Mastering Water and Beach Metal Detecting — An Interview with Küsten Sondler

Known throughout the European metal-detecting community as Küsten Sondler, and widely recognized as the successful ring finder behind Ringretter, he is a highly experienced beach, water, and field metal detectorist with years of hands-on success in challenging environments. 

Specializing in beach, water, and inland field detecting, Küsten has spent years refining his skill set across dramatically different environments—from shifting coastal sands to cold, silty lakes and historically rich farmland.

On land, he relies on proven, high-performance detectors including the XP Deus I, XP Deus II, and the Nokta Legend. In the water, his trusted tools include the Minelab Excalibur II and the Minelab Equinox 800, machines known for their stability, depth, and ability to handle heavy mineralization. A longtime Motley Prostaffer, he pairs multifrequency detectors with durable, professional-grade digging tools, earning a strong reputation as a reliable and highly successful lost-item recovery specialist—returning everything from valuable gold rings to deeply sentimental family heirlooms.

In this interview, Küsten Sondler shares his experience, techniques, and insights across beach and water detecting.

Küsten Sondler, Beach and Water Detecting Tips

How has your approach to beach reading evolved over the years? Were there any game-changing moments or insights that improved your success rate?

Over the years, my approach to beachcombing has become far more refined. In the beginning, I searched rather haphazardly; today, I work with a much more strategic mindset. A major turning point for me was realizing that a beach is never the same from one day to the next—wind, waves, tides, currents, and human activity constantly reshape where targets accumulate.

I used to simply head out and see what I might find. Now, every search is intentional. For years, I’ve documented each hunt in detail, including weather conditions, water levels, sand movement, equipment used, and finds recovered. This long-term tracking has allowed me to identify patterns I never would have noticed otherwise. Over time, it taught me how to truly “read” the beach and the water, which has made a significant difference in both the quality and consistency of my finds.

Dry sand is often saturated with light metals such as bottle caps, pull tabs, and melted aluminum. Beyond simply knowing your detector well, what techniques, settings, or visual/audio cues do you rely on to minimize digging these targets and increase your odds of finding jewelry in dry sand?

In addition to my experience with my own detector, I use several techniques to minimize junk targets:

• Pay attention to audio signatures: Aluminum often sounds “smeared,” unstable, or has slight dropouts at the edges. Gold, on the other hand, usually sounds clean, round, and consistent.
• Observe target ID behavior: Bottle caps tend to “vibrate” or move erratically. Gold often remains more stable or only shifts within a small range.
• Lift the coil: If I lift the coil and the signal remains the same strength, it is often a large, near-surface aluminum chip or cap.
• Angle test: Bottle caps lose clarity at certain angles. Gold remains clear from almost every angle.
• Slightly increase iron suppression/discrimination: A small increase in discrimination filters out many bottle caps without taking too much risk.
• Coil control and sweep speed: Slower sweeping helps better identify unstable targets.

I now have quite good hearing and can pick out many signals, but I still like to use the bottle cap filter and run the programs from Crazydetectors on XP.

Beyond towel lines and high-traffic zones—such as volleyball courts, picnic areas, playgrounds, paths, and beach entrances—what technical strategies or detector adjustments do you use to increase gold jewelry recovery when hunting in dry sand?

To find gold more efficiently in dry sand, I primarily use:

• Grid and zigzag patterns to systematically cover areas.
• Analyzing human movement patterns (e.g., preferred routes when the sun is high, shaded areas, and windbreaks).
• Time of day and beach experience:
• Early mornings after windy nights often bring fresh finds to the surface.
• Slightly reducing sensitivity in extremely littered areas to filter out useless micro-targets.
• Switching between small and large coils:
  – Large coil: quick coverage, deeper finds
  – Small coil: extremely littered zones
• Tracking seasonal patterns:
• Which beach sections are being used most frequently?
• Observing sand layers:
• Firm, darker sand often contains older finds; loose, lighter sand usually contains only fresh losses.

Small Sample of Küsten Sondler Metal Detecting Finds

Many detectorists underestimate lake hunting. What are the biggest differences you’ve noticed between lake beaches and ocean beaches when it comes to target distribution and signal behavior?

The density of finds is generally much higher in lakes than at ocean beaches. If you discover a lake that hasn’t been searched in a long time—or perhaps ever—you can find enormous quantities of jewelry and coins. Lakes are enclosed bodies of water, so losses often remain in relatively small areas for years, unlike the sea, where currents, surf, and tides disperse or bury many finds.

Signal behavior is also often more stable in lakes because there is no salinity, no strong mineralization, and no wave dynamics to affect the detector’s signal. This makes targets appear clearer, cleaner, and easier to identify.

If I had to choose, I would always prefer lakes to the sea, simply because of the consistently high find rate and the more reliable signals.

Freshwater environments often create deep layers of soft silt. How do you adjust your detector settings and recovery techniques to maintain efficiency while avoiding excessive digging?

In freshwater, I adjust both my settings and my retrieval methods to avoid getting lost in deep mud. When searching underwater, I prefer to use my Motley Scoop, as it penetrates soft sediment very well, allowing me to retrieve targets quickly and cleanly without creating large holes.

If I dive deeper or the underwater visibility is good enough, I also use the fanning technique: I fan away the sand and mud with my hands to expose the target instead of laboriously digging it out. This allows me to be significantly more efficient and avoids unnecessary, energy-draining digging.

Underwater detecting often means working through layers of fishing lead, bottle caps, and iron debris. What are your most effective techniques for separating valuable targets from heavy concentrations of trash?

In the water, I’ve made it a habit to retrieve every signal I find. A ring can sound almost identical to a piece of fishing weight underwater—the ability to distinguish between different signals is simply limited. At the same time, there is often significantly less debris compared to land, which makes consistently digging every signal practical.

This strategy ensures that I don’t miss any valuable targets, even if they are buried among fishing weights or other underwater junk.

In cold water, visibility is often poor. What tools, safety practices, or search patterns do you rely on to stay oriented and maintain grid accuracy while submerged?

Underwater, I always use a compass and a taut guideline to maintain my orientation. The compass helps me stay precisely on track within my search grid, even when visibility is almost zero. The guideline serves as both a safety and orientation aid, ensuring that I can always find my starting point or my partner and stay on course.

Do you find certain types of jewelry—such as thin chains, small gold, or stainless steel—behave differently in freshwater compared to saltwater, and how do you compensate for these difference?

No, so far I haven’t noticed any significant difference in the signal behavior of specific types of jewelry between fresh and salt water. If anything, the difference is minimal due to salinity. However, what I have noticed is that a crust often forms on very old jewelry in salt water, which hardly develops in fresh water. As a result, extremely old finds in the sea can sometimes sound somewhat muffled or irregular. Apart from that, most jewelry reacts largely the same way for me in both environments.

However, there are significant differences in the settings because salt water interferes with many detectors; therefore, it is very important to adjust the detector properly to the specific body of water.

Small Sample of Küsten Sondler Metal Detecting Finds

Closing Thoughts

Küsten Sondler’s passion for metal detecting is matched only by his commitment to learning, refining, and sharing his craft. Whether recovering a lost ring in crashing surf, navigating the silty depths of a cold freshwater lake, or studying old maps before a field hunt, his approach is shaped by skill, perseverance, and a deep respect for the environments he searches.

His insights remind us that metal detecting is far more than swinging a coil—it is the combination of research, technique, intuition, and responsibility. For both new and experienced detectorists, Küsten’s experience across beaches, lakes, and inland fields demonstrates what thoughtful, disciplined detecting can accomplish. As the hobby continues to evolve, voices like his help ensure it grows in both professionalism and purpose. 

If you’d like to follow his discoveries and adventures, you can find him on Instagram @kuestensondler