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I admit, I have a detector - cheap, cheap model from Harbor Freight. (I think I paid.. heck, $70 for it?) I don't go hunting valuables, though - my treasures are buried survey markers.
I was never trained on it, never learned - I know enough for it to help me locate something 6 inches underground. 
Quoted from phil-lee:Radio Shack used to make a 50 buck or less detector that was a raw metal or not no discernment but plenty of power. Seems like I read some big finds were made with this thing over the years.
I actually went back to find it - this is the one I got:
https://www.harborfreight.com/9-function-metal-detector-67378.html
It can detect different metals, apparently. However, unlike everyone else here, I have no idea how to use the functionality of that part of it. Since my survey markers are rather big (between 3 and 5 inches in diameter), I've never had to really worry about detecting different metal types.
So as per my previous comment, I'm a newb, and my current detector is a cheap, off-the-shelf thing from Harbor Freight.
Can ya'll enlighten me - what do these more advanced (Whites, for example) detectors give? Yes - treat me like an idiot. (Because I am, in this context. Heh!)
Quoted from MattElder:detectors offer multiple search frequencies, sometimes more than one at once. So you can identify items before you dig.
Thanks!
Okay, this caught my attention. How do the different frequencies help identify items?
I'm putting this into perspective with the work I do -
Sometimes I need to find a survey point. This point could be a 3" round brass, aluminum, or bronze disk. It could also be a 1/8" to 1" rebar driven into ground and covered by a plastic cap. These COULD be under a layer of forest leaves, OR, under a foot (or more) of dirt. In some cases, these markers will be alongside a road. And more than once, I've gotten a ping on my detector, and started digging, to either find trash, OR, .. not find anything. So in cases like this, yes - I would like to somehow know before I spend a good ten minutes on my knees along a road, digging up.. nothing.
Quoted from MattElder:Each element has a freqency range that is best suited to allow the detector to find it, so that info is turned into something on the display. I think I read somewhere that gold was best found with a freqency somewhere around 40kHz. So if your detector is searching with 3 frequencies and one of them is going nuts on the display with your highest frequency, then there's a good chance that it's gold you're hitting. I guess that's the best way that I can explain it.
Ah, okay! Understandable, thanks!
Quoted from ralphs007:I can't help you out with your question. But I have some good advice for you. Don't take your younger brother with you when you go detecting. Many years ago I want with my older brother to the Jersey shore.
He just got his first machine and was giving it his first try
Little did he know I had a pocket of pennies,and I was behind him tossing them in his sweep path . He was going nuts,and had visions of gold necklaces just waiting for the pickings.
He didn't think it was so funny when he found out,but I had a blast that day.
PS
Go ahead and down vote me , I deserve it.
I laughed. 
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