Retra Pro Max or Kraken KR-S160

[Johno1530]

Hi all, 

 

I am considering either the Retra Max Pro or the Kraken KR-S160. 

 

I want a circular flash, as I already have the Sea&sea YS-D3'S which have a straight flash (will be a 2nd/spare set) 

 

I was leaning more towards the Retra but after reading some of the comments on a few threads on here, I'm not quite sure that the price difference is worth it over the Kraken strobes. 

 

I like the light spread on both strobes, and whilst price is not THAT important, it's always a factor but certainly not my main focus. 

 

I have the chance to get a brand new set of Retras for $2844 + 20‰ VAT ($3400) and that's with the boosters as well. Or, I can get a set of Kraken strobes (I don't use TTL) for around $1820. So, there is a fair bit of difference, which would mean I got get a better dome. 

 

I want the strobes for macro and wide angle shooting and have read that the Kraken may not be the best for macro. 

 

What are people's thoughts? 

[TimG]

I know nothing about the Kraken but rate the Retras highly. I’ve gone through the various iterations and have been highly impressed by the build quality, performance and customer service. 
 

I use the Retra LSD for macro with the ProMax all the time and find the combination terrific. 
 

I really like being able to use AAs with the Retra and the booster addition usually covers me for a 4 dive day. 
 

Yes, they are pricey but I’ve never regretted the Retras for a second. Reliable, a great range of well-made accessories, fairly compact and robust. I’d recommend them without hesitation. 

[Johno1530]

5 minutes ago, TimG said:

I know nothing about the Kraken but rate the Retras highly. I’ve gone through the various iterations and have been highly impressed by the build quality, performance and customer service. 
 

I use the Retra LSD for macro with the ProMax all the time and find the combination terrific. 
 

I really like being able to use AAs with the Retra and the booster addition usually covers me for a 4 dive day. 
 

Yes, they are pricey but I’ve never regretted the Retras for a second. Reliable, a great range of well-made accessories, fairly compact and robust. I’d recommend them without hesitation. 

Thanks Tim, that's great to hear. The Retras are clearly great strobes and we're my initial choice and they weight about 500g last, which as we all know makes a difference when lugging dive and camera gear around the world. 

 

I'm off on an Alex Mustard course in June and want a spare set (will relegate my sea&sea strobes). 

 

[Dave_Hicks]

The Kraken RS-160s look really nice on the spec sheet and are used to great effect by a few photographers that I really respect. Including for macro. I don't know why the Retra's would be better in this regard.

 

The Kraken is a lot more modern than the Retra in its design and specs with a better battery and charging solution in particular. USB-C charging of 2x21700 batteries. With the money saved over the Retra's you could add the Kraken Snoot or even better, add a Backscatter MF-2 snoot/strobe to your collection. Now you have flexibility and backup while spending less money than the Retra set.

[Johno1530]

13 minutes ago, Dave_Hicks said:

The Kraken RS-160s look really nice on the spec sheet and are used to great effect by a few photographers that I really respect. Including for macro. I don't know why the Retra's would be better in this regard.

 

The Kraken is a lot more modern than the Retra in its design and specs with a better battery and charging solution in particular. USB-C charging of 2x21700 batteries. With the money saved over the Retra's you could add the Kraken Snoot or even better, add a Backscatter MF-2 snoot/strobe to your collection. Now you have flexibility and backup while spending less money than the Retra set.

Hi Dave, 

 

Thanks for the reply. I already have the backscatter MF-2, I would like another set of strobes. 

 

I take your point though about the extra money being spent on something else. I really like the LCD screen on both strobes. 

 

The quality of light of the Kraken seems to be really nice as dkes the Retras. I only thought that from a macro perspective the Kraken maybe a little too big after reading what Alex Mustard has to say. 

 

Thanks for your advice, it's appreciated 👍

[Staggs]

I went through this recently (was moving on from z330's) and ended up going with Max Pros.   I've had them for a couple months now but I'm finally going to test them tonight in the pool (finally opened my pool last week) before I head out to maldives next saturday for a couple weeks.  Just seemed like a overall better fit for me, and while I won't be taking the LSD this trip, I'll be sure to have it in Fiji and Philippines on my next trips.  I decided that I spent so much money on my new rig, that I shouldn't try to save on lighting.....buy once and cry once.

@TimG - I do have a question since you've used the Retra line for so long.  Do you typically travel with just the boosters, or do you take the standard battery enclosure as well?  For Maldives I don't see myself ever not using the booster's so I was going to leave the standard battery enclosure at home.   But you may be able to give me some reason to take them.  My carry-on bag with Qatar is already around 8kg over the allowance 😄 

[JohnD]

I have no experience with the Kraken, but they look good on paper.  I have used retras for some time and have been very satisfied.  If the capacity is sufficient, I have to take eneloops and a couple of sizes of lithiums for strobes and lights and focus lights alrready, but I have some preference for using eneloops in the Retras over adding more big lithiums, due to safety concern, but that is just a personal thing.

 

I have appreciated the Retra app and the ability for firmware upgrades and 'fixes" through that app.  I don't know if Kraken offers something similar.  Retra seems to have a history of promptly responding to questions and issues and I appreciate that kind of service.

 

Not sure any of this helps much, but I guess it at least a data point?

 

 

[Johno1530]

26 minutes ago, Staggs said:

I went through this recently (was moving on from z330's) and ended up going with Max Pros.   I've had them for a couple months now but I'm finally going to test them tonight in the pool (finally opened my pool last week) before I head out to maldives next saturday for a couple weeks.  Just seemed like a overall better fit for me, and while I won't be taking the LSD this trip, I'll be sure to have it in Fiji and Philippines on my next trips.  I decided that I spent so much money on my new rig, that I shouldn't try to save on lighting.....buy once and cry once.

@TimG - I do have a question since you've used the Retra line for so long.  Do you typically travel with just the boosters, or do you take the standard battery enclosure as well?  For Maldives I don't see myself ever not using the booster's so I was going to leave the standard battery enclosure at home.   But you may be able to give me some reason to take them.  My carry-on bag with Qatar is already around 8kg over the allowance 😄 

Thank you. I'm still very torn as the kraken's do look good, but they are very heavy and I would be adding a lot of weight to my rig (worried for the flying aspect). 

 

I have just flown with Qatar and they weighed my carry on in both directions 🙁. I wasn't that much over as I put a lot in jacket pockets before going up to the desk. The jacket weighed about 10kg 🤣 but they didn't even blink as it was in my trolley lol

 

Airlines are getting very strict on it these days or I'm just very unlucky. 

[TimG]

44 minutes ago, Staggs said:

I went through this recently (was moving on from z330's) and ended up going with Max Pros.   I've had them for a couple months now but I'm finally going to test them tonight in the pool (finally opened my pool last week) before I head out to maldives next saturday for a couple weeks.  Just seemed like a overall better fit for me, and while I won't be taking the LSD this trip, I'll be sure to have it in Fiji and Philippines on my next trips.  I decided that I spent so much money on my new rig, that I shouldn't try to save on lighting.....buy once and cry once.

@TimG - I do have a question since you've used the Retra line for so long.  Do you typically travel with just the boosters, or do you take the standard battery enclosure as well?  For Maldives I don't see myself ever not using the booster's so I was going to leave the standard battery enclosure at home.   But you may be able to give me some reason to take them.  My carry-on bag with Qatar is already around 8kg over the allowance 😄 

Interesting thought. The weight of the Booster is negligible and takes up very little space.  I’ve always traveled with both the regular back as well as the Booster but I honestly couldn’t you why! I guess it makes more sense to leave the regular back at home. 

[Chris Ross]

I think there are a few aspects to the choice.  Retra has a wide range of accessories in addition to their snoot options like their reducing rings to help tame the strobes when shooting "regular" macro as opposed to snooting.  Depends if this is of interest to you.  I didn't research if Kraken offers this as well.

 

I think the weight savings are probably the biggest argument the weight in water is significantly different 300 gr vs 150 gr (Retra with booster it's 60 gr without booster) so that's less floatation required as well.

 

The strobes are about the same diameter but the Kraken is longer by about 50mm (25mm less when packed with booster installed).  One reason to take both caps might be to use the regular caps when transporting to help squeeze the strobes in and pack the boosters in checked bags perhaps?  Size and shape as well as weight may make all the difference depending on the dimensions of you bags.

[Barmaglot]

10 hours ago, Johno1530 said:

 

I have just flown with Qatar and they weighed my carry on in both directions 🙁. I wasn't that much over as I put a lot in jacket pockets before going up to the desk. The jacket weighed about 10kg 🤣 but they didn't even blink as it was in my trolley lol

My last trip, I just hand-carried my housing, on a tray, with the camera inside, as my 'small item' and it didn't present any issues. The Etihad check-in agent in Bangkok did pooh-pooh my overweight carryon, which contained, among other things, the strobes and the batteries, so next time I'm flying, I'm going to mount the strobes, superchargers attached and batteries inserted, right on the tray handles.

[CaolIla]

51 minutes ago, Barmaglot said:

My last trip, I just hand-carried my housing, on a tray, with the camera inside, as my 'small item' and it didn't present any issues.

I looked at the maximum size of the "small item" but my R5 housing is far bigger ... I'll probably have some problem with this solution if I try it

[RomiK]

I think making strobes with negative 300g is a big design flaw and that by itself would be a big no for purchase. Unlike video lights where one can use total rig buoyancy and mass as stabilizer - assuming he never ever takes vertical video 😅 or macro - working with strobes require frequent repositioning with great "wingspan" and then with greatly negative endpoints the rig will fight even though it would be neutral as a whole. Sometimes it seems to me like the underwater photography gear would be designed  by non photographers or people who don't dive 🤷‍♂️

[Barmaglot]

6 minutes ago, RomiK said:

I think making strobes with negative 300g is a big design flaw and that by itself would be a big no for purchase.

If it's that important, you could use solid foam to make float jackets for the strobes? It probably wouldn't work for models with side-mounted controls, such as Ikelite DS160/200/213, or the optical receivers on Marelux Apollo III, but for either Retra or Kraken strobes it shouldn't be an issue. Me, I just mount my floats on the outer arm segments, close to the strobes, and it doesn't seem to be an issue.

 

45 minutes ago, CaolIla said:

I looked at the maximum size of the "small item" but my R5 housing is far bigger ... I'll probably have some problem with this solution if I try it

I haven't seen those size limits on small items enforced nearly as rigorously as carryon weight limits. As long as it fits under the seat in front of you, it should be fine.

[Johno1530]

47 minutes ago, RomiK said:

I think making strobes with negative 300g is a big design flaw and that by itself would be a big no for purchase. Unlike video lights where one can use total rig buoyancy and mass as stabilizer - assuming he never ever takes vertical video 😅 or macro - working with strobes require frequent repositioning with great "wingspan" and then with greatly negative endpoints the rig will fight even though it would be neutral as a whole. Sometimes it seems to me like the underwater photography gear would be designed  by non photographers or people who don't dive 🤷‍♂️

You can get the bouyance collars for the Kraken and I'm just looking at the Retras with the booster attached and they are negative 150g each, so the 300g of the Kraken are not massively heavier. 

Edited yesterday at 09:03 AM by Johno1530

[RomiK]

 

On 4/11/2025 at 10:50 AM, Johno1530 said:

You can get the bouyance collars for the Kraken and I'm just looking at the Retras with the booster attached and they are negative 150g each, so the 300g of the Kraken are not massively heavier. 

 

The collars seem to fix the issue, I didn't see those before... pretty neat simple and slim 

[Johno1530]

I'm going to go with the Retra's as the Kraken are very long and I'll struggle to fit them in my bag. 

[TimG]

I very much doubt you’ll regret your decision! 👍🏼