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I've been to the red sea 3 times, two of them from Sharm el Sheikh and another one from Hurghada. This is everything north Red Sea, if you expect big stuff is not the place, Although I dove with dolphins for more than one hour in Abu Nuhas reef, very good spot for wrecks. And I dove with a big hammerhead in gordon reef, that's all north. If you are lucky you'll dive alone in the scattered spots, but in famous spots like Abu Nuhas will be a bit crowded, and if you go to the very famous Thistlegorm you'll dive probably with more than 200 divers at the same time, it's very crowded, but it's worth it. Be careful with the boat you choose, a few of them say they are luxury and charge like luxury when they are actually not. I was in the Agressor II in October 2024, they sell luxury, but it's not. Not a bad boat for a normal price in Egypt north, 1300 € more or less for a cruise saturday to saturday plus flights, plus tips, plus beers..., but nothing else, even they are very friendly and well equipped for photographers, big tables for the cameras and air whips to dry up the housing after rinsing.

https://waterpixels.net/forums/topic/2870-new-full-aluminum-seafrogs-housings/#comments I made myself this question a few months ago, I crossed emails with the factory, received a quotation, seek unboxings and test in youtube...in fact I found a guy in youtube with a video of one year using the housing and he was really happy with it. I did not finally buy the housing. i wanted to upgrade my camera to a Canon R6 mk ii. and Aquatica doesn't make that housing, I have a lot of Aquatica stuff and Then Chris Ross showed me that buying an Isotta housing with a conversion ring was probably the best option for me. Isotta is italian so I can service it and resolve any issue within days. I can keep using my domes, ports and extension rings. Alongside the Seafrogs port chart is very short and doesn't show one of the most common underwater lenses, and almost the one I use the more, the Canon 8-15 fisheye. So I had to buy brand new domes, ports and extension rings not knowing if they were the right ones. So the final expense was going to be almost the same. I finally bought the Isotta housing and I'm so happy with the decision, it arrived on time for my next trip, and anything I need from Isotta I get it in a short time. That said, to me Seafrogs looks like a Nauticam housing in all senses. And they remind me the Nauticam company politics when they started. They started with polycarbonate prices for aluminium premium quality housings, once they got a lot of market they started to increase the prices until nowadays where they are even more expensive than the "traditional" brands.

Hola Maria, me alegro de que te guten. Thank's for comment ;-)

This is why I don't understand how can a DM or instructor make a DSD in spots like Richelieu. And worst, the two "divers" doing the DSD with hat with ears, brand new equipment, white socks above the knees instead of wet suit and apnea pink finns which obviously they didn't move one single time to help de divemaster.

The guides were all the time "worried" about that big boat with 80 divers, so when they saw the spot was going to be so crowded they changed the diving spot. I don't know if that's the reason or it is as it was planned. We were aware during some breefings that mantas can be spotted but never happened, only once in shark finn reef a pair of divers of the group said that they spotted a manta but so far

When I see this kind of things is when I realize that the designers aren't underwater photographers.

The worst I saw there was a very big boat, with 80 divers capacity, plenty of chinese. When our guides saw that boat arriving to the same spot we where they changed the plan for the day because find them underwater was very disgusting, too crowded. I don't know what's the solution, but if I can give my thoughts I would avoid launching boats and diving cruises with more than 20 divers. We were diving with the Mantha Queen fleet aboard the Mantha Queen VI. To be honest I would not repeat with that boat, but I would do repeat with Mantha Queen. We were 9 friends and paid the whole boat for us, the boat is for 14 divers but even this the boat was too small, the chambers are small, it is not prepared for cameras as long there are no tables in the wet zone, and there are no plugs enough for the batteries. The bed is horribly hard and little more than a wooden board. But the Meals were amazing, the Crew was kind and nice, the captain never said no to anything and the dive guides, two spaniards and and english guy, know the spots really well. We finished the trip really happy. I let you here our diving itinerary

Hi bghazzal, my impression there is that it was managed the same way than the Thistlegorm in the Red Sea, every single dive operator trying to bring the most possible divers. There is even a pair of launching boats which goes from mainland (I guess Phuket) to a diving trip boat which they use as a base on the site some days specifically to dive in Richelieu. I can't understand how can a divemaster dare to enter the water with a pair of "divers" one on each hand grabbing their regulator and make them a tour with currents and the bottom in 30 meters, and some times with poor visibilty. Specially when you see those "divers" no flapping at all. It was crowded but it's worh it, even it was quiet a bit hard to take a divers clean picture. The shark picture was taken in Surin during a night dive, the guides told us that the night dive was going to be with black tip sharks so that spot must be well known. In Similan wasn't uncommon to find reef sharks in some dives but they left as soon as they saw a diver.

I would like to show you some pictures taken during my last trip in Similan Islands and Richelieu rock, Thailand, that spot Richelieu is amazing enough to do 6 dives due to the quantity and density of different species that you can find there. All pictures are taken with a Canon R6 mkII in Isotta housing and AOI UIS-P1 strobes. Furthermore, the crinoidea picture has been taken with filters such in the lenses as in the strobes

Well, I'm finally at home after the 10 days trip in Similan islands and Richelieu Rock, where I have only used this AOI strobes and I have a clear opinion of them based on the experience of intensive diving, 35 dives in 9 days. I like these strobes, I like the light even I find it a few cold, I like the power, most of time I have been using it in 1/2 power even in pictures against the sun. Or even 1/4 power. I inserted full charged batteries in the first dive in the morning and they last until the night dive, four dives with a pair of batteries, not bad at all. It helped a lot to have the confidence of no changing batteries the counter of remaining shots in the strobe screen. I don't feel the strobes big, to travel with them is pretty much the same than to do so with the Subtronic. What I don't like, I don't like the 2 button system for switch it on, i don't like it at all, its a pain in the ass that when you have started your descent and i'm starting to put all the rig on its place, placing the strobes, tighteen the clamps you have to release the rig because you need both hands to switch the strobes on. I don't like the rubber extra knob for set the power, I sticked it with glue during the second day because during the first day I found it in the dingy floor, even this I lost one of the knobs during the trip.

Wow!!!!

Next weekend I'm planning 3 dives to test a lot of new equipment before a trip to Similan islands where we go on a 10 days dive cruise, so I can deeply test these strobes, I'm pretty sure i will fall in love with them but I didn't expect that lack of accuracy in the number of shots remaining. If that was accurate I would know before enter the water that the battery wasn't charged. And about the batteries, well, when I bought the strobes I bought the batteries to the same seller, he offered me that SUPE batteries and as long as SUPE is also an underwater strobe manufacturer I thought they were the right ones. I soon will see its performance. and if it's not right I'll buy new ones

I didn't see it before, but these batteries have an integrated usb port C with an colored led light so I can charge them directly with my phone charger. I´ve bought a 4 usb port charger so I can charge all of them easily.

Well, after the first dive with them I have found that they don't feel that big and the light is great, but the fires left counter is not trustworthy. I charged the batteries on thursday and I went diving this morning, apparently the batteries were totally charged, and after some checks with the pilot light etc both screen showed 250 fires at full power. One of the strobes only fired 10 times at 1/2 power, it switched off itself, I tried to switch it on underwater and the screen was on for only 2 seconds. When I left the water I swapped the batteries between strobes just to make sure it was an issue with the batteries and was that, so I'm relieved. Once the batteries on the charger one of them shows only 2,90 volts. I'll have to check if it's a faulty battery or there was an issue with the charger. All four batteries are brand new Supe 21700, 5000 mah. The charger is a brand new Sumlytour for batteries from AA to 21700 which I got from Amazon. While I'm writing this I went to check the chargers brand and I found out that the failing battery was almost charged what can't be right as long as it's been charging for only 20 minutes, so I put my hand on it and it changed for almost empty. So I guess it was an issue with the charger.

Due to this thread https://waterpixels.net/forums/topic/2349-aoi-uis-p1-strobe/#comment-20074 I finally bought a pair of these strobes and i would like to write here my firsts impressions, before go into the water, what will be next week. Before anything here you can see the size of the strobe in compare with other well known strobes, from top to bottom, a Sea&Sea D1, a Sea&Sea YS120, a Retra Pro X s, a Subtronic 160 pro Alpha, and the AOI. The first impression is that is a heavy and well made strobe, I do like the batteries, I would prefer the 18650 instead of the 21700 but this 21700 is not hard to find either in amazon, aliexpress or any good electronics store. I do really like the screen showing how many shoots you can take with the selected power. I do like the location of the optical connector next to the 1" ball and the type of it, with no threads. I DON't like to press two buttons at the same time to switch it on, I don't like the size of the selector dial, it's to small and in fact there is already in the box an extension knob, which will have to be glued to the dial in order not to lose it. It comes with a diffuser which I had to use in the water first, to decide if I like its fitting or not and there is also in the box a neopren bag to transport it which instead of it I would prefer a neopren protection cover for the water, anyway its not difficult to make it myself or customize this bag to convert it in a cover. Next week I write here my first impression once in the water. I will also test them properly in my next trip to Similan island, the plan is 40 dives in the trip, so i think is a good test.