I did some work with Aborigines years ago, and I was amazed to see them literally chuck their detectors in the back of their ute. Most of them were missing the battery compartment cover, and they didn't use coil covers, so their coils were worn away on the bottom and you could see the copper windings through the caked mud. Yet they still worked fine. Mind you, they were Garrett A2Bs, which were built pretty tough.

It's quite a job rigging up wiith the skyhook and SD2200, and it gets to be a pain in the arse taking it off and putting it back on many times a day while getting in and out of the vehicle driving from one place to another. So now I leave it on, and provided I've got no passenger in the front seat, can just fit it across my knees and onto the passenger side floor of the car and still change gears. Of course this is only for short stints. Other times I just put it on the back seat and chuck a blanket over it.

I think if I was taking it on a plane, I'd take the box off and keep it in my hand luggage and put the rest in a suitcase with some clothing around it for padding.

Steve in KB.