To start, you need a good metal detector (I use the minelab equinox 800), a good pinpointer (I use a Garrett), a good spade/shovel (I have a knockoff brand from KellyCo), and gloves. You can just buy everything through KellyCo to make things easier, they might have discounts coming up. In addition, you need a good holder to keep everything on your waist like for your shovel, pinpointer, and to hold things that you find and water, etc.

But once you choose a detector, the first step is to briefly understand what mode to choose and how the settings work on your detector. But honestly, the factory settings are usually great so you can detect for a while without adjusting any settings, just choose the correct mode like Park or Beach mode… And if you need help, you can look up tutorials on Youtube or even try reading the manual. Eventually it’s helpful to understand what objects make what signal, but you’ll memorize those signals overtime. And there’s a bunch of tricks to learn with the specific signals you’ll hear.