how good is the ikelite ds125 strobe?

I have been following this thread and itching to chime in..

So here goes:

Most all my gear is Ikelite

D-70 Housing

Olympus 350 Housing

4 Ports for the D70

2 DS-125's

4 Battery packs

Charger.

All the gear have work very well under different conditions in different parts of the world. Very happy with the strobes and housing and the resulting photos. BUT!!

I was on the Turks & Cacios Explorer II last week and my charger wasn't making good contact with the battery pack.. I had to tape the plug to the battery to get the charge light to come on.. Limped though the week and got some decent shots (SEE SLIDE SHOW) with the the help of the tape and another photographer on board that had the same charger.

When i got back home and played with the connector.. it came apart in my hand.. I cut the connector off and

thought I would call Ikelite and ask for a replacement cord or connector and I would repair it my self..

Called Ikelite and was told that because I cut off the connector that I would have to buy a new charger.

I tried to explain that the connector fell apart but was told that I had to buy a new charger.

Asked to speak to someone in charge and we repeated the same drill.. "BUY A NEW CHARGER". "We do not make the charger" I was told.. Once again"BUY A NEW CHARGER"

Then I was told that I was on the phone with them for 15 minuets and that is all that they could do. He just about told me to go piss up a rope. I went to my local electronic store and brought the 35 cent connector and fixed it myself.

It just ticks me off that they could have said .. "send it in and we will fix it for you.."

I have over $4,000 of their gear. And I found out that I was talking to Ike's son.

There is much talk on the forum about their service but I haven't seen it with this last encounter.

Joe

I agreed with the opinion that Ikelite must improve quality controls in manufacture process, I also received once a defective strobe, and until today I still pray for those dremel tool type marks on my 105mm flat port wont leak.. (this marks came originally with the port new in box, and seem to be standard marks...) or still removing pieces of plastic of the "bad cutted" shade on a 6" dome... Now, housings quality are superb, I think the issue may be on strobes electronics and ports finish...

So If someone on Ikelite is on this forum could take all this posts as customers feedback.

Still think Ikelite quality is really good and because of that, I want to keep using their stuff in the future, so I decided to make this observation.

When i got back home and played with the connector.. it came apart in my hand.. I cut the connector off and

thought I would call Ikelite and ask for a replacement cord or connector and I would repair it my self..

Called Ikelite and was told that because I cut off the connector that I would have to buy a new charger.

Joe,

Most manufacturer's warranty is pretty clear that they won't cover repairs if the owner has attempted to repair the item first. I don't expect Ikelite to be any different in this respect. I know this is hindsight, but it may have been best just to box up the charger and send it in to them when you got home. If it was still under warranty, Ikelite would have replaced it. As they stated, the chargers aren't made by Ikelite. I've got two of the new chargers and one of them has a very tight connector, while the other one is a little loose. Whoever makes the connector...that supplies the charger maker....that supplies Ikelite....may have a consistency issue with their components. Even though Ikelite has an obligation to stand behind (warranty) their equipment, I don't feel a bad connector is an Ikelite quality issue.

Regarding the original post asking about the DS125, it's obvious that the 'general' consensus is that they are good. The fast recycle time is a paramount feature. Until someone makes a strobe that is guaranteed to never fail or break or explode under any conditions....I'll stick with the DS125. A lot of shooters with top of the line cameras and extremely expensive aluminum housings are using Ike strobes.

As a sidenote, in reading thru this very interesting thread, It would be fun to see what a post from the "Addled Shopkeeper" would have looked like. I'm sure he would have entertained us all.

R.I.P. Ike

Well, here we go, i emailed Ikelite on Monday and got a same day response.

I have put the strobe in the post today. Lets see how long it takes and how much communication i get from them.

I'm pretty sure it will be handled well.