Equinox 800 balance

[Ed Osmar]

I have been water hunting for a few years with a Minelab Excalibur ll with a straight rod with the controals above my elbow and have found it very comfortable. When I got the 800 and felt the weight I thought "wow this is really light, I can swing this all day", then I took it to the beach and after a couple of hours my arm hurt. After thinking about my Excal I started to make some simple changes. I removed the armrest stand, raised the armrest to the highest setting and added a handle below the Control Unit where it was comfortable for me with the armrest all the way up my arm, just under my shoulder.With the new grip 90 degrees to the side of the Control Unit. I find that I can swing the 800 much more comfortable this way. The handle added is a bicycle end grip.

 

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[digger1965]

can you add pictures please?

 

[Professor of Engineering]

Interesting modification! Can you please add a photo or two?

 

[Ed Osmar]

Hope this helps

 

[smokeythecat]

I thought about adding a Tesoro S shaft to one, but never got around to it.

 

[chub]

Very interesting. Well done for thinking outside the box.

Chub

 

[Rookster]

That's pretty cool lookin.

 

[Jacza]

Well done! What a shame for Minelab that such modifications are necessary!

 

[smokeythecat]

Yeah, it's kind of like finding out your new Mercedes needs the hubcaps!

 

[vferrari]

Well done! What a shame for Minelab that such modifications are necessary!

They're not necessary for everyone. Believe me if my minelab showed up like Ed's I would go What? They work for Ed which is great, but would not work for me. Everyone has different needs and desires ergonomically, which is just natural because we are all built differently and have different strengths and weaknesses. Thst is why there is a robust aftermarket detector shaft and modifications business that the likes of Anderson and Plugged have filled the niche. Believe me, straight shaft or s shaft, no matter what design ML would have come out with, there would be complaining and modifications. Heck, even Calabash Digger went out and bought himself a straight shaft for his Deus, did XP bow it? Point is, ergonomics are really a 50 - 50 proposition. At least the integrated, self contained control pod enables you to mount it on whatever you want, including a broom handle if that suits your fancy. Making anything more of it than someone's personal preference is just sniping.

If ML blew it, I am scratching my head wondering why the Kruzer and Max forums are so eerily quiet and devoid of finds posts. Should I infer from that that they are lesser detectors than the Equinox? Nope. Both are good detectors in their own right and have strengths and weaknesses when compared to Equinox or any other detector for that matter.

So, "shame for Minelab"? Hardly...

 

[Rick K]

Straight shafts suit some folks. They must be either one piece or very carefully and robustly designed - just check out Andersons shafts. Their multi piece shafts are much better designed than the Nox. This is needed because straight shafts create twisting forces at every swing reversal (caused by the axis of force from armrest thru middle of handle being angled so as to lie above and at an angle to the rod-coil axis).

The Nox shaft is so far not up to the job. Wobbles, twisting and rapid wear of the locking hole in the lower shaft are evidence of this ) photo from post on another forum.

 

[smokeythecat]

Lots of people do modify machines. All the machines I have KEPT have never needed a modification. The manufacturer did it right the first time. I have quickly sold a few I just plain didn't like either the design or operation thereof.

Minelab made a nice middle grade machine. So some folks have found some clad and a few silvers, even a ring or two. Good. We all do that, assuming we have been detecting awile. Nothing to see here, move along. Another ho hum day in paradise.


Multi frequency = multi hype. 6-10" in depth? Again, my beep and go does this...the point of having a machine is to go play with it, not get into endless technogeek arguments over whose machine is bigger!

 

[vferrari]

Straight shafts suit some folks. They must be either one piece or very carefully and robustly designed - just check out Andersons shafts. Their multi piece shafts are much better designed than the Nox. This is needed because straight shafts create twisting forces at every swing reversal (caused by the axis of force from armrest thru middle if handle being angled so as to lie above and at an angle to the rod-coil axis).

The Nox shaft is so far not up to the job. Wobbles, twisting and rapid wear of the locking hole in the lower shaft are evidence of this ) photo from post on another forum.

View attachment 1600652

Of course this can go on and on. I'm having no issues with my shaft. Others like you, are. Minelab is gladly honoring their warranty on shaft issues. I have heard reports of both happy and disappointed Equinox owners upon receiving their "repaired" detector shaft. Anderson shafts are superior, which is why you don't exactly get them for free. I wonder how much ML would jack up the price of the Equinox if they subbed the shafts to Anderson? Glad ML went with an affordable overall design the enables me to make the choice of whether or not to spend the extra dough to upgrade. I bet most park and relic hunters are doing just fine out of the box.

On the other hand, if I was going to dedicate the Equinox solely to water hunting, the Anderson shaft would be my choice for the long haul because of the abuse salt water hunting puts on a detector. For occasional dipping, mine has worked fine. Other dedicated water hunters who post here and elsewhere are using the stock shaft without complaint. Like I said, ergonomics is a personal thing, no detectr company is going to get it 100% right for 100% users.

 

[Minelab Matt]

They're not necessary for everyone. Believe me if my minelab showed up like Ed's I would go What? They work for Ed which is great, but would not work for me. Everyone has different needs and desires ergonomically, which is just natural because we are all built differently and have different strengths and weaknesses. Thst is why there is a robust aftermarket detector shaft and modifications business that the likes of Anderson and Plugged have filled the niche. Believe me, straight shaft or s shaft, no matter what design ML would have come out with, there would be complaining and modifications. Heck, even Calabash Digger went out and bought himself a straight shaft for his Deus, did XP bow it? Point is, ergonomics are really a 50 - 50 proposition. At least the integrated, self contained control pod enables you to mount it on whatever you want, including a broom handle if that suits your fancy. Making anything more of it than someone's personal preference is just sniping.

If ML blew it, I am scratching my head wondering why the Kruzer and Max forums are so eerily quiet and devoid of finds posts. Should I infer from that that they are lesser detectors than the Equinox? Nope. Both are good detectors in their own right and have strengths and weaknesses when compared to Equinox or any other detector for that matter.

So, "shame for Minelab"? Hardly...

Well said.
Nice post

100% agree.

Matt.

 

[Minelab Matt]

Of course this can go on and on. I'm having no issues with my shaft. Others like you, are. Minelab is gladly honoring their warranty on shaft issues. I have heard reports of both happy and disappointed Equinox owners upon receiving their "repaired" detector shaft. Anderson shafts are superior, which is why you don't exactly get them for free. I wonder how much ML would jack up the price of the Equinox if they subbed the shafts to Anderson? Glad ML went with an affordable overall design the enables me to make the choice of whether or not to spend the extra dough to upgrade. I bet most park and relic hunters are doing just fine out of the box.

On the other hand, if I was going to dedicate the Equinox solely to water hunting, the Anderson shaft would be my choice for the long haul because of the abuse salt water hunting puts on a detector. For occasional dipping, mine has worked fine. Other dedicated water hunters who post here and elsewhere are using the stock shaft without complaint. Like I said, ergonomics is a personal thing, no detectr company is going to get it 100% right for 100% users.

Another 10/10 post.

Again...100% agree.

Matt

 

[Minelab Matt]

I have 50 hours on my Equinox 800.

I have no shaft wobble and no arm cuff wear.

For me, ergonomics of the machine are great.

Only thing i would change/add to the machine, if i realllly have to nitpick....an overload function.

Absolutely love my machine.

The performance in beach mode 1 on trashy beach with recovery speed at 7 is nothing short of FREAKIN AWESOME!!

Matt.

 

[smokeythecat]

I have been digging against a few 800's in the last 6 weeks or so. Observations so far, and since we didn't do parks, that premise is not addressed. On a salt water beach (wet) the Equinox is very, very good.

In the horrid red Virginia dirt, it is ok, but most any other mid range machine will do just as well as the soil is terrible. Even the PI machines become almost useless due to the amount of iron in the dirt and nails in the ground.

In farm fields, grassy areas it will do fine with larger targets and for high conductors. It will not see small items like small colonial brass buttons, lead buck and ball loads, Indian trade points, pewter buttons and such. I blame that on the big coil. It just doesn't see them. It would apparently miss small gold as gold is a mid range conductor also. Some of our targets are 10" deep or more. The soil is very good.

A smaller coil would make it competitive, however as some of our places are over 100 acres, the 6" coil would probably be a waste. A 9" coil would be preferable, maybe even an elliptical coil.

These are the actual conditions I have witnessed. FYI

 

[Minelab Matt]

Well ive dug absolutely loads of tiny stuff at 12inches in my soil here in UK...so your soil must be real bad.

Matt.

 

[vferrari]

Only thing i would change/add to the machine, if i realllly have to nitpick....an overload function.

Matt.

Matt -

Agree, the lack of overload modulation is a down check for me too. I have been using pinpoint mode as a workaround because it gives me a pretty good idea of the size and depth of a target which helps with high ringing big iron and large aluminum targets like cans that otherwise sound good. The extra step is a pain, but if you regularly use pinpoint to recover targets anyway, it really just becomes second nature.