Programs and patterns

I am a big fan of using discrimination searching tourist type beaches for jewelry, but only using a little discrimination to reject certain nuisance targets. 
I am referring to fish hooks and hairpins, two things that can be rejected and not cause you to miss gold chains or solitaire diamond rings with thin bands.  
Go too heavy on the discrimination and you run the risk of rejecting good stuff, a great reason to test targets at the beach to see what level of metal detector discrimination you can use before good targets are rejected.
If you have a metal detector like the CTX 3030 and use other peoples programs with patterns, you run the risk of leaving good stuff in the sand. 
You have to know why and where they use that program and discrimination pattern, also what the person searches for.
A better idea is to take the time to compile your own program with settings and a discrimination level to suit the places you search and tailored towards detecting what you are searching for.
I have seen some pretty scary shaded out metal detector screens in my time, from gold jewelry to silver coin programs, usually loaded by people who only want to find certain specific targets.
Thats ok if it floats your boat, but I would rather be in charge of the discrimination department.
Heck even many pulse induction metal detectors now come with an iron rejection feature, so much for digging it all. 
I guess it all comes down to how well you know your metal detector and what you are searching for when it comes to discrimination. 
It is not what unwanted targets you are rejecting by shading out an area on your screen, but the collateral damage stuff that is lost on the edge of shaded areas.
A little test for CTX 3030 users is to run over an area using the preset Beach Mode, then go back over the same area after pressing the Detect button using Pattern 2 the more wide open search mode, I bet you find at least a few non ferrous (Iron) targets. 
Non ferrous targets your preset Beach mode discrimination pattern rejected, do that enough times and you'll know why I use Pattern 2 with the thin line of discrimination to reject small nails.
If you are searching for old coins and artifacts, the small nails rejection line should be all the discrimination pattern you need to use. 
If you are searching for gold chains and big solitaire diamond rings at tourist beaches, you better know why you put your trust in a strangers program or discrimination pattern.  
I don't like small nails but I do love bobby dazzlers in the scoop basket!