Good advice so far. I really think you will benefit from a test garden. Stay in coin and jewelry for a while. Might I also suggest in your downtime to find the quick reference option in your machine(turn on, pull trigger, press menu/tab 2 times. Should be next to owner registry) that is a nice place to start learning the vocabulary of your machine and what all the little tweaks will do.
Don't be afraid to play around with it, you can always reset the programs to factory default. Look into the copy program feature as well. You can take a stock program, copy it to a name of your choosing, and tweak to your hearts content. (See below for procedure).
There are a select few "Gurus" on various forums that have almost unlimited knowledge of this machine. It's ok to be frustrated, it is almost an inescapable side effect from purchasing the v3i. Check into the whites electronics forum, specifically deoslyfox. He's got some really good intel, and there is an advanced user guide available for download if you do a search for it. Also, try a google search for "metal detecting book of jack". Apparently this is a must have compilation of very useful info on the v3/v3i machine. I don't know the protocol for advertising other forum websites, so I won't specify any more.
Don't give up on it. It certainly took a couple seasons for things to start clicking for me. Enjoy the factory settings for now, and spend the off-season reading/learning the machine. Keep it with you at the computer and fiddle around. re-read the quick reference guide a few times. And don't forget to research the history of your area as well. Winter is a good time to map out the places you are going to hunt when that damn snow melts off.
Have fun!!
COPYING PROGRAMS
TURN ON MACHINE---
PULL TRIGGER---
CLICK MENU/TAB 2 TIMES
SELECT EXPERT MENU
SELECT PROGRAM
SELECT NEW/COPY
CHECK BOX LIBRARY PROGRAM
ARROW DOWN AND SELECT FACTORY PROGRAM TO COPY(coin/jewelry)
CLICK MENU/TAB
NAME YOUR COPIED PROGRAM USING ARROWS
CLICK MENU/TAB
CLICK ENTER TO CREATE
Hopefully, you now have a copied version of the coin and jewelry program to play with.