Marelux has announced the new Soft Lite today. This is a redesign using plastic which drops the weight by 190g over the past Soft Pro line which is now discontinued. I have attached the specs and photos.

Smart Optical Flash Tube Lite (SOFT Lite) Patented Product

Product Features

· Enables to narrow down beam coverage simply by attaching in front of strobe.

· The aiming light of SOFT-LITE can be changed between red and white.

· The aiming light of SOFT-LITE XW/XR is only available in one color(white or red),but the brightness of the aiming light is brighter.

· Adjustable brightness

· Aiming light delay off time adjustable

· Use one 21700 Lithium battery which can support 10 hours of continuous use（SOFT-LITE XW/XR can be used for 4 hours）

(You can use 18650 battery by using a battery adapter) 

 

Product Specs

· Material：Plastic

· Length : 155mm

· Weight : 600g (on land) Neutral buoyancy underwater

· Waterproof depth : -100m

· Focal length (in water) : 130mm

· Light spot adjustable range : 3~50mm

I have the Pro on my Inon Z330's and used it once. Looking forward to using it more. Glad to see they are making it out of plastic. I'll be interesting to see it in action.

Edited December 12, 20231 yr by Buddha

I have the Pro model with the red and white focus lights and we had the plastic prototype at DEMA. The weight difference is noticeable and should help when packing for travel. The white only and red only focus light models both have a more powerful focus light and allow more light from the strobe as well when firing.

Can we expect a review on the redesign any time soon? I'd like to see some clarification on the differences between the three models (SOFT Lite vs SOFT Lite XW vs SOFT Lite XR).

When I reviewed the original Soft Snoot in winter 2022 Marelux was asking for feedback from all of its users and the two biggest gripes were size and weight, followed by power of the focusing light with 18650 battery.

That feedback led to the second generation Soft Pro with the reduced size and smaller battery compartment which used a smaller battery with not much more power.

At DEMA in November Marelux began showing the newest Smart Optical Flash Tube Light which comes in three styles based on user feedback.

The Soft Light retains the same design as the downsized model but with a larger battery compartment for a bigger and more powerful 21700 battery with both red and white focus lights. Because it has been made from plastic it is even lighter.

The Light XW and XR models are also plastic and have the same 21700 battery but if you look at the rear element of the  Soft you will see it is designed to allow more of the strobes flash to enter the tube giving it a higher flash output. The tradeoff is that you only get one choice for the focus light XW-white light or the XR-red focus light only. The red is popular for those using the Soft for night photography of subjects sensitive to white light.

I have attached  photos for size comparison to the original and the different back elements. You can go. to marelux.co to enlarge the rear element photos.

 

Thanks, that clears things up. I also looked at Bluewater Photo's website and they had a pretty good description of the product.

Can you order direct from Marelux or should you go through one of their two US dealers? Or does it matter?

These items should be in stock in the US by January at marelux.co and then available from retailers.

 

Edited December 26, 20231 yr by Phil Rudin

@Phil Rudin Any insider knowledge about if Marelux is planning on releasing a SOFT dock for the new Ikelite DS232s anytime soon? While they're fantastic strobes, I haven't been able to find any compatible snoots for them.

On 1/17/2024 at 5:57 PM, Kamaros said:

@Phil Rudin Any insider knowledge about if Marelux is planning on releasing a SOFT dock for the new Ikelite DS232s anytime soon? While they're fantastic strobes, I haven't been able to find any compatible snoots for them.

A Soft dock is being made for Ikelite DS 230 for release later this quarter. 

On 1/18/2024 at 4:02 PM, Phil Rudin said:

A Soft dock is being made for Ikelite DS 230 for release later this quarter. 

Any idea about the DS232 (formerly known as the DS230 with video light)? Ikelite changed the design of the head quite a bit to incorporate the video light:

 

DS232

Original DS230 for comparison

 

 

Edited January 22, 20241 yr by Kamaros

Yes a dock will be made again in the first quarter.

I just purchased the Soft Lite XW and now realize that it did not come with any grease/lubricant for it. Any suggestion on a brand to use. I have some Retra grease and hope it's compatible with the Marelux.

Tribolube 71 works with all o-ring material.

I was hoping to use either the Retra grease or Nauticam lubricant since I already have both of those. Don't want to carry around another tube if I can help it.

 

Phil: Perhaps you can chime in?

I have used the Nauticam lube without issues. 

Thanks, I'll give it a try.

I bought the Soft Lite XW back in February and have yet to use it underwater. My strobes are the Retra Pro Max and though I was told that the mount I bought would work, it doesn't fit the newer Retras. I was just informed by Bluewater Photo that Marelux has no timetable for making a mount for the Pro Max.

 

Before I return the snoot and mount, I was wondering if Phil had any insight into when a mount might be available.

I have ask Marelux direct and will let you know when I hear back.

Similarly, are they planning to make a mount for the backscatter HF-1?  I'm thinking about upgrading my S&S YS-D3's and the SOFT Lite looks like an interesting snooting option. I I could replace my MF-2 as well then I would not need to carry 3 strobes.

9 hours ago, Whiskeyjack said:

Similarly, are they planning to make a mount for the backscatter HF-1?  I'm thinking about upgrading my S&S YS-D3's and the SOFT Lite looks like an interesting snooting option. I I could replace my MF-2 as well then I would not need to carry 3 strobes.

The MF-2 is so compact that it's not much of a burden to pack. And now that I have the HF-1 strobes, I can ditch 16 AA batteries and 2 chargers. The MF-2 can share batteries and charger with the HF-1s.

 

Plus, it has the added benefit of giving you redundancy if another strobe should fail. I've seen so many strobes fail on trips it's really a life saver to have a spare. 

 

And remember, spares are not just for you but also for your dive buddies. I know my save-a-dive-kit and spares get used a lot more to help other divers!

8 hours ago, Dave_Hicks said:

The MF-2 is so compact that it's not much of a burden to pack. And now that I have the HF-1 strobes, I can ditch 16 AA batteries and 2 chargers. The MF-2 can share batteries and charger with the HF-1s.

 

Plus, it has the added benefit of giving you redundancy if another strobe should fail. I've seen so many strobes fail on trips it's really a life saver to have a spare. 

 

And remember, spares are not just for you but also for your dive buddies. I know my save-a-dive-kit and spares get used a lot more to help other divers!

Yeah, it's not the end of the world if I need to continue bringing the MF-2, I'm just always looking to streamline my gear. The airlines here in SEA have been getting more aggressive with enforcing carry-on weight limits so every little bit helps.

A bit unfortunate the OS-1 won't fit on the HF-1. It may not make sense for Marelux to make a mount for those strobes as I'm sure Backscatter will eventually come out with some sort of snoot option for them as well.

53 minutes ago, Whiskeyjack said:

Yeah, it's not the end of the world if I need to continue bringing the MF-2, I'm just always looking to streamline my gear. The airlines here in SEA have been getting more aggressive with enforcing carry-on weight limits so every little bit helps.

A bit unfortunate the OS-1 won't fit on the HF-1. It may not make sense for Marelux to make a mount for those strobes as I'm sure Backscatter will eventually come out with some sort of snoot option for them as well.

 

Backscatter has said they plan to release an HF-1 snoot. I will probably stick with the MF-2 for snooting for now.