When I was 9, I got a cheap detector for Christmas. It was orange with only one knob. We lived in a house that was build in the 50's and all I found were cans!
My friend had a detector with a meter on it (I don't remember what the meter it did) and he was finding coins!
I broke out the old department store catalog and found a neat looking detector. It was a Brinkman with a hole in the center of the coil.
I mowed what seemed like hundreds of yards and finally saved enough money to buy a real detector.
I was at my grandfathers house detecting finding nothing. He said, "boy, you need to be huntin' by that there driveway. I'm always loosin coins when I pull my keys out of my pocket".
I took his advice and it payed off!
I went from finding cans to Wheaties in one day!! I began to notice the difference in sounds my detector made from coins and cans. I was hooked at age 11.
Now I'm 37 and I just got my 10 year old daughter hooked. She found a silver ring her third time out. That's all it took for her! She wears it everyday.
Before we even went out to swing the coil, I made sure she knew how the discriminator and sensitivity work. We've practiced making dig holes disappear. She's a coin finding fool now.
good trade!! 
The fever only gets stronger with each new hunt. I'm addicted. 
And who am I to deny?! 
