Nick, I haven't used mine for a while, because it's in the pawn shop "temporarily", but if my tired old brain remembers anything at all, it seems like I almost always undo the latches at the housing and the middle of the shaft, then pull down the top part of the shaft in order to get at the coil end better (the end that attaches to the housing), then I put the housing and the other half in my "big bad blue" carry bag (that's what I call it) which I bought from Kelllyco. I agree with everyone about being careful with the ends and not bending the cable, especially at the ends too much. I think it's a very rugged unit, but I know from experience as a musician using cables all my life, that if you flex and bend them too many times, sometimes they'll get a short in them right near the ends, so, I'd just "baby" it at those points. One thing to always remember, and this goes for any plug, is ALWAYS PULL ON THE PLUG IT'SELF, NOT THE CORD ATTACHED TO THE PLUG. I know that's kind of a "no brainer", but you'd be surprised at how many people will just grab the chord and yank on it to pull it out of the housing, or wall, or whatever unit we're talking about. Of course by pulling on the cord it'self, it'll weaken the attachment to the plug. The other "big no-no" is to never, ever try and undo or try and pull out the cable from the coil it's self. I know they stress that in the owners manual also. It would be nice if we could do that, but the warranty doesn't even cover that, I don't believe. I've never taken the housing apart either. I'm too chicken that I might void the warranty, but I'm excited for you that your now a proud new or even used Quatro owner. Welcome to the "Quatro gang". I still love mine, and hope to get it back soon. Keep those "cards and letters" coming. We're all getting "hungry" for some new blood, or any kind of blood, to post here on the Quatro forum. Don't let the lack of posts lately scare you. You still bought an awesome detector, and there's many, many great, informative posts in the "achieves" of this forum you can read that are not only interesting, but extremely informative. There was a time a few years back, when you couldn't hardly read all the new posts on the Quatro section of this forum, without getting tired out, so go back to the achieves and I think you'll be pleased. Marc Trainor, other wise known as "backslider". (at least that's my name for now, till I get my life straightened out a bit)