How to Find The New Metal Detector: GTA Online

Image: Rockstar North, Rockstar Games via HGG / Koby Gibson Ross

Human Made

My name is Gibson Vasela. I am a freelance writer who has been playing video games for almost 20 years now. I play all kinds of games, but I especially love immersive sims and RPGs.

Reviewed by Ashley Johnson

GTA Online is a game all about making money, usually in illegal ways. One not-so-illegal new method for acquiring cash is with the brand new metal detector added to the game. This device allows you to search marked areas on Cayo Perico to find and dig up a sum of money.

But just how do you obtain this brand new piece of equipment? How do you put it to use? Can you only use it on the island of Cayo Perico? We will be answering all of these questions and more in today’s guide on how to obtain and use the new metal detector in GTA Online.

The New Metal Detector: What You Need to Know

With that out of the way, let’s get right into the main guide!

How to Find the Metal Detector in GTA Online

As you are traveling throughout Los Santos, you have a chance of stumbling upon a random encounter. When you see a small blue dot appear on your mini-map, you’ll know you’ve found one. These random encounters can range from busting someone out of a police jail to smuggling a car full of drugs to a drop-off point. But only one type of random encounter can reward you with the new metal detector.

If you see a blue dot, approach it and you have a chance of stumbling onto a skeleton laying on the ground next to a metal detector (see the image above).

All you need to do is approach it and the new device will unlock for use! For a full list of all possible locations where the metal detector can spawn, please see this guide made by YouTuber Gtamen linked here and skip to the timestamp 0:19.

How do you use it?

The metal detector cannot be equipped outside of designated areas to use it. And the only place where you can find these designated areas is on the island of Cayo Perico. To go there, simply start up a heist with Pavel and launch a gathering intel mission. Once you acquire the plane to fly to Cayo Perico and land there, you’ll want to look at the map of the island.

On your map, you should see several locations marked with a question mark symbol surrounded by a circle. The whole icon will be the color white.

Mark this location on your GPS and head over there. Once there, simply press the right mouse button (left trigger for console users) and you’ll whip out the metal detector. Now you’ll need to use it to look for a small pile of dirt laying within the designated area.

The metal detector will beep faster and faster as you approach something worth digging up. It will also display something on the screen to indicate how close you are.

You don’t need to have the metal detector equipped in order to hear the beeping sound, so you can just run around until you find it. Once you discover the small pile of dirt, press the interact button shown on screen to dig up your prize!

Is finding the metal detector worth it?

The short answer: No.

The long answer: Hell no.

From my play testing, every time you dig up an item, it always rewards you with $15,000. There are only ever two designated areas for you to search on the island. That means you can only make $30,000 in total. And these locations only spawn once a day. Meaning you’ll have to wait until tomorrow to start digging again after you’ve found both stashes.

While it doesn’t take too long to find the buried treasure, it really isn’t worth the time when you only get $15,000. You can only use this detector on Cayo Perico, and the way to get there is by launching a scout mission for the Cayo Perico heist.

At that point, you might as well just do the heist itself. I believe this metal detector was designed with that in mind, however.

So if you are doing a Cayo Perico heist and are decently fast at finding the buried loot, it doesn’t hurt to stop by while scouting out the primary target for a little extra income on the side. Aside from doing that, there is absolutely no reason to go out of your way to find all the buried stashes each and every day you log on.

Join the High Ground

We hope you found this article on how to obtain and use the new metal detector in GTA Online informative. What do you think of this new device? Let us know down below, and make sure to subscribe to our weekly newsletter for more regular guides and other content for GTA Online.

Happy gaming!