Henry,
I have used the gold machines for beach hunting, and they will work for that, but you will also find that they are so sensitive that they will pick up things as small as a pin head. It may drive you nuttie if you try to dig all that stuff. I use a scoop with a 3/8" screen, it will save all the rings, coins ect..only thing that may slip through is a chain and you would probably see that. I have had eight detectors, still have four, all different brands except two, they were the Fisher Bug and the Bug 2, loved both. Very east to operate [at least I think so] good depth for those types of gold machines, and very light. I run a 6" and a 10" elliptical coil. The 6" is great for tight places and the 10" for a little more depth and you can cover more area in the same amount of time. Still have aTesoro a Whites and a Gp3500 Minelab. Not running down any detectors, but I call these types of detectors, crumb machines[Whites-Garrett-Tesoro-Fisher ect, ect..the reason being, they are super sensitive to small gold, but not a lot of depth. This past winter I retrieve 125 nuggets, with my gold bug ll, all were from surface to five or six inches deep. If you want to get serious about nuggetshooting try the GP3500 Minelab. Many nuggets are recovered at two feet or more of depth. They cost a little more but then you get what you pay for. Mine was well over three grand.