UPDATE
I have been practicing with this and it takes some practice but it will find deeper than 2 inches now.
You just have to tweek it and take note of the emails with the instructions they send.
Company is very helpful and willing to work with you if you have questions.
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New to the '"art" /hobby of metal detecting AND this one is reasonably priced. My son and I go to the beach and sand type playgrounds frequently and I thought what a fun way to go searching for pirate treasure. This is not for someone who wants to just go right out and start finding gold, coins or precious metals right away. Using this takes some practice, technique AND you need to know how to follow directions. With that being said, the instructions are pretty good, just beware you really need to know what you are doing to tweak the controls. I am all in for this adventure so I followed the indoor set up instructions and started to understand how in depth this detecting can get. I ventured outside to the local sand beach and used some real silver coins and random change I had. I wasn't prepared to use my gold rings just yet LOL. I found the detector to only be able to "read" the treasure no more than an inch or two below the surface, I'm still tweaking the settings so I'll update after further attempts. My suggestion to you, while practicing getting the techniques down, is to use light plastic zip bags to enclose your practice treasure so you don't loose it. I love that this set comes with a spade that breaks down for digging out the treasure, a carrying case and headphones. I have added photos and videos to show how the settings are pretty true to the instructions. My only real rub on this is it doesn't come with the (2) 9 volt batteries needed to power it, most people don't keep those on hand. I also wish it could read a little deeper than an inch or two in the sand.