Hi Brackish !
I had the same good luck finding coins in a gravel driveway up near the house at my previous residence and along the edges of the concrete drive at my newest residence. Where I now live, there was a basketball net setup (since removed) on the side of the drive and the previous owner had teenage boys. I found pennies, dimes and quarters in the grass along the edges of the drive and even out into the yard where apparently they had made long jump-shots.
I recently bought my first Tesoro metal detector, a used Bandido ll uMax. It hasn't arrived yet, so I'm not familiar with the nuances of that make. Normally you can rely on there being some kind of metal in the ground if you get a signal. I know there are several reasons why we get a signal and then cannot locate the item in the ground. Perhaps some of our other members who own a Silver uMax can offer help on that.
Yes, I used a screw driver as a probe at first, but not any more. Now , if scanning over grass, I just cut a 3-sided flap, bend the flap back, then use the Vibra-Probe to locate the target and the tip of my Lesche trowel to remove it. Quick and easy !
In 2006 I decided to build a handheld pinpointer and used the plans by Dan Clark, as shown on
www.tomstreasures.com. I see they have revamped the website, so don't know if it's still on there. Anyway, I finally got around to doing a post with some pics of the completed unit in September , 2007 and you can see this by doing the following:
Note, this requires that you be a registered member at Friendly Metal Detecting Forums. First, click on the following hyperlinked address
http://metaldetectingforum.com, (that takes you directly to the home page of the website), Login, click on
Members List at the top of the page, click on the "T" in the alpha strip at the top of the page, click on page 5, scroll down and click on
ToddB64 (This will take you to my Profile), next click on the tab titled
Statistics, then click on
Find all threads started by ToddB64, and last scroll down the page until you find
Home Made Pinpointer (With Pictures) and click on that and your there !
As reported in my September, 2007 post, I was pleased with the unit as far as construction and appearance, but not with the operation of the tuning wheel. So, I decided to buy a professionally made pinpointer.
I did some fairly extensive research on pinpointers made in the USA and started a thread on August 19, 2007 right here on T'Net titled
Pinpointers Sold in the USA, which included a list that eventually grew to (9) makes/models of pinpointers. You can read the thread by taking this route: Go to the T'Net Home page > Our Community board > General Discussion forum > Scroll to the bottom of page 1 of the General Discussion forum and locate the alpha strip, then click on the letter "P" (Takes you to page 1 of post titles beginning with the letter "P".), then scroll down page 1 until you see my thread-starter post titled "Pinpointers Sold in the USA" and click on that.........your there !
If you want prices and specifications on individual makes and models of pinpointers, try just typing the name of the pinpointer of interest, for example "Tinytec Ultraluxe Probe" or "Treasure Mate Pinpointer", into the search window of your preferred search engine. This will most likely take you to a links page where you can select what you want. Another way would be to go to a metal detector dealer website or a metal detector manufacturer's website and look to see if they offer pinpointers.
Hope the above makes it a little easier to find the pinpointer that's right for you !
As far as accessory tools like trowels/diggers, screw drivers, etc., etc., that information is available here at T'Net, on the
The Tool Shed forum. (It's located down near the bottom of the Home page.) That will tell you what is being used. Some of the posts include pics of tools and prices.
Regarding coil covers (sometimes called "skid plates" or "scuff protectors", etc.), yes, a lot of people use them, including myself. That way, if you decide to sell, the bottom of the coil isn't all scratched up and this makes the unit more saleable. Just remember to remove the cover occasionally and clean out the dirt, sand, grass, etc..
Good Luck !
Todd
This depends on the size of the target, soil conditions, etc. (damp soil produces targets deeper than dry soil) Mostly on coin sized targets you can expect to detect them about the depth of the width of the coil.
. I'll probably end up getting one, a much cheaper one though. 
