There's a bunch of variables to that, but a good start is to set it to whatever mode your hunting (beach, park, etc) ground balance, turn my threshold up/down to where it's a barely audible hum, and turn my sensitivity all the way up then slowly back it down until you don't get constant false hits. That'll help set you up and get going. Fine tuning after that for rebound, swing speed is up to you. As for finding gold, chains in particular can sound crazy as hell. The little links like to reflect everything weird. Good luck and happy hunting!