i have had one for just over two years that i purchased secondhand, i have not had experience of the straight shaft but am more than happy with the "old" shaft and would want the control box forward of my hand so that i can pinpoint easily, perhaps just a personal preference. As for the performance of the machine i get on extremely well with it (i only use inland) and think it is very underated. simple to use, deep, excellent at finding hammered coins, cscope after sales service is excellent and it is british. i have other detectors but use the cscope mainly. (my other two foriegn detectors are both away being repaired, which is o.k things can go wrong. people think other companies after sales service is great but it annoyed me having to pay big postage for a warranty claim on a known fault)
i would have no hesitation in recommending the cscope but also realise with detectors it can be a personal preference......... otherwise we would all have the same machine!