Bought a used detector because I couldn't afford a new one. Despite a headphone jack problem, in a half hour I found a penny, 2 beer cans, bottle top, and a staple. Guess it works! I live in an old gold mining town in northern Idaho. So I'm hoping to eventually find at least one gold nugget and some mining relics. A friend here has been teaching me about using detectors (but he isn't used to mine). He's really been a lot of help. My brother came this last weekend with his coin detector - yeah, he found more than I did, but I found the only nickel and the only ore sample. My detector is more sensitive than his, but he knows how to use his to find coins. I still don't understand how to determine coins from tin cans, pull tabs, beer cans, and huge chunks of iron... but I'm learning fast. Next step for me is to set up a test area with different coins at different depths, trash of all nature and learn how the detector reacts to all of them. Happy hunting folks! Rich - Idaho, USA