Nokta Score Metal Detector with Bluetooth Headphones and Digger

The Nokta Score with Nokta Bluetooth aptX Low Latency headphones and a Nokta Premium Digger suits someone who wants waterproof simultaneous multi-frequency detecting for parks, yards and beaches without learning a complicated detector. The headphones bring quiet signals closer when other people are nearby, and the digger rides on your belt in its holster. The Score runs Multi or a single 15 kHz frequency, is waterproof to 5 meters (16 feet) and keeps the controls simple: pick Park, Field or Beach mode, set sensitivity and learn how targets respond.

What is in the box with this Nokta Score bundle

Nokta's standard contents for the Score

• Nokta Score system box (control box and shafts)
• SC30 waterproof DD search coil, 30 x 23 cm (12 x 9 inches), with coil cover
• USB charging and data cable

This Nokta Score bundle also includes

• Nokta Bluetooth aptX Low Latency headphones (Nokta part 17000257)
• Nokta Premium Digger with belt holster (Nokta part 17000061)

What the add-ons in this Nokta Score bundle do

Nokta Bluetooth aptX Low Latency headphones: the Score has Bluetooth built in and shows a separate icon when it connects with aptX Low Latency. Headphones let you hear target responses without the external speaker when other people are nearby and make quieter signals easier to recognize, and low latency reduces the delay between the detector's response and what you hear. Nokta's headphone manual gives them Bluetooth 5.0 and a range of 10 meters (33 feet), and Nokta's detector manual says they shut down after 14 minutes without sound to save power. You can also set the detector to play through the speaker and the headphones together. Nokta's headphone manual says they are not waterproof, so leave them on shore when the detector goes under. See our metal detector headphones.

Nokta Premium Digger with belt holster: the digger rides on your belt, at hand for every signal you decide to recover. While you learn the Score, we encourage digging a variety of repeatable targets, and a digger on the belt makes that practical. See our shovels, diggers and picks.

About the Nokta Score

The Nokta Score is the entry model of Nokta's Score Series, and what we like most about it is that it brings simultaneous multi-frequency (SMF) without asking you to learn a complicated detector first. Many people buying their first serious detector want coins, jewelry and the occasional relic, not a first season spent adjusting recovery speed, ground balance and audio. With the Score you pick Park, Field or Beach mode, adjust sensitivity when you need to, and concentrate on learning how targets respond. Nokta did not hold SMF back for the higher models: the Score, the Double Score and the Triple Score Pro Pack all share it.

SMF processes several frequencies at the same time. An older park can hold modern coins, older silver coins, small gold jewelry, aluminum trash and rusty iron, and SMF gives you a versatile starting point for all of them, whether you search a neighborhood park one weekend or a freshwater beach the next. Nokta's manual recommends Multi in all modes; Park and Field mode also offer a single 15 kHz frequency, and Beach mode runs Multi only. SMF does not identify every target correctly or guarantee more depth; its advantage is versatility across targets and ground conditions.

Nokta Score search modes and key settings

• Three search modes: Park for modern parks and yards, Field for open ground and historical sites, Beach for wet and dry sand. Park and Field mode have three Multi settings: M1 favors high conductors, M2 low conductors and M3 wet or conductive soil. We would begin with the factory settings and learn the detector before experimenting.
• Factory-set iron filter and audio: Nokta fixes the iron filter at 8 in Park and Beach mode and 3 in Field mode, and Park mode has bottle cap rejection built in at level 6 (Multi only). Park uses three tones; Field and Beach use two.
• Target ID (1 to 60) and four discrimination patterns: ferrous targets read 1 to 10, non-ferrous 11 to 60, and the patterns are All Metal, Ground Off, Ferrous Off and Custom. The numbers are clues, not guarantees: a gold ring can read like aluminum trash and a deep coin can give an inconsistent number. We recommend fairly open discrimination and digging a variety of repeatable targets while you learn.
• Sensitivity (1 to 5) and noise cancel: near power lines, more sensitivity can make random signals worse. Run the automatic noise cancel, which picks the quietest of 13 channels, and lower sensitivity when needed; a stable detector makes genuine targets easier to recognize.
• Other controls: volume, vibration (0 to 5), backlight, ground suppressor (0 to 8), LED flashlight, built-in Bluetooth with aptX Low Latency, and a non-motion pinpoint with a 5-level depth indicator.

Beach and water hunting with the Nokta Score

Nokta rates the Score IP68, dust tight and fully submersible to 5 meters (16 feet), covering the control box and the SC30 waterproof coil. On a freshwater beach you can work from the dry sand into shallow water for coins and jewelry; on an ocean beach, where the sand turns wet and conductive toward the surf, SMF and Beach mode are made for the conditions, and Beach mode warns you when it senses black sand. Saltwater and black sand can still affect stability. The detector's rating does not carry over to accessories: Nokta's Bluetooth headphones are not waterproof, and Nokta makes waterproof headphones for underwater audio. Keep the shared headphone and charging socket closed with its screw cap, and never take the detector underwater on a power bank. See our beach metal detectors.

Where the Nokta Score works well, and where it does not

Parks, yards, freshwater and saltwater beaches and general coin and jewelry hunting are home ground. The Score is intentionally less adjustable: someone who detects a few weekends a month may never need recovery speed or ground balance settings. Someone who regularly searches mineralized ground or iron-heavy old homesites will appreciate the Nokta Double Score, which adds adjustable recovery speed, automatic, manual and tracking ground balance, iron filter, notch and two user profiles; we would step up when those settings meet a real need. The Score's modes are Park, Field and Beach, with no gold prospecting mode.

Nokta Score battery, weight and build

Nokta lists the Score at 1.2 kg (2.6 lb) including the search coil, with a carbon fiber lower shaft adjusting from 63 to 132 cm (25 to 52 inches). The built-in 3250 mAh lithium polymer battery lasts 5 to 12 hours depending on frequency, audio, backlight and flashlight, charges in about 3 to 4 hours from a 5 V 2 A USB adapter, and is replaced only by Nokta or an authorized service center. The SC30 12 x 9 inch coil covers large parks and fields well; around an old farmhouse full of nails, Nokta's smaller SC24 (9.5 x 6 inches) also fits the Score and isolates closely spaced targets.

One mistake to avoid with the Nokta Score

The mistake we caution beginners against is expecting the detector to identify every object before digging. A repeatable, promising signal turns out to be an aluminum pull tab; that is normal, because different metals produce overlapping responses. Keep your coil movement consistent, check questionable signals from more than one direction and recover targets responsibly, and you will understand the Score better with every hunt.

Nokta Score specifications

Nokta covers the Score with a 3-year warranty.

For our full Nokta Score guide, settings advice and comparisons, see the Nokta Score collection.