Steve’s Detector Rods Equinox Shaft and Counterweight Kit

Steve’s Detector Rods Equinox Shaft and Counterweight Kit

Detectorists, does your arm ever get sore when you are in the middle of a hunt? Have you ever had to call it a day before you were ready to leave because of arm fatigue or pain? Well if that is the case you owe it to yourself and your hobby to check out Steve’s Detector Shafts counterweight compatible carbon fiber shaft kit for the Equinox 600/800. You will not regret this decision, not one bit.  

Just the Facts:

Minelab Equinox 600/800 “Counterweight-Ready” Complete Carbon-Fiber Shaft System

Our “counterweight-ready” complete shaft for the Minelab Equinox includes one standard-length (26″) lower rod (with spring button, for compatibility with the Minelab stock shaft), along with our “counterweight-ready” upper shaft. The upper shaft includes 4 cuff-adjustment holes, and one hole for the control-box handle (in the same positions as the stock Minelab shaft). The shaft also includes a heavy duty, adjustable, removable clamping cam lock. Finally, this shaft includes a threaded insert in the butt-end of the shaft (to permit attachment of the counterweight), and a matching-threaded end cap (to cap the shaft when the counterweight is not being used).

Spring-button holes can also be added to the upper shaft, for an additional $10 charge.

Additional lower rods can be purchased with any complete shaft, at a special add-on price of $55 (black)/$65 (colored).

Custom-length lower rods can also be substituted for the standard-length lower rod, upon customer request, for an additional $5.

Specifications:

• Upper Shaft Length: 34 7/8 in.
• Upper Shaft Weight: 4.81 oz. (136 g)
• Lower Rod Length: 26 in. (custom lengths available upon request)
• Lower Rod Weight: 3.06 oz. (87g)
• Material: Carbon-fiber (3K, twill pattern, glossy finish)
• Cam Lock material: Injection-molded Plastic (nylon)
• Threaded End Cap material: Delrin
• Threaded Butt-End Insert material: Delrin

Counterweight Tube (with lead weighting included)

Our counterweights — compatible with our “counterweight-ready” Equinox shafts, are designed to help balance out the nose-heaviness of the unit, for better ergonomic comfort. These tubes screw into a threaded insert in the end of our “counterweight-ready” upper shafts, for easy installation and removal, and they also include a threaded cap on the end of the tube. The removable cap permits the amount of weight in the tube to be adjusted easily, to account for different coil weights, different conditions, or simply user preference. The tubes are custom-built for each user, at whatever length (and weight capacity) is preferred

Specifications:

• Tube Length: up to 6 7/8 in. (customimzed based on customer preference).
• Tube Weight: roughly 5 oz. (127 g) empty, with total weight included to be based on customer preference.
• Tube Material: Carbon-fiber (glossy finish)
• Threaded Fitting and End Cap Material: Delrin

My Story:

Metal detecting has become one of my new favorite hobbies. I really love pulling lost and forgotten treasure from the ground. The only issue is that it takes time, lots of time, to unearth these treasures. During a good hunt you may spend more than just a few hours walking and swinging your coil. By the end of the day you are plain whooped and often have sore shoulders, back and knees. Why is this? Well, because you are swinging a weight, the coil and shaft, back and forth for hours on ends and bending over often to dig up the targets you have identified. Its super fun but it takes a toll on the body, a toll that most detectorists are always trying minimize.

I was also interested in the carbon fiber. I mean, yes I am trying to find metal, but not the metal on the detector itself. I love the idea of a corrosion resistant nonmetal shaft that is every bit as functional as it’s aluminum counterpart. Additionally I love that Steve added the cam-lock option to the shafts as I find this to be more of a solid unit than that of the button lock that other shafts use. IT also makes it nice when storing the detector in the car as it is far less difficult to retract or extend than the button lock. This is a huge win!

When my detector shaft arrived I was instantly impressed with how great it looked. The carbon fiber looked fantastic and it was clearly a well-made quality product.  I stripped the forearm guard and other Equinox components off of my current shaft and assembled the new package. Personally I think the counter weight makes the detector look pretty BA and I like having something unique.

When choosing the amount of weight to use in the counter weight I really had a fun time messing with the different configurations.

 I planned to swing the 11’’ coil and so I messed with the weight as instructed by Steve’s webpage of which you can view here http://www.stevesdetectorrods.com/blog/index.php . After playing with the weight I found that the 7 oz. bag was most comfortable to use with my 11’’ coil, which is exactly what Steve’s webpage recommended. It’s nice to see that real world comfort and manufacture recommendation can be aligned. I would love to recap everything he says about the science of his system but it is way too much to write here. After reading this review please make sure to visit the above link and read some very fantastic information about Steve’s products. He truly is passionate about innovation and providing a great product. Anyway, back to my experience.   

With a fancy new system I headed off to the parks and front yards of my howe town. I swung my coil over all types of terrain and while using a new system did not make gold stick to my leg, as I was hoping it would, it did provide more comfort while detecting and that resulted in longer hunts. That is not something to take lightly as my time is very precious and when I have time to hunt I like to maximize it. Anything that keeps me in the field longer is a major asset.   

My finial testing area was the Oregon Coast. I honestly can’t tell you how much fun I had with my machine. It was the best and worst metal detecting trip I have ever taken. I found nearly nothing of value other than some clad and a decent Gerber pocket knife.

While those were not impressive finds I did come away with a real treasure. I FREAKING LOVE this new shaft and counter weight system. I was at about 90% sure of how much I loved it until I finished my trip. I found myself thinking more about how much I loved the counterweight system more than I thought of the nearly new knife I found.  Hello, my name is Cory, and I’m a counterweight-a-holic!

So for all you detectorists out that that are looking to upgrade your NOX and to do it right the first time. Go check out Steve’s Detector Rods and pick up a counterweight compatible shaft. Your head, shoulders, knees, and toes will love you for it! Also you will look cooler than your friends, well until they buy their own that is.

Find It Here:

http://www.stevesdetectorrods.com/list.php

What could be done better?

I would like to see a little more robust bag for the internal weights of the counterweight system. Two of mine split at the seam and made a bit of a mess with the lead pellets. This is not an issue with the shaft nor the system so I will not take away from my solid 5 star rating on what I believe to be the best aftermarket Equinox shaft system on the market!