I used a Tesoro Compadre, part time so not my primary tool and still have it.
Got it for $130 used...so far found over 10X's what it cost in coins and silver and gold jewelry mostly in public parks.
I used a Fisher F2 for 3 years, current version is the F22, cost me $200 and found way more than 10X's it's cost in coins and silver and gold jewelry mostly in public parks.
I upgraded to a Fisher F70 in 2014, an upper end detector with more power and many more features.
Again paid for the thing within 4 months and several times over since then in coins and silver and gold jewelry mostly in public parks.
Not a whole ton overall better than those way cheaper units except it could get deeper and had more settings I could use to combat the most challenging sites like massive iron infestation and heavy mineralized soil.
Deeper is nice but 90% of all I have found has usually been less than 6" in depth which all of my detectors can get to.
It definitely was worth upgrading to become more successful in my most challenging sites...but that is me.
Many start with entry level detectors, learn the ropes of the hobby, have great fun, find a ton and decide to stay in and by the time they decide they need an upgrade they have much more knowledge and know what to aim for...for them.
Others enter the hobby with higher end detectors, they learn the hobby and move up the learning curve and are happy...unless they aren't because they discovered the hobby wasn't for them or the tool they chose to start with didn't fit them well...which sometimes happens.
You are lucky, never has there been as many extremely capable lower priced metal detectors in history as there is now.
The middle range is filled with great choices and the higher end has plenty too, including a few that used to be way more expensive but dropped their prices by several hundreds of dollars as things shook out in the industry.
To do this right I believe you have to consider a few other things.
You need a detector, of course, a pinpointer is something that will enhance your experience immensely and like most things in life the cheaper ones might look like a good deal but in reality 98% of the hunters that use them have good ones...they learned their lesson on the cheaper units.
You need a decent digging tool, if you have nice black dirt to dig in almost any hand digger will do, if you don't you will go though cheaper ones like water.
You need a pouch to carry your hand tools, pockets don't work very well for this.
Nobody can tell you exactly what would work for you, only you know what your budget is and what you are willing to spend and go through to enter and stay in this hobby successfully.
The bulk of us started out small and grew into it naturally and organically, others went all in from the get-go.
You do you...get all the opinions you need and decide from there.
All I can tell you is I had the same amount of thrills, fun and excitement using all my different detectors from the cheapest on up, still do.
Good luck!