Spent $400 on a rental ground penetrating radar unit for a dig site

We had a hunch about a potential structure under a field in New Mexico, so I pushed to rent the GPR for a week. The data came back super clear and saved us weeks of test pits, leading us right to a buried adobe wall. But my colleague thinks it was a waste, saying we could've found it with traditional methods for less cash. Has anyone else had a tech rental pay off big or totally flop on a dig?

3 comments

3 Comments

uma6851mo ago

Honestly, your colleague is missing the point of that tech. The real win isn't just the cash saved on test pits, it's the time you got back and the confidence to dig in the right spot. Tbh, a clear GPR read on an adobe wall is a slam dunk, those can be a nightmare to find with just shovels. That data is pure gold for planning the next phase.

milaprice1mo ago

Exactly. The time saved is the real game changer. Had a project last year where we spent weeks poking around blind. One good GPR pass cut that down to days. Lets you actually move forward instead of guessing.

danielhenderson20d ago

A buddy of mine down in Arizona tried the same thing last year on a suspected Hohokam site. He rented a GPR for a long weekend and found a whole cluster of pit houses in the first afternoon that nobody had spotted in decades of walking the ground. Without it, they'd have been digging test pits for a month and probably missed half of them anyway. His project director felt the same way your colleague does until they saw the radar images... then she changed her tune real quick. @uma685 is right about those adobe walls being a pain with just shovels, I've seen crews go right through them by accident. That $400 probably saved you triple that in labor and frustration.