To anyone who has upgraded their DS-125

Question for anyone who has done the upgrade through Ikelite for the DS-125 to DS-160 / 161: Is it a *true* upgrade? In other words, does the strobe say DS-160 on the side after the upgrade instead of DS-125? Just wondering for resale purposes in the future. A lot of people on Wetpixel have commented it's easier to sell the DS-125 and buy a new DS-160, but I'm seeing most used DS-125's selling for no more than $400 now as a bare strobe and the DS-160 is $800 almost anywhere you look.

Also, if you upgraded, what did they charge you? My DS-125's are pretty much in the last series of serial numbers before the DS-160 came out, so I'm hoping they might be in the $275-300 realm to upgrade, but I don't know.

thanks,

JP

I did the upgrade.

The upgraded strobe looks exactly like a DS-160. It says DS-160 on the side, the pwoer knob is a DS-160 power knob.

I can't speak to reasle.

The price is determined after they examine the strobe. My guess would be a newer DS-125 would be on the lower end of the price range for upgrading, but that is a guess.

JP,

One of my 2 DS125s died 2 weeks before a big trip. Basically, it stopped charging. I knew it would take too long to get it repaired before the trip so I bought a brand new DS161 (I was planning to buy a spare anyway, it was just the timing that was forced on me). At the same time I sent off the DS125 to Ikelite to quote for repair and upgrade. I included the battery, too, as it was quite old. I was quoted $125 to replace the battery, $129.50 to repair the defective electronics (to get back to a working DS125) , $625 to upgrade the strobe head to a DS161 and $700+ shipping to replace the battery pack and upgrade to a DS161. I went with the $700 plus shipping.

The brand new DS161 arrived a week before my trip and I took it away with me.

The upgrade arrived a few days after I got home from my trip. Other than the serial numbers, I can't tell the brand new one from the upgrade. i.e. they sent me a brand new DS161 to replace the faulty DS125. Now, I don't know if they will always do this, but I thought I did very well to get a brand new DS161 for just over $700.