As yet another new strobe on the market, I am intrigued by the Sea and Sea YSD130R strobe. I haven't seen it mentioned but overall specs seem nice:

-Circular Flash Tube

-5600k (so a little cooler than Retra but warmer than many)

-Works with a Li-Ion battery or AAs.

-Not cheap but not insane either at 1k USD

I've seen two reviews - One in UWP (with a link from the Sea and Sea website)
https://www.seaandsea.jp/pdf/20260115_uwp.pdf

and a little from Blue Water Photo, but as far as I can tell it is just some images.

If anyone has some hands on experience, it would be great to see how it compares in beam evenness and impressions of the strobe beam quality.

I am curious about this as well.

Especially, if there is a comparison with Marelux Apollo III 2.0.

As circular flash tubes are measured in watts and rectangular flash tubes are measured in guide numbers, it is very hard to compare them solely on the spec sheet.

Real world usage input would be great.

Make that three for curious.

Review of somesorts from Bluewater. I havent watched it yet.

9 hours ago, Sokrates said:

Review of somesorts from Bluewater. I havent watched it yet.

And the text that goes with it

Bluewater Photo

Sea & Sea YS-D130R Underwater Strobe Review

Sea & Sea's newest flagship strobe, the YS-D130R, is a powerful 130 ws wide angle strobe with a recycle time of 0.8 seconds at full power. This strobe is a Bluewater staff pick.

I would love to see see quality of light compared (beam evenness) to the Retra Maxi and Max II, as well as tests that are from users.

I like that the YS130 retains standard TTL capability. Not sure about the size of the thing and that digital panel, I would rather just have a dial with numbers. Are these made in Japan?

Resurrecting this little bit as these are cheap in Japan and im going there (other topic in general).

How is the battery, havent really seen anything but can use proprietary li-ion or AA as far i as i understood.

Is the li-ion only half the side of the normal AA set as pictured?

Or can you use rechargeable li-ion AA size in the AA tray?

On 3/30/2026 at 4:32 PM, Sokrates said:

Resurrecting this little bit as these are cheap in Japan and im going there (other topic in general).

How is the battery, havent really seen anything but can use proprietary li-ion or AA as far i as i understood.

Is the li-ion only half the side of the normal AA set as pictured?

Or can you use rechargeable li-ion AA size in the AA tray?

You can download the manual for the strobe from the S&S site now, it has a bit of information about the batteries in it. The battery looks just like the battery from a Canon DSLR/mirrorless the LP-E6P - not saying it is but the locking tabs etc look the same, the S&S battery has a nearly 50% higher stated capacity than the Canon LP-E6Pbattery though. It seems the Li-ion battery comes with the Pro model. The features and details of the strobe look quite familiar to the prior S&S models.

Download link here:

https://www.seaandsea.jp/support/download/manual/manual_en_03133_ysd130r.pdf

I picked up pair of these few days ago in Japan. Dirt cheap compared to Europe.

Uwcamerastore lists them for €1149 and backscatter $1199. I paid 230k Yen for 2 (about €1200).

Seems pretty solid testing in hotel room, mikomoto diving was cancelled due to the typhoon.

Edited August 3Aug 3 by Sokrates
Price incorrect

7 hours ago, Sokrates said:

I picked up pair of these few days ago in Japan. Dirt cheap compared to Europe.

Uwcamerastore lists them for €1149 and backscatter $1199. I paid 230k Yen for 2 (about €1200).

Seems pretty solid testing in hotel room, mikomoto diving was cancelled due to the typhoon.

What can you say about size and weight? Small, light and travel friendly compared to other strobes you’ve had/encountered?

8 hours ago, Sokrates said:

I picked up pair of these few days ago in Japan. Dirt cheap compared to Europe.

Uwcamerastore lists them for €1149 and backscatter $1199. I paid 230k Yen for 2 (about €1200).

Seems pretty solid testing in hotel room, mikomoto diving was cancelled due to the typhoon.

Where are you shopping in Japan?

I might have a chance at a last minute trip to Mikomoto in a few weeks.

I mainly got these as my old D-pros we on their last leg. Other had some element loose inside but still worked.

Couldnt justify myself buying Retra Maxis at that price (with video light)with the amount of diving i do. I do want a video light integrated and was hoping the UW-Technics would have released but doesnt look like they are coming out anytime soon (Same thing as Retras, price).

So took these as cheap-ish temporary option due to taxfree and cheap Yen. Im sure these will run me few good years.

On 8/3/2026 at 10:11 PM, Christian K said:

What can you say about size and weight? Small, light and travel friendly compared to other strobes you’ve had/encountered?

I took few comparison shots with friends z-330. Feels little bit more lightweight than Inon. But very comparable to them.

Controls are bit weird, as expected from a Japanese brand, but workable.

My complaints would be single o-ring design and slightly plasticky feel of control knobs. Maybe a 3d print helps.

I have Scubalamp D-pro's at home and ill add pictures from them next week.

On 8/3/2026 at 10:46 PM, Grantmac said:

Where are you shopping in Japan?

I bought them at Mic21 Shinjuku, you can see prices from their website and just use Google Translate extension. If you go, remember to take passport with you for taxfree, the Visit Japan QR code doesnt work at half of the places i shopped at.

Edited August 5Aug 5 by Sokrates
Pictures didnt come out right.

1 hour ago, Sokrates said:

I mainly got these as my old D-pros we on their last leg. Other had some element loose inside but still worked.

Couldnt justify myself buying Retra Maxis at that price (with video light)with the amount of diving i do. I do want a video light integrated and was hoping the UW-Technics would have released but doesnt look like they are coming out anytime soon (Same thing as Retras, price).

So took these as cheap-ish temporary option due to taxfree and cheap Yen. Im sure these will run me few good years.

I took few comparison shots with friends z-330. Feels little bit more lightweight than Inon. But very comparable to them.

Controls are bit weird, as expected from a Japanese brand, but workable.

My complaints would be single o-ring design and slightly plasticky feel of control knobs. Maybe a 3d print helps.

I have Scubalamp D-pro's at home and ill add pictures from them next week.

I bought them at Mic21 Shinjuku, you can see prices from their website and just use Google Translate extension. If you go, remember to take passport with you for taxfree, the Visit Japan QR code doesnt work at half of the places i shopped at.

Kiitos. That looks very promising. Are you on your way to diving? Would like to hear your impressions comparing it to the Inons (and Scubalamps too, but more the Inons). Is it the lithium-battery version or AA? As a many (too many?) year Inon-user, I am already totally Lost in Translation 🤣

Cheers

Edited August 5Aug 5 by Christian K