X-terra S-shaft Modded For The Equinox

[steveg]

Goldpick, 

Good points.  As for the CTX, I've never checked the actual balance on the CTX, but I do swing one, and I can tell you that having swung a "perfectly balanced" Equinox, the CTX is NOT "perfectly balanced."  It is DEFINITELY "more balanced" than an Explorer or E-Trac, but it absolutely does NOT feel "perfectly balanced."  Again, I've never checked to verify that, but if you go back to nickeldNdimed's pictures, and look his pictures, I am expecting that at best, the CTX would hang somewhere between his "no weight" picture (machine nearly vertical), and his "weight applied" (machine approaching "detecting position") picture.  In other words, I expect that the CTX is rather far removed from being "perfectly balanced" (perfect balance being defined as the machine "naturally" resting in "detecting position").

Steve

[Goldpick]

I should have said more well balanced vs perfectly balanced, with the battery pack offsetting some of the coil/shaft weight.  More to the point is even if it were "perfectly balanced", there is still a reasonable amount weight to have to control on each swing of the coil - something that I don't think I could comfortably deal with these days, especially after using much lighter platforms.  I do have to agree that the s-bend Explorer and Etrac shafts were definitely not well balanced.  Despite loving the SE Pro, I did end up with a bad case of "trigger finger" after several years of usage, mainly thanks to the crook angle of the hand grip.

I guess sometimes we are a bit spoiled with the current crop of detectors using minaturised electronics, lightweight lithium power sources and composite/carbon shafts, you do tend to forget what is was like hauling around the older FBS detectors in the past.

[steveg]

Goldpick -- no doubt!  I got such a bad case of "tennis elbow" swinging an Explorer, that I ended up having to become "ambidextrous" and learn to swing left-handed!  🙂

Steve