I upgraded from a pair of Inon Z330s and dove with the Retra Pro Max IIs for 2.5 weeks last month, going on a Banda sea live aboard from Ambon to Alor and spending another week in Alor afterwards. It has not been without mishaps but figured I share some photos and overall experience.

First, I am not a professional, I certainly do not need strobes this good or expensive, it was the biggest splurge purchase I've made since upgrading my body from A7C to A7R5. But I've had my Inons for >6 years, and I kept being told upgrading the "quality of my light" was going to make the biggest impact more than any lens or body. So when the Pro Max IIs came out, I saw it was way more powerful than the Pro Max, watched Alex Mustard's review, had it in my cart for several weeks w the early bird offer before finally pulling the trigger. 'Buy once, cry once' as they say.

I felt like the Inons had served me well and was not really looking for more power. The biggest upgrades I was looking forward to was 1) less hot spots compared to the Inons, which I gathered from reviews would be the case based on Retra's "softer, more diffuse light", and 2) HSS. I had to upgrade my trigger as well for the HSS. I didn't know it at purchase because Retra did not give a GN for me to compare to the Inon's 33GN but the Retras did turn out to be much more powerful. Inons I frequently shot at close to full power (-1 and -2), Retras I mostly shot between half and 3/4 power.

Was it worth the $$$ upgrade? I'm still debating. For a professional of course, for a hobbyist I'm not sure. FWIW I paid S$5190 for 2 Retra Pro Max IIs including import duty to SG, and I am selling my 2 old Inon Z330s for S$800. So 6x more for the Retras vs decent second hand strobes now, and still almost 3x more compared to what I paid 6 years ago for new Inons.

Quality of light - yes there is a difference. But is there a meaningful difference in the final product? I don't know, you tell me. For sure the photos straight out of the camera looks better with the Retras. But I feel like the hotspots from Inon could be fixed with masking in Lightroom quite easily and especially now that the AI object detect has gotten so good. I feel like to a normal person (like my husband and friends) they would not be able to tell the difference at all. For example if you take these very similar destinations in Indonesia, can you really tell a noticeable difference in quality of light?

Retra Pro Max IIs: https://joannaphotography38.pixieset.com/banda/, https://joannaphotography38.pixieset.com/alor/

Inon Z330s: https://joannaphotography38.pixieset.com/halmahera/, https://joannaphotography38.pixieset.com/raja2024/, as well as all older albums

Ease of use - this is somewhat related to the quality of light. With Retras there is a big improvement in my overall hit rate of decent, properly lit shots. With Inons maybe I need to try 3-4 times to adjust the lights to get the perfect lighting, with the Retras it is much more forgiving and I may need to adjust just once. It's not a big deal for no current sites where you can take your time but for big drifts where you only get 1-2 chances before you get swept away that is a big difference. But again for final product / what I keep does it really matter if I choose 200 photos out of 2000 or 200 out of 1000.

Recycle - couldn't test this due to my 4yr old batteries. Will have to see how they fare with a fresh set. One thing they should make super clear is you need fresh / new batteries! They recommended a fresh set EVERY YEAR.

HSS - this did undeniably give more flexibility and functionality over the Inons. In places where I go to dive (Indonesia) often the prettiest reefs are on the top 5-10m. Before I could get some sunbursts with 100 ISO, 1/250, Inons on full power, but the foreground was not well lit. With the Retras & HSS I could keep ISO at 320-400, crank up shutter to 1/1600, keep the Retras at just over half power (19 on the dial was usually enough) with much faster recycle, and the balance of light was much better.

Coverage - very impressive! I was down to one strobe for a day and could still take some decent coral / reef shots with just one strobe. I could not do this with the Inons. For example: https://joannaphotography38.pixieset.com/banda/?pid=16748778125&id=22&h=MjY5MDI2Njk3Ng, https://joannaphotography38.pixieset.com/banda/?pid=16748778184&id=24&h=NDE4NTAxNjk3Nwm Sometimes I would get a dark spot in the middle with the Inons but I did not have this problem with the Retras. I cannot quantify it but my gut feel is the coverage is much better on the Retras. Which goes back to the ease of use as I don't have the adjust the Retras nearly as much as the Inons and with the Inons I was still getting much more ugly middle dark spot / hotspots on the edges.

Reliability and customer service - unfortunately I experienced quite a few issues at the beginning of the trip. Both strobes worked fine the first day, then both died one after the other on the second day. Folks here tried to help me troubleshoot and I ultimately got in touch with Retra who was outstanding in trying to help me while on my trip. Responsive on email on a Sunday, helped me recalibrate both strobes, looked into sending me a replacement while onsite (not possible as I was on liveaboard), and took both strobes back for inspection after I got home. Customer service was 10/10. They said perhaps vibrations during transport may have resulted in the initial miscalibration, both strobes were in carryon backpack with me, it was not the smoothest landing by Garuda on the flight in so perhaps that was the cause? After inspection they also found a small manufacturing defect for the pilot light button that resulted in it being stuck on one strobe and offered credit for this which I used towards a LSD snoot. So great service but be aware you may need to baby them more than usual. And as my batteries were 4 yr old it was causing slower recycle and some reliability issues when used in 4x AA configuration, but was more stable in 8x AA with the booster and thankfully lasted the whole trip without further issues after recalibration.

Anyways, thanks again for all those who helped trying to troubleshoot during my trip and hope this helps others debating this upgrade.

Thanks for the update on the strobes, I also upgraded recently, however I got a set of Retra Pures before they were discontinued, which were lower powered but significantly cheaper. The biggest change I noticed was significantly less backscatter when using them with reduction rings for macro shots. By no means backscatter proof but immediately noticable compared to my old INON Z240s. Haven't done much wide angle with them as yet, but been pleased with light quality on what I've done so far.

All of your galleries are very nice with some great photos! To be honest, I don't see any real difference between the Inon and Retra images. Some of the Inon sunballs are better than any in the Retra galleries. I think you got great results with both sets of strobes.

I still have a pair of Inon 330s and they are still great strobes. I moved to HF-1 for features not available with the Inons. Super fast recycle times, 5000 lumen video light, and much more power. I'm keeping the Inons for backup. They are currently on loan to a buddy with a busted Retra.