury a control set of test targets at varying depths and compositions (coins, small gold items, iron, foil) to compare detection depth and discrimination accuracy against other machines we've tested.
- Real-world use over time: Where possible, we keep machines in rotation for weeks or months rather than doing a single test session, because battery life, build quality, and comfort during long hunts only show up with extended use.
- Price-to-performance analysis: We compare each product against others in its price bracket, not just against flagship machines, because a $300 detector shouldn't be judged by $1,500 standards.
- Community input: We read through user forums, club discussions, and reader feedback to flag recurring issues — like coil cable durability or customer service complaints — that might not show up in a few weeks of testing.
When we can't test a product firsthand due to availability or cost, we say so clearly in the review, and we rely on verified owner reports and manufacturer documentation rather than presenting it as a hands-on test.
What Makes Us Trustworthy
We make money through affiliate links on some of our recommendations, meaning we may earn a small commission if you buy through a link on our site. This never costs you anything extra, and it never influences our rankings — a product that performs poorly in our testing gets reported that way regardless of any partnership opportunity. We've turned down affiliate relationships with brands whose products didn't hold up to testing, and we'll continue to do that.
We also update our reviews when things change. If a manufacturer releases a firmware update, a new model replaces an old one, or we find a reliability issue after longer-term use, we go back and revise the original content rather than letting outdated information sit on the site indefinitely.
Our goal is simple: treat every reader the way we'd want to be treated if we were standing in a store trying to decide which machine to spend our own money on. That means honest pros and cons, clear explanations of who a product is actually right for, and no padding a review with fluff just to make a page longer.
Get in Touch
If you've used a product we've reviewed and had a different experience, found an error in something we wrote, or just want to ask which detector makes sense for your local soil conditions, reach out. We read every message and often incorporate reader experiences into future updates. Sweep and Sift was built by people who detect because they love it, and we're always glad to talk shop with someone who feels the same way.