Tele-nox Rods???

[Thegoldenone]

2 hours ago, Steve Herschbach said:

Hmmm, sorry to hear that. Yes, using an aftermarket rod is entirely at your own risk and I personally would not expect much satisfaction on any damage occurring to Minelab parts due to the use of aftermarket items. If I see a bad fit issue that may cause issues I’ll be doing something about that before I bolt things together. 

Ah well, I went ahead and ordered one anyway already, so will report back later. Mine’s coming direct from the supplier so should be latest version. $159 including shipping so not bad. At least I won’t run over it!

I'll take one step back farther, as soon as I noticed that the fit or alignment wasn't right I contacted the seller who couldn't help me so I contacted Tony hunt...  Tony's first explanation of this problem was that it was pulled from the mold wrong! He didn't tell me don't use it because it'll break your Equinox! He said he was going to send me out a couple new ones... And so the story from him keeps changing... Then it was a couple broke, and now I'm the only one having this problem! So why redesign the lower piece if it wasn't a problem?

[Steve Herschbach]

Don't know. You had a problem, others say they are not. Some people are having issues with their Equinox. I have three, one pre-production, one first run, and one production. Use them all and other than one having the loose rod issue (barely) they all have been not only reliable but actually rather robust. That's not to take away one second from anyone having issues, just pointing out that all stuff made by humans can fail for all sorts of reasons. Like running over them with a truck!  Other people have no problems at all. Sometimes it's just luck of the draw.

[Chase Goldman]

Where do you get this new bottom piece (the detector “foot rest” part) for the Equinox arm rest? Is that a custom piece you can only obtain from Tony?  My stock Equinox arm rest does not properly mate up with the telenox shaft for some reason.  I gave up fooling around with it after about a half hour of frustration.

Obtained this other telescoping shaft for Equinox that comes with a built in arm rest.  Plan to assemble it this weekend.

 

[Steve Herschbach]

Interesting... looks like a Golden Mask rod but Equinox ready. Thanks for posting Chase... I may get one.

The armrest not mating up properly was one issue Thegoldenone had with the rod. Mine is in the way so curious to see what’s up myself. Supposed to show up around August 6th.

[Thegoldenone]

On 7/30/2019 at 9:44 AM, Chase Goldman said:

Where do you get this new bottom piece (the detector “foot rest” part) for the Equinox arm rest? Is that a custom piece you can only obtain from Tony?  My stock Equinox arm rest does not properly mate up with the telenox shaft for some reason.  I gave up fooling around with it after about a half hour of frustration.

Obtained this other telescoping shaft for Equinox that comes with a built in arm rest.  Plan to assemble it this weekend.

 

I don't think he has a specially made plastic part yet.

Hey Chase, when you get that new shaft put together, let us know what you think about the fit and finish? 

[Steve Herschbach]

Wow, tracking said I would not get until August 6, but the FedEx gods really smiled on me and the rod showed up here a couple hours ago.

I have kind of swore off doing reviews and would not be getting into this other than the questions raised about fit and finish. And yes, I paid full retail ($152.66 delivered) for this rod. Anyway, I grabbed on of my Equinox, pulled off the pod and armrest, and mounted them up. Now I will note this is an all black model, fresh from the U.K. manufacturer. They had no idea who I was when I placed the order, it was online via their eBay Store.

The kit arrived meticulously packaged and with a full complement of spare parts... little screws and levers for the camlocks mostly, spare set of coil washers, etc. The rod fully collapsed as shipped is ridiculously small - I still use the Minelab rods for most of my detecting as I am actually one of the people who seem fine with them, but this will be the obvious choice to toss in my kit as a backup if it's not in use as the primary rod.

Long story short the stuff went on the new rod as fast as it came off the old rod. No misfit, no issue at all. It did not take me 10 minutes to assemble. The slotted rod was nice, just loose fit the bolts, slide back and forth to fit my arm, and snug down. The armrest went right on no different than mounting to the Minelab rod.

The main thing I like is the lower most rod section is stouter than that on the Golden Mask, which has a little flex when extended to max. And the cam locks seem more secure.

Anyway, I've not put the rod to use or anything and may be a bit before I do. But as far as I am concerned I am happy I bought the rod and have no complaint.

steveg on the forum was kind enough to send me one of his two piece rods and I am very remiss in not mounting it up yet so need to do that with the 15" coil setup. Not telescoping but the counterweight system looks perfect for the larger coil. Looks like I am in rod heaven so I doubt I will need that rod that Chase ordered.

[Flowdog]

On July 29, 2019 at 10:47 AM, Steve Herschbach said:

At least I won’t run over it!

That's exactly what I thought after each fly rod I dusted over the years. They never seemed really safe. I won't even say anything about the reels. 

So far, my Equinox has avoided unplanned modification. Still afraid to even remove the coil cover for a cleaning because I know me!

[Thegoldenone]

I received the new redesigned lower plastic piece yesterday but I didn't have time to post. As you can see by the photos the new piece is designed a lot stiffer with thicker crossmembers and a thicker Center Post and what you can't see is that the alignment has been changed.... the new piece I received fits the shaft tightly, the old one was loose  and fit real sloppy.... I believe he fixed the problem of breaking the equinoxes control pod inserts!

Now as to the lower arm cuff not fitting properly I have a photo included with the size of the flat spot, Steve if you could measure yours I would appreciate it?

I should know better then to buy something that was just released... I worked for an OEM for 15 years and everything new that we released would take time to work the kinks out... 

And I forgot to mention if you have one of the old style lower plastic pieces get a hold of Tony hunt and he'll ship you a new one!

[Steve Herschbach]

What are you measuring? The rod is round, mine has no flat spot with the exception of the small groove machined into the bottom. It appears to me you are measuring in the small gap and measuring the sides of the plug insert stuck in the end of the rod.

[Thegoldenone]

Appearances can be deceiving.... here's another photo to show where I'm measuring without the plug stuck in it... On my shaft the upper arm cuff fits fine the lower part of the arm cuff there's a gap in between the shaft and the lower arm cuff... that's what caused mine to crack!