The best settings for beach and shallow water hunting

A major part of beach and shallow water hunting is learning how to set your metal detector up to find a wide range of desirable targets. 
Despite what you read on internet metal detecting forums, there are no generic or one size fits all metal detector settings. 
There are suggested starter settings in most metal detector manuals and that is exactly what they are, suggested!
If you use the same metal detector settings on every beach you search, you are holding yourself back and leaving gold and silver behind in areas where other people use the same metal detector. 
I rarely use any set and forget metal detector settings, even on my Minelab CTX 3030.
The preset Beach Mode is my starting point but I tweak it to suit the conditions present on the beach that day. 
I also take into consideration whether I will be searching in the water, the wet sand or the dry sand. 
Using other peoples suggested settings for weeks, months or even years without knowing why you are using them is a bad idea. 
Manually set your metal detector up after you get to the beach, using your known starting reference points. 
Gradually tweak the controls during the first part of your hunt and get a feel for when you are running your metal detector slightly hot.
Back off from the hot setting a little, make sure your metal detector is running smoothly with very few false signals before getting settled into the hunt. 
No matter what your favorite metal detector is, average finds come from average settings.
When searching heavily hunted beaches with many people using the same kind of metal detector, the person with the best tuned machine has the best chance of finding gold.
Sometimes those personal metal detector settings can be just as important at beating the competition to the gold as any secret hot spot. 
I always make a point of shielding my settings whenever I meet another beach or water hunter. 
Being a hardcore beach and shallow water hunter, I am always checking out other peoples settings!
Maybe that would explain why I am not afraid to follow behind other beach and shallow water hunters in search of gold.
This $3600.00 18K gold ring with 80 diamonds is a testament to that.