Best kit under £150 for beginner ghost hunting - what's essential?

Right, I'm planning my first proper ghost hunt (location TBD but probably somewhere in East Anglia) and I want to get some decent equipment without spending a fortune. I've done a bit of research and the options are mental - everyone's recommending different things and half the stuff seems overpriced or unnecessary.

So here's my question: what's actually essential for starting out? I've got a decent torch (LED Maglite, cost me about £30) and a smartphone with voice recording capability. But should I be investing in:

- EMF meter (recommend specific models?) - Thermal imaging camera or just a thermometer? - Spirit box or is that pseudoscience? - Anything else I'm missing?

My budget's roughly £150 and I'd rather buy one or two good things than loads of cheap rubbish. What do more experienced hunters actually use in the field?

EMF meter is worth getting - a basic one's about £25-40 on Amazon. The K2 or GhostPro are popular. Thermal imaging is nice but overkill for beginners. A cheap non-contact thermometer from Argos (£15-20) does the job fine. Spirit box is honestly a waste of money unless you're committed - save that for later if you want it.

Honestly, torch, phone recorder, EMF meter, and thermometer will get you started properly. Don't fall into the trap of buying expensive kit because it looks professional - half of ghost hunting is just patience and observation. The rest of your budget? Save it or invest in better lighting.

Spirit box is honestly a waste of money unless you're committed - save that for later if you want it.

Hard disagree. Spirit boxes can produce genuinely interesting results if you're using them properly. BUT you need to understand the criticism first - they basically scan radio frequencies and you have to interpret white noise, which is inherently subjective. If you go in with realistic expectations it's worth the £40-60 investment.

Pro tip from someone who's been doing this five years: buy a decent secondhand thermal camera on eBay rather than a new one. You can get older models for £80-100 that work fine. Temperature fluctuations are actually more reliable than EMF readings in my experience. Also get a notebook and pen - sounds silly but documenting everything in real-time beats relying on memory.

Whatever you buy, learn the baseline readings first. Spend a day at home measuring EMF in different rooms, taking temperatures, understanding what normal looks like. Too many beginners go into a location and every reading feels supernatural when actually it's just electrical interference from the building's wiring.