What weights more a pound of gold or a pound of silver?

Ok, I do know the answer a pound is a pound which is why lately I have been concerned with weight. I have a Safari very nice detector but for me it gets heavy way to soon. Many of my hunts are cut short because of arm fatigue. Now my safari weights less the the Etrac but still it gets heavy. I met Lipservice the other day ad he has a CZ3D he chest mounts. I have to say I am jealous. Not because it is such a nice deep seeking detector which he clearly proved to me, no I am jealous because the only weight he has to bare on his arm is the weight of the pole and coil.

There are several detectors that alow for chest or hip mounting, the minelab, sovergiens and Excaliburs come to mind, most of the Fisher CZ model can do this as well. There are a few others but these are the most popular. Boy I wish more manufactures would make this an option.

So here is my three step formula for success - this is a three legged stool cut any of these legs short and your odds of success go way down:

1. First find a good place to hunt - someplace people have been going and the longer they have been going there the better

2. Know your detector backwards and forwards - the better you understand what your detector is telling you and what it can do well and not so well the more likely you will find the treasures you seek.

3. Cover the ground with your coil from north and south and from east and west - in other words if you are not swinging you are not finding

Ok those seem pretty obvious to most here but the last one I am finding the most challenging. Weight and fatigue are more of a problem then I wanted to admit.

Solution is to to either start doing a lot of arm exercises or find something easier to swing. This is frustrating because I like my safari and think I am getting pretty good at understanding her and what she can do which is a lot - Etrac light so to speak. But as good of a detector as she is if I can only swing her for two hours without feeling like my arm is going to fall off I am missing one leg of the three legged stool of success.

Now this is very much an individual issue and maybe an age issue as well. My safari in a younger or stronger hand could easily be swung for a much longer time then I am margining.

So here are my top contenders for a less fatiguing detector

1. XP Deus
2. F75ltd
3. any of the chest or hip mount detectors I mentioned above

So no matter how you cut it a pound is a pound and I need fewer pounds at the end of my arm!

Bryanna

f75 ltd is very well ballanced and easy to swing, the chest mount or hip mount is also good. you might try a "swingy thingy"(strap and bungie cord that takes all the wieght off your arm)
chuck.

It was a plasure meeting you the other day and doing some beeping with ya Bryannagirl
If I were you I'd try the 'Doc's Swingy Thingy' before changing detectors or anything! [www.docsdetecting.com]
I'm an old man but yesterday I lasted 6 hours by having a light setup (chest mount)... have to using big loops!
It is a tremenous advantage not being bothered by weight so you can concentrate

Weight is one thing and ergonomics another and I speak as I hold an old classic 4lb Garrett Coin Commander with dual disc. and batteries under the armcup sort of like a Fisher 1266 or Tesoro Tejon which copied this style somewhere along the way..Gosh Charles Garrett had some good ideas way back when but didn't stick to them judging by modern Garretts.

Indeed make a lightweight egonomically good Explorer series and they won't be able to make them fast enough as they will fly off the shelves.

Safari is indeed a good unit but certainly not an Explorer and a CZ is about 1.5 lighter but ergonomics far from perfect and add a 12 inch coil and sure you have to bodymount as its really nose heavy.

As far as things that take the weight off the arm they just shift the weight to the larger back muscles so be careful out there as a bad arm can make you swing opposite arm but a bad back can put you in a wheel chair.

Indeed the industry has come up with some good lightweight units so visit your local mult-line dealer if thats the problem.

Just calling a spade a spade and forum members the industry has many options so use what works for you and lets hope Minelab reads some of these forums as those guys down under must have some big arms...

Balance only goes so far. I heard from many that the Sovereign GT, being on it's now straight shaft compared to older Sovereigns, was well balance. Yes, it was, but after a couple of hours you still felt that heavy weight. So I built a custom shaft for mine, changed to a lighter Whites arm cup, and ran a 3 cell lipo battery in it, and did a few other mods such as ditching the coil cover and using spray on bedliner to protect the coil's bottom. End result was a machine 1.5 pounds lighter than stock, and as a result MUCH more comfortable to use even all day long. The lower shaft I used was a Whites tall man carbon fiber shaft, and I also used a lighter grade aluminum for the upper shaft. The Minelab stock arm cup alone weighs half a pound, so the Whites was an easy choice.

The Etrac is 4.8 pounds. The CTX is 5.3 pounds, or in other words a full half pound heavier. I think the SE Pro weighs 4.0 pounds, so if that's true the CTX is almost 1.5 pounds heavier. Balance I'm sure will help in some ways, but balance or not that's still a lot of weight on your arm and shoulder after a few hours.

I also saw somebody raise concerns about the screen sticking up and the broad/blunt back end of the machine provided more resistance in moving through the water as compared to say an Xcal with it's long slender smooth tube, as well as the ability to hip mount the Xcal or mount it's tube sticking up from the very end of the shaft so it's out of the water until you get very deep. Somebody related to try swinging a 2x4 around in the water for a while and see if sleekness matters to you.

I had a CZ3 and I ust to carry the head attached to my built but it was not heavy less I used the 10 inch coil why don't you get the newer F75??

LowBoy

TAKE A LITTLE TIME KICKBACK AND WATCH SOME OF MY DETECTING VIDEO'S BELOW ON YouTube

[www.youtube.com]

If you don’t dig it, then how are you going to know what you’re missing!
How can you have your pudding if you don’t eat your meat!

The F75 LTD is a pleasure to swing, super fast recovery and deep. It's balanced perfectly and it's light to begin with. The Deus seems like it has a lot of great features in addition to the light weight aspect. Hard choice. I have the F75 LTD but still thinking about selling off a few units and getting a Deus.

I run my CZ6a this way ( I posted this pic several times ). I can hunt all day with the 8 inch coil on it. The 10.5 and Sunray FZ12 make it a tad coil heavy, but with the 8 inch coil, it's a breeze to hunt with. This pic has the 10.5 on it.

I have the impression you are mostly a beach hunter, if so that limits the model that you would want ( one that handles wet salt sand ). I dont know how well the Deus works on the beach, but I do know the ML sov. work very well and can be hip mounted. . JMO

I am going to look on youtube to see one of those in Action. I like the Safari but it can be a bear to swing for any length of time. Thanks for the Suggestion. Hope to see you again in the field soon.

Lipservice Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> It was a plasure meeting you the other day and
> doing some beeping with ya Bryannagirl
> If I were you I'd try the 'Doc's Swingy Thingy'
> before changing detectors or anything!
> [www.docsdetecting.com]
> I'm an old man but yesterday I lasted 6 hours by
> having a light setup (chest mount)... have to
> using big loops!
> It is a tremenous advantage not being bothered by
> weight so you can concentrate

No I am not a beach hunter I am about as far from the coast as you can get dead in the center of the US. I really wish I lived near a beach because I would be a Beach Hunter for sure. I am planning on Retiring near a beach if I can. I hunt parks for the most part - may try some fresh water beaches someday but not that many of them around hear.

Hobo Wrote:
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> I have the impression you are mostly a beach
> hunter, if so that limits the model that you would
> want ( one that handles wet salt sand ). I dont
> know how well the Deus works on the beach, but I
> do know the ML sov. work very well and can be hip
> mounted. . JMO

Wow! This post was made for me!

Ever since I put the 10.5 coil on the CZ-3D, the whole issue of weight came to the foreground for me. I did hip mount the control box but this required that I learn a whole new way to dig!

And I agree with Bryannagirl, a pound is a pound regardless of how you balance it. You can cheat physics, at the end of the day, your arm still has to hold that weight.

So I find myself hunting with the AT Pro because it's the lighter unit I own -3lbs with the large coil, lighter with the smaller coil.

I had a chance to hold an F75LTD last Summer and I was shocked by how light it is. Then I saw that a Tesoro Vaquero is 2.2lbs and I was tempted to get one.

BUT for the same weight (and about $1300 more) I can get an XP Deus, which, unless someone comes out with a flagship detector that is as light in the next 3 months, will be the next detector I buy.

So yes, I never imagined when I started this hobby that weight would become the determining factor for choosing my machines!!!

Pinpoint twice, dig once

Hey Pulltab - guys have an advantage because by nature you have more muscle mass. My arms are not that muscular.

Bryannagirl Wrote:
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> Hey Pulltab - guys have an advantage because by
> nature you have more muscle mass. My arms are not
> that muscular.

LOL! I didn't seem to have a problem with weight when I was only hunting for high tones. Since I began digging for low conductors, I realized a lot of my energy needs to go into the almost 100 squats I do per hunt. This is where a lighter detector becomes a tactical advantage.

Pinpoint twice, dig once