Sea and Sea strobes?

[GrtDay]

Any member thoughts on the reliability and performance of the Sea and Sea strobes?  Opinions solicited.

Is the YS-D3 better and if so, how, than the YS-D2 of which I have a pair.  Just don't want to be on a liveaboard and have them crater.

Sea and Sea vs Inon?

Contrats to the Waterpixels people.  GREAT board and nice work!

[Dave_Hicks]

It never hurts to carry a spare strobe with you. These days a bring two Inon 330s and a Backscatter MF-2/Snoot along. I nearly always use the MF-2/Snoot when shooting macro with a single 330 for fill light. But if one of my big strobes dies, I can always use the MF-2 for Wide Angle as the fill or spotlight role. If you dive a lot, I suggest investing in a 3rd strobe for redundancy.

[bvanant]

Alex Mustard wrote a long review of strobes that he has seen fail during many of his workshops. S&S topped the list as most prone to failure and many of the D2s had catastrophic tube failures. Inon much less so but with limited experience with the Z330 it was hard to say. Having a third is never a bad idea even if you have to rent one.

Bill

 

[TURTLE-Balage]

One cannot say much good about Sea and Sea flashes. Unfortunately, there are many issues with them. I know they are relatively cheap, but the electronics inside are quite poor.   I have a few pieces of them in my drawer at home, unfortunately, half of them are faulty. Either the tube bursts, or they simply don't work.  😞 

[FrancoisC]

I had 4 YSD1, and 3 are dead due to tube failure...

 

[JS1221]

I'm having to replace my YS-01 strobe because it flooded under the front lens on my last dive. There is no damage, no visible cracks and the lens is tight in place. I was told it could be micro cracks or it could have leaked in from the knobs. Max depth on the dive was only 20 feet. I'm looking at the INON S-220 now.

[ChipBPhoto]

In the SoFL dive community, S&S are considered the least dependable.  Unfortunately, due to this they are not recommended by leading uw photography stores.
 

Inon is considered the most dependable / best quality at a reasonable price.  I personally have gone through the evolution of the Inon S-2000s, Z-240s, and now Z-330s.  If you can find a clean used set they will be an even better price.  Just make sure you change the main battery cap o-ring every year or 2 and don’t over tighten the cap.  Those are the only 2 considerations I know of to make them last.

 

The Retras are of course the high water mark, but come with the matching price tag.  I have not heard any complaints at all regarding their quality.  Could be a good investment. 
 

Hope this helps.

[TimG]

All the so-so comments about the S&S strobes certainly mirror all I have read. I wouldn’t buy them.

 

I had Inon Z240s for years and thought them terrific. But Retra, yep…. Top class! Expensive, yes, but I think worth the cost. 

[Guest]

I have a pair of sea and sea YS-D2J for the Japanese market.

I was aware of the reputation when I bought them however I do like the color of the light, the power and the fact that they are light.

I have them since June 2019 covid impacted the amount of trips however I also regularly go to the pool with them.

the strobes have worked without a single issue with my GH5 first and now with the A1. I guess am lucky and eventually they will fail but in terms of ergonomics and quality of light net of placebo effect I see no need to upgrade.

hopefully they will continue to work…

ps the ys-d3 in my opinion are worse and the Ys-d2 have way more power and are easier to use than my inon z240 that I still own 

Edited January 29 by Interceptor121