Everything we have published on the AML Pro, in one place
A handheld sold at around £6,200 that claims to find buried plastic pipe twenty feet down, through clay, wet soil and standing water. We have been examining it since June 2026. This page is the index: what it is sold on, what the evidence says about each claim, and where to read the working.
Every row below is quoted from the seller or the manufacturer, and every verdict links to the piece that shows the working. Nothing on this page is argued. It is a contents page.
1What it is sold on
Four claims, quoted as published. All three seller claims were captured with full-page PDFs on 24 August 2026.
| The claim, as published | Where | Verdict |
|---|---|---|
| “the radio waves penetrate the surface as deep as 40′ depending on the surface composition” Double the twenty feet the manufacturer itself claims. No blinded validation exists at any depth, in any soil, in fourteen years on sale. | UK seller, how-does-it-work page | No evidence |
| “The AML is a patented scientific instrument” US 7,898,456 was owned by SubSurface Instruments from 18 April 2017 and lapsed on 3 April 2023 for unpaid maintenance fees, with eight years still to run. | UK seller, proper-burial page | Lapsed 2023 |
| “Utilizing technology that was developed for lunar exploration” No NASA or ESA lunar or Mars sounder has operated anywhere near 2.45 GHz. They run between 1.3 MHz and 158 MHz, which is the opposite end of the spectrum. | UK seller, AML Pro page | Not supported |
| “All-New” FCC certified in March 2012. Fourteen years later the current literature still calls it new. | Current AML Pro data sheet | On sale since 2012 |
One deliberate nuance. “Patented” is not marked false. SubSurface Instruments genuinely owned US 7,898,456 from April 2017. The finding is that they let it lapse in April 2023 for unpaid fees, with eight years still to run, and carried on selling on it.
2What the technical claims do
| The claim, as published | Where | Verdict |
|---|---|---|
| “powerful 2.45 GHz ground penetrating UHF radio waves locate PVC pipes easily” Their own certification laboratory measured 41 mW. That is roughly what a wireless keyboard is permitted to transmit. | SSI brochure, current | 41 mW measured |
| “Unlike the deficiencies of GPR, the AML will work in clay, wet soil, snow or even standing water” One document, a few pages apart, says the device is not ground penetrating radar and that its radio waves are ground penetrating. 2.45 GHz is also the frequency water absorbs most usefully, which is why microwave ovens use it. | SSI brochure, opening page | Same page says both |
| Maximum radio-frequency power, which the instructions must state by law Six documents and 481 pages of the manufacturer's website carry the frequency and no power figure. We worked it out from their own certification file instead. | Not stated anywhere | Absent |
| “Both lights will come on then go off approximately every 2 inches” 2.45 GHz has a wavelength of 12.24 cm. Half of that is 6.1 cm, or 2.4 inches. The indicator is cycling with the movement of the operator's hand. | SSI's own published FAQ | Half a wavelength |
In fourteen years on sale there is no blinded demonstration, by anyone, of the AML Pro locating an unknown target above chance, in any soil, at any depth. That single absence is the whole of it.
3The four pieces
- Start here if you have seen it “work”
What has the AML Pro got in common with a Ouija board? · Five minutes
The physics has been settled for a while. This is the harder question: why do experienced locators come back from site saying it found the pipe? The answer is in SubSurface Instruments' own operator's manual, which instructs you, when the device disagrees with you, to twist your wrist until it agrees. Four unretouched scans of their own pages. - Send this to someone about to buy one
The AML Pro: does it work? · Five minutes
The short version. What the device is, what it costs, what it is sold on, and why both of the claims it is sold on are false. Card-led, no physics degree required. - The specification that is missing
The power figure that is not in the instructions · Ten minutes
Radio equipment sold in Great Britain has to state its maximum transmitted power in the instructions. The AML Pro states its frequency everywhere and its power nowhere. Six documents, 481 pages of their website, and then the figure worked out from their own certification file. - The full case, with every source
The AML Pro by SSI Locators: a physics-led investigation · The long read
Twenty thousand words, sixteen sections, a source behind every line. The 2.45 GHz physics, the patent record, the historical devices in the same family, and where the AML Pro sits against PAS 128, HSG47 and ASCE 38. This is the reference document.
4Where this stands legally
Three lines, because it is worth being precise rather than dramatic.
- Advertising. Under the CAP Code a marketer must hold documentary evidence for an objective claim before publishing it. The depth, the patent and the lunar claims are all objective and all testable.
- Product information. Radio equipment placed on the Great Britain market must state its maximum radio-frequency power in the instructions supplied with it. The AML Pro’s do not.
- What we are not saying. We do not allege the device is operated unlawfully. Whether it falls in a licence-exempt category at all has never been determined by anyone, and only Ofcom can answer it. Its measured emissions are far below the relevant ceilings.
SubSurface Instruments is a real company making a real device with real electronics in it. This is not an allegation of an empty box. It is about the claims made for what is inside it, and about a product that people take onto site to decide where to put a digger.