Counterbalance?

[Artie72]

  I have seen mention on various forums of being able to counterbalance the weight of the coil by fixing a power bank or appropriate weights under the armrest of the Equinox.

I know from many years of detecting how important detector balance is (particularly as you get older!) My question is has anyone attempted this yet? If so, what is the best attachment method & What weights have you used? Any pictures and advice would be greatly appreciated.

I am still awaiting my Equinox 800 & have gained loads of information from this forum.  I now have to wait for that phone call from my dealer!!

[Steve Herschbach]

I think you will find like most people that once you get an Equinox this is kind of a non-issue. Mostly just something for people to discuss while waiting for a detector. I keep all the bullets I find detecting and made up a 1 lb sack and tied under the armrest. It makes for a better balance but... well, it adds a pound! I don't intend on fiddling with it anymore beyond that brief experiment. Now, when I ever get a 15" coil that will probably be another matter, as I would expect the balance them to fall outside my comfort zone. Until then however I have no complaint with Equinox as is. In fact the slight nose heavy setup makes it very comfortable for me using the detector without an arm strap since the cup stays firmly against my forearm. In parks Iet the coil ride on the grass and as much pushing down as holding up.

Long story short you might want to give it a spin before doing anything.

[Skate]

+1 on what Steve said and another issue that affects nose weight is where you set your arm rest up and the length of the shaft settings. I'm 5'8" and when I got my 800 I kind of put it together without really thinking through the ergonomics of it and mine was a little nose heavy. On Monday night I got my 600 and put it together and when I did I tried it out swinging in the garage and if felt like a different detector. The 600 felt like it was a part of my arm and the 800 not so much.  I put it side by side my 800 and I noticed the 600's arm rest was a couple notches forward and the shaft was one button hole shorter. I made the adjustment and Bingo, nose heavy issue was gone. 

The 15" coil may change all this but we could be on to the Equinox 2000 by the time it comes out so not to worry.

 

[relicmeister]

I also experimented with a bunch of musket balls in a pouch mounted to the arm cuff. Eliminates nose heavy but I get the sensation that it takes more lateral effort to change directions in my swing. In the end I'd rather not use counterweighting     

I do think going one hole shorter on the lower rod makes a huge difference in ease of swing( not that it's ever really hard). 

[NSC]

Yeah , I am probably too fussy about balance and added a Makro stand and a small counterweight

Its really being picky though and isnt really an issue until a bigger coil comes along from Minelab or Coiltek etc

I took out the end plug found a piece of pvc electrical conduit which fits very snug inside.

Measured exactly from arm rest bolt to end cap and cut the counduit at that length (you do not want it moving about)

Found a long thin lead fishing sinker,  shaved a bit off it and hammered it into the conduit so it fits tight.

Pop it inside and put the end cap back on.  

 

 

[Cabin Fever]

You can see where I posted here http://www.detectorprospector.com/forum/topic/5773-how-do-you-charge-your-equinox/?tab=comments#comment-60645 about my portable charger for the Nox..  After trying it out on a hunt with the plans of only using it if I needed to charge, I end up leaving it on because it helped balance the detector better..  It’s not as big and obstructive as it appears in the photos.. I forget it’s even on there as I hunt..

Bryan

[Artie72]

Wow! Thank you all so much for your responses and pictures. Some very inventive ideas. I agree that a counterbalance will be most appropriate to larger coils but will experiment when my detector arrives & will feed back my thoughts. Thanks again.

[Norm S]

I am 73 yrs old and can swing an E-Trac for 2 - 3  hours with worrying about balance or weight. I surely am not worried about the Equinox. The 1st few days I swung by E-Trac it wore me out so I purchased a harness that lasted all of 10 minutes before I trash canned it. After 4 - 5 days with my E-Trac I never noticed it was heavy. I have only used the Equinox a cpl hours and all I noticed was I had to compensate for the balance somewhat but I am sure after 4 hours or so today I will get used to it being the way it is. At my age I keep things simple 

[Chase Goldman]

What Norm said.  There will be plenty of time to trick out your machine with counterweights, flashlights, batteries, etc.  If your weather supports it and you have sites you can access I, really encourage you to get out there and learn the machine first and foremost, balanced or not.  It is a light weight machine and is balanced about as well out of the box as anything I have swung save for the F75/T2 which I personally consider the gold standard for balance and user ergonomics.  That might be because I am short and have the EQX shortened up.  

If you are snowed in or the ground is frozen, then, yeah, it is fun to tweak for lack of being able to do much else with your toy than learn the settings and menu structure.  But you don’t have to wait to have it perfectly balanced before you get out there and swing.

[Artie72]

Totally agree with both Norm & Chase. I  too struggled with the Etrac & had to use home made harness to be able to use it for any length of time. I am over 6' tall & need stem extended, which obviously means knackered arm after 40 year of detecting, so always try to find best way of extending my detecting life!  I currently use XP Deus, which is great weight wise. The very best balanced machine (for me) was the XP GMP with the original stem (not the Deus type).

  I will be out with the Equinox as soon as it arrives & learning it just as I have done with all the other detectors over the years ( UK weather permitting!!). Just worked out this will be the 7th Minelab I have owned.

Once more thanks for the great response to my question. Good hunting!!