stix arms with ds125?

am looking at getting the stix float arm system my question is there anyone who has the stix system with ikelite ds 125 strobe and if so does the arms and clamps hold the strobe ok as the strobe is a little heavy i am concerned that it won"t be able to take the strain and the longevity of the ball joint concerns me as as they are not made of metal,any help would be appreciated

Steve:-)

I've had no problems.

drfiscus uses them without problems, really lightens the rig underwater, I use them with my inons, great product.

octopus do you use the jumbo size floats or the regular size ,also the the ball joints don"t wear?

I use them for a pair of Inons and Subtronic Novas and you can ding the ball head but the grip stays tight. I use the Jumbo floats on a 9" (?) arm and is a big help with the large Subtronics.

I use four 9" arms with the 3 1/2 of the 90 (med) floats. With my dome and 60 macro port I am neutral, with 105 port just a little negative and with the 70-180 port and fisheye focus light I add two 195 (jumbo) on a 4" arm to hold the fisheye and I am just a tad negative. If I use the fisheye focus light on the dome, 60 or 105 I use two 90 (med) on a 4" arm and I am just negative.

You will need to play around with your rig with different ports with different size floats to trim your system to your liking.

Regarding the StiX ball ends, they do not grip as tightly as the ultalight. With big strobes there is no problem under water, but in transporting the system above water they will allow the strobes to move as you bounce them when walking.

I use four 9" arms with the 3 1/2 of the 90 (med) floats. With my dome and 60 macro port I am neutral, with 105 port just a little negative and with the 70-180 port and fisheye focus light I add two 195 (jumbo) on a 4" arm to hold the fisheye and I am just a tad negative. If I use the fisheye focus light on the dome, 60 or 105 I use two 90 (med) on a 4" arm and I am just negative.

You will need to play around with your rig with different ports with different size floats to trim your system to your liking.

Regarding the StiX ball ends, they do not grip as tightly as the ultalight. With big strobes there is no problem under water, but in transporting the system above water they will allow the strobes to move as you bounce them when walking.

I use the Stix arms with my twin DS 125's and Aquatica housing - work fine - lightens load underwater significantly - I am not so precise that I bother to change configurations between flat port and 6" dome - have not used with 8 " dome because I did not bother to take it to Sulawesi in October - only issue I had was that I had to use an Allen wrench to tighten the balls on the ends every few days - otherwise so far so good. I do think that you may need to play with the floats a bit just to see what makes you comfortable for the conditions you dive in. Anything beats a very negative rig while trying to shoot macro and hanging on to a reef or wall in a current. I still have tendonitis in my right wrist from last April - even with a cortisone shot and a bunch of Ibuprofen.

Andy