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?