Simplex is wobbly

ozarktroutbum said:

I just received mine yesterday. The bottom clamp has probably 1/16" or more play when clamped down.

Most reviews that I had read mentioned it was a very sturdy feeling detector so I'm not sure what's going on here. Perhaps just a defect in production.

It's annoying when swinging...pretty close to boxing it up and returning it.

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How tall are you? Some guys over 6ft have said the detector just doesn't extend far enough for them and is very wobbly. Nokta has made an extended middle shaft (4 inches longer) to rectify this issue.

https://www.colonialmetaldetectors.com/longer-middle-shaft-simplex.html

If you are under 6ft, it should be fine. Take a look at the lower shaft. There is a length gauge that goes to 6 on the side of it. Make sure you are not past that because if you are there is likely not enough of the shaft inserted into the middle shaft and that might be causing your wobble. You might be able to loosen the rear clamp and extend the middle shaft some and then insert the lower shaft in further. The middle shaft is aluminum and is a bit more rigid so extending it is less likely to cause an issue. I hope it is just a simple adjustment for you.

Thanks, I will probably get in touch with the company to see if they can send me a new shaft. I assumed since the numbers go up to 6 that it might coincide with the height of the user, but nothing in the manual said anything about it. And the top shaft doesn't have numbers or a fixed location that it butts up to, thereby rendering the position and number on the lower shaft basically useless IMO.

Unfortunately, even sliding it in several inches doesn't help much. I am about 5'11 or so. Hopefully if the send me the stock one it will work.

ozarktroutbum said:

Thanks, I will probably get in touch with the company to see if they can send me a new shaft. I assumed since the numbers go up to 6 that it might coincide with the height of the user, but nothing in the manual said anything about it. And the top shaft doesn't have numbers or a fixed location that it butts up to, thereby rendering the position and number on the lower shaft basically useless IMO.

Unfortunately, even sliding it in several inches doesn't help much. I am about 5'11 or so. Hopefully if the send me the stock one it will work.

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From a stability standpoint, I use the numbers more of a gauge to make sure I have the shaft inserted far enough into the other. If it is not, it certainly contributes to any wobble. You are correct, having the upper shaft move kind of renders it useless beyond that. Nokta also offers a free “plug” that goes into the open end of the lower shaft that is supposed take make it more stable, maybe ask your dealer if they have gotten those yet.

My issue was overall flex in the lower shaft. I ended up inserting a carbon fiber rod into mine. Makes a huge difference and is an easy and inexpensive fix. They are supposed to be releasing a full carbon fiber lower shaft for the Simplex.

Here is my mod. https://metaldetectingforum.com/showthread.php?t=284227

Let us know what happens either way. Good luck!

That’s is a lot of great info. Thanks

ozarktroutbum said:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wuVRXTbUzDM

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Yep, that’s it!

If you shaft is wobbly contact the dealer. They are supposed to have a plastic insert that you use to make this fit between shafts tighter to eliminate that. It's free. I don't know why Nokta doesn't just start including that in the box. Or maybe the newest ones they do.

If the lower shaft is flexy...then you need either the new longer middle shaft or you need to insert something stiffer into the lower shaft or both...or wait until the new carbon lower shaft is release.

I'm 6'2" and extend my lower out to 4. My lower shaft was flexy but I didn't have the wobble. My fix was three carbon arrow shafts inserted into the lower shaft. Made it about 90% better. Still not perfect. It's an inexpensive machine with great performance (so they say...I don't get such great performance out of mine) so corners needed to be cut somewhere to get the price down. IMO...build quality did suffer some.