Just for the heck of it I went on Craigslist to see locally if I could find some old model of a decent unit and for a couple of bucks, learn how to sweep the floors with a stick and a wad of straw just as good as if I had a top of the line broom, so that when I got a better one I would LOVE IT and be able to use it to the maximum ability it could offer me..........plus see if I was going to remain interested before investing in a more expensive unit.
I happen to see an old Fisher 1260-X unit for a couple of bucks and after talking with the person who owned it, I went and checked it out, for what he knew and I knew, it beeped so that told me that it at least had operating batteries in it. This apparently belonged to his grandfather who was now deceased and the nice guy said he would sell it to me for a couple bucks.
It came with headphones, a cloth type carrying case and the original little paper instruction manual.
Got it home and the first day I put several different coins and objects and taped them on paper. A silver dime, a full size pure silver dollar, a junk silver ring, a silver quarter, a nail, a bottle cap, a pull tab, a mercury dime, a small 14kt gold earring and started for the first few days, putting them down on the floor and listening to the various sounds as I passed over them and adjusted the knobs and of course tried reading the instruction manual, listening to the beeps, figuring out what part of the coil it was pinpointing the object under. Moving the knobs up and down to where I would or wouldn't hear the beeps and why or why not.
I have to admit the instruction manual was harder to decipher and figure out than the machine and testing it since I don't have the exact reasons for the various selections down, ie; sensitivity-discrimination, disc 1 - disc 2 and what they all do even though I read and re-read I found that just getting in and learning the unit was helping me more than everything I was reading.
So I went out in the backyard and decided I would see what happened.
First find was a new penny, chewed up some like some acid ate at it around the edges and in the middle. Made me wonder if the ground is as radioactive as they claim after finding that, living here in Nevada.......
So I then sat down to see if.......I felt any different now no longer being a detectorist virgin......it felt wonderful to find something even if it was a newer penny.
Then I started sweeping other areas, got a stronger beep and it ended up being a square top older, rusted out nail.....that was pretty cool.
Then I went further and found a wheatie, a 1952, then I found a clothes pin metal spring, a nail but I got to understand the unit better even though I can see now, I would want one that goes DEEPER. This only goes down about 6 inches. Now I know most will say these are not great finds, but to me they were and from here I can only get better and find more interesting stuff. The biggest thing to overcome is to understand you have to dig up just about everything because that one pull tab beep just could be a gold ring or nugget.
So there you have it, the story of my beginning and I truly think I will be looking for a decent buy on a Fisher 75, if this old relic of a detector can still find things, I would love and adore the F-75.......thanks for listening.
Lou
---GREAT ATTITUDE (and that's what it takes).--You've got this "tector game" half won already! 
--------Del
-)
