RTFM - we used to say in the Army..Read the freaking manual....but in this case I'll say read the freaking forum! IF all else fails, read your freaking manual, and watch the free video! This forum and it's never ending advice is why I made the choice to get my x-terra 70 over all the others out there. As noted by the first post. go to the FAQ, it will tell you how to ground balance/noise cancel your machine, in case you don't have access to a computer where you cannot watch your included DVD. After you have noise cancelled/ground balanced your machine, there are very few reasons why you should not start finding something. My suggestion is to start metal detecting at your local auto recycling center yard so you can get the basics down.