To chest mount or not?

[Finderskeeper]

I've had lots of fun with the Excalibur metal detectors and have made some great finds. I've used the straight shafts from Plugger and have built my own. Plugger has some great products. His shaft locks are awesome!

I really like the straight shaft as it is way better than the factory shaft. Makes me wonder why Minelab continues to make the Excalibur with that ergonomic nightmare that is the factory shaft.

I am thinking of trying the chest mount system that Plugger offers. Anyone have any experience with his chest mount and chest mounts in general? Any positives or negatives with the chest mount other than possible wire breakage? Is changing from pin point to discriminate easier with the chest mount than a straight shaft? Is diving with the chest mount better or worse? Any help would be appreciated!

 

[Critterhunter]

If you haven't already look in the Excalibur Accessories sticky at the top of the forum. There are some pics of chest mount setups and various others, and also should be some links to threads with a lot of back and fourth debate on which way is best to mount the pod (chest, hip, on the shaft, etc). Just be sure to loop your coil cable loosely twice before where it enters the POD to take stress of the constant cable motion from body to shaft, and also do the same with the coil cable where it meets the shaft. You don't want a tight pivot point where body motion keeps stressing a pinch point or it could lead to a short. If and when I ever own an Excalibur (doubtful with my waterproof Plano Box/back shaft snap on extension mod I'm doing this winter), I myself would opt for mounting the pod on a back shaft extension. That way it balances a straight shaft better and also keeps the POD up and out of the water even down to neck deep. There are some pics in that sticky of setups that way (with long shafts like that) and I really like that idea because it lessons drag and also gives easy access (for the most part, since the controls are at head height) to the controls.