Just a thought........

[Elton]

Wonder why Minelab will not get rid of the Etrac, Explorer chassis and go lighter.. It would be such a simple transition,,,,,,FBS Light weight...........All the electronics are in the Head now... Just a matter of redesign on the battery set up and shafts.. They could loose a pound or more in plastic volume alone.

 

[david.di]

It's the batteries and the coil that are the weight "issue" with the "Explorer" style of detectors(etrac included)

There needs to be a 12 volt supply to the detector control box somehow(though you could use AAA,but they don't last as long in the field) and the coil weight can be variable on all, though the Etrac stock Pro coil is pretty light for it's size and ability. All the rest of the Explore,Etrac, Quatro, Safari is a fairly light weight material. They could consider using and making the whole detector it out of carbon fiber, but I am guessing that they may not get that much of a weight reduction in doing that.

I feel, it really all comes down to being able to balance the detector with the way the either of the end weights(coil and battery) are distributed. I speak from the experience of actually dismantling the Explorer( and trying to mod it to get a a lighter version). It was lighter, but not by much. On the stock unmoded versions, I found that if you use the AAA to AA tube battery adapters , you can lighten the battery weight by nearly a third BUT it's hardly worth it as the coil will then become the heavy and of the detector unless one counter balances the other end and that's done primarily with the AA batteries and not the light weight plastic control box(electronics included) and battery pod/ arm rest.

Neither does hip or chest mounting the the control box and battery supply(as Iv'e done) save me from the imbalance of weight created by the coil at the end of an arm/rest search stem UNLESS I use the smaller coils. As you might imagine, holding a search stem with a weight at the end of it at a certain length starts to put a different strain on ones arm. I think that search coil and search stem assembly would almost need to be lighter or as light air, so as to relieve any strain.

What's the point of that when I can get the lightening up on a stock standard Etrac or Explorer by using the smaller coils anyway?

david di




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[Elton]

I still think they could remode the detector body to more of a pleasing weight.. The long Body only holds the Batteries anyway. If they squared it up, and made it smaller in length, and distributed the weight a little outward and not length it would feel better, and maybe be a bit lighter.. Oh well what do I know...
Like I said just a thought......