You mention probes. Maybe you can answer another question for me. I see probes that look like just long metal rods with pointed ends. How can you tell what the target is, or even locate it, just by sticking that in the ground?
Once you get used-to using them, you won't want to be without one. Before I started using them, my detector would indicate a quarter was in the ground. Then I'd cut a large plug and pry it up. Sometimes I'd find a quarter, sometimes I'd find a flattened pop-can or a chopped-up can (can-slaw). Now, before I dig, I'll push the probe into the ground to see if I can feel the quarter. If I push it in the ground and hit something that feels like metal, I'll pull it out and then continue to probe around that spot. If I feel that same metal at the same depth and it covers an area that's wider than a coin, (and I'm in an area that is likely to have burried cans), then I'll declare it a can and move on - without digging a hole.
You can also use the probe to pop the coin out of the ground - without digging a plug. (This works best when the soil is wet from heavy rain. Yesterday I found about 20 coins and popped them all out with my probe.) First you've got to feel the coin in the ground with the probe. Next you kind of slide the probe across the coin and slide off the edge of it. Then you try to work the probe under the edge of the coin and move it to the surface. (The part of the probe in the soil won't move far. The part of the probe above the ground will move a lot, and it will slice across the soil.)
Another method I use is to first find the coin with the probe. Then swirl the probe around - kind of making a round cone-shaped hole. When I can see or feel the coin, then I move the probe to the edge of the coin and pry it out. (Many times today, I was glad I had my pin-pointer with me; once you get that coin on edge, it's easy to lose track of it in the mud.)
If the coin is already on edge before you start to probe, it is very hard to find without cutting a plug. If the soil around the coin has pebbles in it, it is very hard to tell the difference between a rock and a coin.
Coin popping is easy to do if the coin is lying flat within a few inches of the surface. The deeper it is, the more difficult it will be.
A long/thin/flat-head screw driver with rounded edges works well as a probe. (Last winter I was using an awl (or is it an ads?) as a probe. I put deep slices in a few zinc pennies that where frozen in the mud. You don't want a sharp probe.)
If you have your metal detector owners' manual, you might find coin popping explained in the back of it.
