I covered a lot of this in my "Newbie Sovereign Comparison To Whites/Explorer" thread, but here goes. With fresh eyes on this machine compared to all my others here is what they should do...
Drop the weight of the straight shaft: Why so thick of a metal upper rod and a thick fiberglass lower one? They need to go smaller (like Whites size) with the metal on the lower rod, and they should provide a carbon rod for the lower one. The stock upper/lower shaft on this thing is much heavier than a Whites yet it isn't as stiff as a Whites. Makes no sense. Does anybody know the stock GT straight shaft weight and the weight of aftermarket ones? Also, what are they composed of material wise? I want to lighten this thing up.
Drop the weight of the 10" coil: Why in the world does this thing have all that heavy epoxy on the bottom of the coil case? Never seen that before. Unless you plan to use it for home security there is no reason for that. Probably why a 12" Sunray weighs less.
Drop the weight/length of the cables: They are twice as thick as a White's and probably twice as long. Not only is this added weight but also makes the machine look like it was made in somebody's garage with all those wraps around the shaft. I realize they did this to hip mount the box if needed but why not sell and extension cable for that? Most people don't hip mount, yet the rest of us are forced to suffer with the extra weight/length. Imagine the production cost savings they could make by not making all the coils and meters with that extra long useless cable. Mounting a meter makes the coil cable length even worse, and the meter's is also excessively long.
Drop the weight of the battery pack: It's 2009 these days and soon to be 2010. Battery technology has come a long way. A 3 cell 2250ma (12.6V) lipo pack is 3.3 ounces lighter than the stock rechargable pack and will have over twice the run time. These batteries were designed for low weight/high capacity and are used in the hobby of RC airplanes and now some new power tools and other things. I plan to mod my Sovereign by exiting a connector from the power leads inside the box. The lipo pack will sit on the top of the box nicely right next to the shaft and will be held on with velcro. I'll still be able to unplug it and use the stock pack in the normaly pack spot, but I plan to leave even the empty battery hold off the GT when I'm using the lipo pack to shave a few more ounces in weight as well. By the way, a 1000ma capacity on the stock pack is nothing. They should have had at least a 2000ma pack with the detector for double the run time, though the stock pack should run 15 to 20 hours. Not bad. If anything, you can save yourself some weight by running those Energizer Lithium AA batteries in the stock holder. They are close to half the weight of regular AAs and will have longer run times. These are not rechargable like my lipos, though.
That foam handgrip is junk. Any bike shop should be able to give you something to slide over it that will make it much more comfortable and hold up better.
The plastic control box is cheesy. Use a better plastic or use aluminum or something like Whites. Also not fond of the way the box connects to the shaft. Mine seems to have some play. Need a better design here. I'm also worried that with the right bump the box will unsnap.
The meter's mount is outrageously bad. Who thought that people could use it in that position? Why not provide a clip with the meter or the detector that would raise it 4 or 5 inches and tilt it back for easy viewing above the hang grip? I'm not willing to pay $20 for an aftermarket piece of plastic to do this, so I'm going with a $3 solution. Two thin bolts, 6 nuts, 6 washers. Drill out the rivets in the V-clip and all the way through the shaft. Grind down the heads on the bolts so they won't block the meter sliding into place like the rivets allow, insert bolts through V-clip. Two nuts/washers on bottom of V-clip. to snug it to the bolt heads. Two more nuts/washers to go through at the top of the shaft, then two more at bottom of shaft to tighten against. Adjust back bolt shorter so meter is tilted back a bit. Cut or grind off excess bolt lengths. Instant raised/tilted meter for about $3 and ten minutes worth of work!
Who thought pinpoint could be so much work! They should have an external plug outlet on the control box. When the unit is mounted under the arm rest you plug in a wire here which goes to a switch on the finger grip just like the Whites. If you want to hip mount the unit you just unplug the wire from the box and use the normal switch on the face of the box.
Come to think of it, why not mount the meter on top of the hand grip and have a trigger hanging out the bottom of the meter just like a Whites. That way, as I seen somebody mod the unit like this, the pinpoint wire is already in the cable the goes from the meter to the control box.
Technology wise I am thus far totally shocked and impressed with the GT, even compared to the Explorer. Hardware wise they need to build these things which the though of people using them. I'm looking to shave as much weight as possible via the lipo battery, aftermarket straight shaft that weighs less (?...Anybody know what the stock and aftermarket ones weigh to compare?), and anywhere else I can...such as getting the Sunray 12" coil which I guess (?) is even lighter than the 10" Tornado?
