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Loose Rods, Wobbly Rods, Rod Flex


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First off, these issues are real, but they are not common to all Equinox, only some of them.

Some people are reporting excessive play or slop when the rod twist locks are twisted all the way down. This is not normal. Mine and most others are quite firm when the twist locks are in the full tightened position. There are some early units which apparently are not made to spec. Minelab is aware of this, and if your rod is excessively loose or wobbly when the twist locks are fully engaged, then units can and have been repaired under warranty. Contact Minelab if you are having an issue with excessive rod play.

I have seen a couple people complain about excessive flex in the lower rod when swinging the coil. Honestly, I just don’t get this one. I normally run my rod in the last locked position, fully extended. If find the rod assembly to be quite normal with minimal rod flex at most. I hate loose rod connections and I hate excessive rod flex, and mine exhibits neither of these issues to any degree that I find objectionable. The issue with twist locks being loose is a known problem. Excessive lower rod flex however is not, and could only come about if there are lower rods out there that are not as stiff as mine is. Not impossible, but I am a bit more doubtful on this particular issue. If anyone has a unit with what the consider to be excessive lower rod flex, a video demonstrating the issue would be good. I am guessing perhaps the two problems are one and the same, and people complaining of excessive rod flex may actually have issues with the twist locks being loose.

minelab-equinox-rod-assembly-measurements.jpg

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Yep minelab will fix the camlock issue I know first hand.they were nice and flexible about it and now mine is solid.upper camlock was bad.to get lower rod flex your have to be beating a tree with it!;)

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At this time and because i dont use them i have found no problem with mine. But saying that i have had this problem with Terra stems in the past . Because they and the Nox stems are cheap stems to keep the price of the machine down they will not be like a CTX or ET . They will wear and in time the camlocks will in time break and continue to twist round without locking properly .

The middle stem going into the upper stem will also wobble a bit over time .

But for me its not a major issue , if i keep mine long enough i will just buy replacement stems .

Then again i will have my Anderson shaft too .

This is going by my experience of the 705 .

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I was wondering about this.  Mine has a spongy feeling, I wouldn't call it excessive flex but it doesnt feel as sturdy as my 3030.  I just thought it was because the bottom shat hung out so far and was narrower.  Thank you for bringing it to our attention!

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Mine doesn’t feel like the 3030 either, it feels about 3lbs lighter than the 3030 :happy:

I better check mine for wobble the next time I’m out and get it taken care of there’s an issue.  Can’t say I’ve noticed it, but I wasn’t looking for it either.

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If you have not noticed it then it is very unlikely you have a problem - it is apparently rather pronounced. My main fear posting this thread was people who have not had an issue before now deciding they do (power of suggestion) so people do need to be sure and contact Minelab before doing anything. If anyone ever gets a firm line on how to diagnose the problem as being sufficient to justify Minelab replacing something let us all know. There must be something that measure out of specification that can be checked to verify the problem.

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You opened the can Steve! Lol..the problem I had and what I think most have if their is a problem you can tell at the end of every swing but a quick way to know for sure is grab your detector hold the middle shaft in one hand and the control box in another of it will twist the top camlock is bad.there is a video on youtube or finds treasure a guy put up and mine was the same so I'm guessing this is the main or majority issue

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And as I stated it was a big wobble anyone would notice it without a forum or knowledge a wobble existed.i would say this if it's not a whoa this thing has issues wobble then it may very well be in your head.im just saying I hope people don't over think it like you said steve cause overthinking it is easy done.good luck fellas 

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