My only real complaint with the 350 so far has been the headphone cord.
Mostly it's location to be specific, length is secondary. Plugging into the side of the head unit, it magically snags on my glove strap, branches in the woods, somehow wraps around the head when I want to set the 350 down, and unless I set it down right next to me, the cord is starting to stretch. I'm sick of dedicating time to wrangle with it.
Had my ah-ha moment when I replaced the lost arm cuff screw with a nut & bolt, and saw how I wanted it done. Only change is how I ran the cable.
Went to Cables & Connectors in Newington Saturday, and spent $6 on a 1/4" right angle stereo plug and inline jack. The 1/8" stereo jumper cable shown is from my stock, and sacrificial lamb. Didn't want to use the thicker cable that goes with those jacks having planned on running the cable under the top of the grip originally. And it's less weight.
Cut the plugs off my 1/8" cord to start routing wire, and realized pretty fast that getting the cable under the grip was going to be a PITA, and not look too pretty. So, had no choice but to drill a couple 7/32" holes. Matches all the holes in the shaft, and it's less weight!
Snaked the cable through, soldered the angle connector up front first, and built up the cable with a couple layers of shrink wrap where you screw the connector clamshell down so it had something to bite. Plug it in, and cut the tail end to length plus an inch or two of slack to work with. Soldered up the inline connector with the same shrink wrap trick, and pinched down the tabs for it.
Final part is what gave me the ah-ha moment. A 1/2" rubber insulated clamp to hold the inline jack ($1.80) under the cuff wings on that nylon nut. Garrett somehow knew I was doing this and molded 2 ribs that the clamp seats nicely in so it can't spin. The clamp is a bit too small for the jack (what I wanted) so I had to shim between the clamp with a couple small washers. Done!
Total cost: $7.58.
Feels better, but it needs a field (or woods) test! Thanks for reading all. I am VERY handy with a soldering iron. If anyone in the area needs something, lemme know. Be happy to take a look. On with the pics of the final result!
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