Sea&Sea YS-D3-2 vs Inon Z330-2 ?

Been diving a D1 for about 8 years and flooded one early in its life. That was cleaned and got new cap, never failed again. Just had a D finally fail (continuous flashes) and replaced that with a D3. With about 12 dives on that strobe, so far, no apparent issues. Before each dive day I always make sure the o-ring is clean and re-install with just a little lube. Seems to work for me.

On 1/12/2022 at 1:06 PM, Kraken de Mabini said:

Re strobe leaks, I have used both Inon and Sea&Sea strobes for eight or more years. I have had one Inon battery flood from a twisted cap O ring, my fault for not detecting it, but no Sea&Sea YS-D1 or D2 leaks.  From looking at photos of the Sea&Sea YS-D3 strobe, its battery cap is practically the same as in previous strobes.  

The Inon and Sea&Sea battery caps need minimal human intervention, and when kept clean with minimal handling, they keep the water out. The weak link is us error-prone humans. As the strobe cap designs are solid, it is safe to say that most, if not all, leaks are the divers responsibility.

 

Cap is the same but what it screws into is not the same, they modified the battery compartment for YS-D3. The fit is not as snug as for YS-D2, for example. Just learned that a friend of mine who bought her YS-D3 around same time as I did, also flooded one of her strobes. I would be interested to hear more of the experience with this particular model than comments in general. Thanks anyway.

Guys, the YS-D1s and D2s have well documented problems, c'mon. If people choose to live in denial, that's another problem. Also, just because you didn't have a problem, it doesn't mean there's no reliability problem. It's a matter of statistics.

I have spoken to 2 people who were SPONSORED by Sea&Sea and they acknowledged the faults. One of them went through more than 10 strobes in the span of less than 2 years. I have gone through 6 until I got smarter and switched to Inon.

Let me be be clear about something: the functionality, TTL and quality of light of the Sea&Sea strobes is better (the TTL is MUCH better) but they don't last. How many times have I seen people on liveaboards using a single S&S strobe because one was malfunctioning...
And the problem here in Asia is that it doesn't matter what the problem is, the assistance will charge you 90% of the price of a new one to fix it.

I'm aware of confirmation bias, but the report by Silvana is enough for me to maintain my position of staying away from S&S strobes. It seems the service in North America is better. If you guys want to take a risk, by all means go ahead.
We can all be splitting hairs if the o-ring needs to be lubed this or that way but the fact of the matter is they are not reliable.

On 2/2/2023 at 11:19 AM, donboka said:

Guys, the YS-D1s and D2s have well documented problems, c'mon. If people choose to live in denial, that's another problem. Also, just because you didn't have a problem, it doesn't mean there's no reliability problem. It's a matter of statistics.

I have spoken to 2 people who were SPONSORED by Sea&Sea and they acknowledged the faults. One of them went through more than 10 strobes in the span of less than 2 years. I have gone through 6 until I got smarter and switched to Inon.

Let me be be clear about something: the functionality, TTL and quality of light of the Sea&Sea strobes is better (the TTL is MUCH better) but they don't last. How many times have I seen people on liveaboards using a single S&S strobe because one was malfunctioning...
And the problem here in Asia is that it doesn't matter what the problem is, the assistance will charge you 90% of the price of a new one to fix it.

I'm aware of confirmation bias, but the report by Silvana is enough for me to maintain my position of staying away from S&S strobes. It seems the service in North America is better. If you guys want to take a risk, by all means go ahead.
We can all be splitting hairs if the o-ring needs to be lubed this or that way but the fact of the matter is they are not reliable.

View archived post in: 3+ years with the Sea and Sea YS-D2J