Pinpointing and recovering targets

Kevin from Toronto asked me how I pinpoint targets accurately and how much time it takes me to recover a target at the beach. 
My short answer is knowing the sweet spot under my search coils and under a minute if possible. 
You can learn a lot by watching other beach hunters in action, especially at heavily hunted beaches.
One thing I notice other beach hunters doing is spending way too much time recovering detected targets. 
The more time you spend farting around X-ing the spot before scooping. the less jewelry and coins you will take home from the beach.
The "Sweet spot" under your search coil where the target is probably centered, should be one of the first things you learn about your metal detector.
Mainly because it saves you so much time and in my opinion, time equals finds in beach or water hunting.
If I have a pinpoint button or switch on my metal detector, it is hardly ever used when beach or water hunting. 
Two or three short sweeps across a target and I already know where a target is centered under my search coil.
The lip of my scoop basket enters the sand at a sharp angle behind the eyeballed target area, and the object is usually scooped up in one or two attempts depending on the depth of the target.
One of the reasons I cannot watch youtube beach or water hunting videos, is the first two or three minutes of constant sweeping over the target area and umpteen scooping attempts.
I prefer to spend more time putting jewelry or coins in my finds pouch, than wiggling my coil over targets from all directions and taking blind stabs at scooping targets. 
Pinpointing and target recovery skills are best learned early on and should become instinctive. 
Using a good long handled beach scoop with a decent size basket will help you to recover targets at the beach faster, it will also cut down on damage to finds.
After your metal detector, your choice of beach recovery tool is probably the most important decision to consider. 
A deep seeking metal detector and a coffee can size scoop basket is a bad combination, so too is an extra large search coil and not knowing how to pinpoint a target under it.
When you tighten up your target pinpointing and recovery time, you put yourself closer to what you are really searching for.