Everyone,
I wanted to make a few points here.
First of all, there is a reason the counterweight system is an OPTIONAL accessory to my shafts. I realize that not everyone will WANT a counterweight (they simply prefer keeping the overall weight of the machine as light as possible), and not everyone will NEED a counterweight (such as vferrari, who did not purchase the counterweight, because he was able to improve the "feel" of his shaft WITHOUT purchasing the weight).
I also realize, as I have said many times, that it can be a bit counterintuitive to "add weight" to a light machine. However, there is legitimate science behind the idea, and that's why it works for so many. I went through some of this debate, back when I was asking for user input during the design phase -- right here on the forum. There were plenty of skeptics back then, and there still are, now. I get that. And I can fully appreciate skepticism. I am a scientist, and scientists are by nature "skeptical." We HAVE to be. Things must be proven, repeatedly, through empirical observation, before they can be accepted as fact.
HOWEVER, when someone says "adding counterweight
will not work," or "metal detectors …
are not subject to better performance from balance" (as was stated earlier in this thread) they are simply making incorrect statements.
Now, to say -- as vferrari did -- that adding counterweight "
may not work for everyone," in terms of relieving fatigue or pain, that IS a true statement. As he said, there can be different causes for pain or fatigue. But the categorical statements -- i.e. that counterweighting "will not work" or "can not improve performance" of a shaft system -- these are simply incorrect statements.
First of all, unless one were to try a properly counterweighted shaft, how could one state that counterweighting "won't work" or "can't help," when the physics of the situation suggests otherwise?
Secondly, if one were to try a properly counterweighted shaft, and it only felt heavier to that individual, without any improvement in their pain or fatigue level, then the MOST that person could say is, "the counterweighting solution didn't work
FOR ME." As vferrari noted, SOME users may experience pain for
other reasons, not related to the nose-heaviness of the unit.
I know that many folks are not bothered by the nose-heaviness/imbalance of the Equinox. I personally will rarely use counterweighting; only when I swing the 12" x 15" coil for very long hunts, do I experience any fatigue, and so only then do I add counterweighting. But others feel much more pain/fatigue, even on a short hunt, and MANY of those folks
have been helped significantly, through counterweighting. This isn't the peddling of "snake oil," or "hocus pocus," or the "placebo effect;" again, it's science.
Consider this...if I ask you to go pick up an 8-foot-long, two-by-four piece of lumber, and carry it to me,
how will you pick it up? Are you going to reach down and grab it at the very end of the board, and try to lift it? Of COURSE not! Although the absolute weight of the 2x4 is not substantial (about 11 or 12 pounds -- something nearly any of us could lift), it is nonetheless VERY DIFFICULT to lift the 2x4 off the ground if lifting it from one end,
let alone carry it for any distance. Why? Because --
IT IS IMBALANCED. Speaking from a physics perspective, the long board is acting as a lever, the "fulcrum" is at the end of the board (the location you are lifting it from), and gravity is acting on the piece of lumber
using leverage to its advantage. The result?? It feels HEAVY. And this example is not AT ALL unlike the situation with a detector, where the "fulcrum" is at the hand grip (very near to the end of the lever).
INSTEAD of lifting the board from the very end, what most everyone would intuitively do, of course, is find the approximate MIDDLE of the 2x4, and lift
from that point. NOW, the MIDDLE of the board (where you are lifting it from) becomes the fulcrum, and you now have equal weight on either side of the fulcrum. This makes the 2x4 VERY EASY to carry, even over a long distance. Another way of saying it, is that the 2x4 is "properly counterweighted" -- you have evened the weight on either side of the fulcrum, and it becomes
much easier to lift/carry.
To carry my analogy a bit further...say you take that same 2x4, which you are holding at the exact center (the "center of gravity"). Now, allow me to add 2 pounds of weight to the very end of the board, at one end only. Instead of 12 pounds of weight, the board with the 2-pound weight at the end now weighs about 14 pounds -- not a huge difference. But, what happens? The now-weighted end of the board begins to immediately "fall" toward the ground, of course. Why? because the board is once again IMBALANCED. THIS is the situation with a detector -- a weight (the coil), sitting out at the end of a long lever (the shaft), with the fulcrum NOT at the "center of gravity."
NOW -- say I ask you to carry that now-imbalanced board some distance, but hold it LEVEL as you carry it, and do this WITHOUT moving your hand position (i.e. without changing the fulcrum position). Difficult, right? You are having to use your arm/wrist to counteract that 2 pounds of weight, out at the end of the board, in order to hold the board level to the ground. Do you think your arm/wrist/shoulder might begin to become fatigued, or even that some pain might develop, if you continued to fight gravity, trying to hold that board level, for any appreciable length of time? Is this not VERY similar to the situation with your detector? Do you not have a
1 to 2 pound "weight" at one end of a long lever, with you fighting gravity with your arm/wrist/shoulder in order to keep the coil of the machine floating a couple of inches off the ground as you swing?
NOW, however, imagine -- with your hand still at the center of the board -- that I then add ANOTHER two pounds of weight, but to the OTHER end of that board. In other words, I've added TWO POUNDS OF COUNTERWEIGHTING. NOW what? Does the board go back to being level, with NO EFFORT AT ALL being applied by your wrist/arm to keep the board level? And with the board level, and properly balanced, is it now easier to carry than it was before, when only the first 2-pound weight was applied at one end? And, more importantly, is it now easier to carry, in that level position,
DESPITE now weighing two pounds
more (16 pounds, instead of only 14 pounds)?
Again, there is some rather simple physics at play here, and this underlies the
entire premise of my counterweight system. Again, I fully agree that if the machine does
not feel nose-heavy to you, and is thus
not causing you any pain or fatigue, there is NO REASON to add counterweighting; all that the counterweight would do in that case is make the machine heavier, with no compensating benefit.
I also fully respect that someone might try the counterweighting, and find that it does NOT help with their fatigue or pain. Again, IF their fatigue or pain is due to some OTHER cause, INSTEAD of the machine's nose-heaviness, the counterweighting will not help much, if at all. While I will note that I haven't had
single customer yet say that the counterweighting did not help,
if not totally solve, the pain/fatigue issues they were having,
I acknowledge that it is possible that not all will be helped.
Finally, I think it goes without saying that adding counterweighting WILL make the machine "heavier," in an "absolute" sense. I think this is obvious. HOWEVER, going back to my 2x4 board examples above, I think it should ALSO be obvious that adding a PROPER amount of weight, in the PROPER location, would
most certainly make the machine "feel lighter," and thus easier to swing,
for many Equinox users. The more correct way to say it is, the machine becomes "more balanced," and thus "easier to swing," but to most, the sense is simply that the unit feels "lighter," despite the additional overall weight, thus relieving the pain/fatigue being experienced.
Finally, while I can appreciate the need for civility, and I strive at all times (imperfectly, of course) to remain respectful and civil when dealing with others, I personally did not find HighVDI's choice of the word "ignorance" as lacking civility. Given that the definition of ignorance is "lack of knowledge" (not "dumb," or "stupid," but simply "not informed"), it seemed a reasonable way to describe someone saying something "can't work," without having any first-hand experience with the product,
and in contradiction to the science underlying the situation. So yes, if someone states
categorically that counterbalancing the Equinox "does not work," or that "balancing a shaft will not make it perform better" --
especially if the person making the statement has never seen nor tried the counterweighting system I offer -- then I do think it is fair to say that they are speaking from a position of being "not informed." And if someone is "not informed," it seems to me that they are unable to speak with any authority on whether the counterweights I've designed "work," or not.
Please forgive the long-windedness here, but since this was a thread that was started
with my business's name in the title, I wanted to offer this commentary to hopefully help to ensure that any misinformation found in the thread is challenged/rebutted. I try to run my business in such a way so as to be as honest and straight-forward as I can possibly be, and as such, I wouldn't be selling the counterweight system for my shafts, if counterbalancing the unit was not scientifically sound, and thus would not offer any benefit to a good number of folks out there swinging the Equinox. That's not me, that's not the way I do business.
Bottom line -- if you are someone who is having arm/wrist/shoulder pain, and looking for some assistance, I encourage you to try my counterweight system. Or rig something up yourself -- and try it out. Again, I understand skepticism, but I also understand science, and it's pretty incontrovertible, in this case. Counterbalancing IS a good solution, for
many Equinox users experiencing hand/wrist/arm/shoulder pain or fatigue. There are plenty of folks now using the system, who have, and will, attest to the difference that the counterweight system makes. Again, the science supports it...
Thanks!
Steve
Steve's Detector Rods, home of Equinox and CTX 3030 carbon-fiber shafts and rods
www.facebook.com/stevesdetectorrods
