Tried the loc-line arms - great!

Last October on board Serenade I decided I really had to give the loc-line arms a try. Last weekend (up to today) was the first time I had the chance, even though I have had the setup organised since January! It has been frustrating being back in a full-time job.

Anyway the system worked extremely well; better than I expected, actually. Definitely much much easier to adjust the arms than using the ULCS system I was using before. Thanks to Herb for making it very obvious that it was worth trying this out.

Out of the water it's not as good as the ULCS arms (other than being much lighter) because it's impossible to lock everything in one position, but given the convenience in the water I can accept that disadvantage.

One unexpected problem: On the first dive (in the first 2 mintues!) I was trying to adjust the modelling light (which was on a third locline arm) and I didn't realise I had reached the end of its travel (the arm is much shorter than the two strobe arms). I popped a segment right off! Lucky I spent all that time in the gym over the last 6 months, so I was able to put it back on without too much trouble and get on with the dive. 8) (On the other hand if I hadn't spent the time in the gym maybe it wouldn't have popped off. :wink: )

I should mention that I made up the base plate myself (can't resist tinkering) so I could get everything where I wanted it; and it turns out to be completely straightforward to attach the Inon strobes directly to the end segment of the locline (the one which has a closed flat end with a hole in the middle). No need for any adapter at all. Brilliant!

I'm converted.

-David

David,

Wait till they are a few months old, then they squeal like a pig when you adjust them.

I use them and they are excellent for lightweight strobes, they eventually wear loose but are cheap enough to replace.

PauP

They already squeal a bit sometimes! Forgot to mention that in the disadvantages.

I do expect they will eventually become looser. Just waiting to see how long that will take. Biggest inconvenience is that it seems to be impossible to buy them locally (in HK) and the shipping from the US costs about as much as the arms themselves.

-David

Have had no dealings with this company but thye should be able to supply you with mabelf@multim-group.com in HK

Thanks for the tip! Sent an eMail, now I'll wait and see what happens ...

-David

Hi David,

A couple of questions for you.

- Where did you order your loc-line components ?

- Can you send a picture of your system so that I can see what it looks like with the 3 arms ?

Cheers,

Hi Whitehead. No response (yet) from the eMail you suggested. (But that's not unusual in HK.)

Stephane, I'll be happy to post a pic ... but everything is disassembled at the moment. If I have time I'll put it together again this evening or a bit later this week. It doesn't take long.

I'm working on a revised setup now anyway - I want to move the attachment point for the arms to the top of the housing instead of the bottom. Also I had another "(even more) brilliant idea" for attaching the lights. You know I can't resist messing around with this stuff; and it keeps me from going crazy between diving trips! The next scheduled trip is not until my Lembeh trip late September. I'm getting so desperate that I think I'll be doing a few dives in HK in the meantime.

I got the components at www.modularhose.com. I don't know whether they are cheapest or best but everything I ordered arrived as scheduled with no hassles.

Given the charges for shipping you have to work out exactly what you want in advance. Incidentally, I'd suggest getting the special pliers as well. I didn't, and I have been regretting it! It's quite possible to work without them, but I find it a bit awkward when dealing with anything more than a couple of links together.

Will post pics later ...

-David