I am helping a friend sell her husband's camera gear. He passed away suddenly earlier this year and want to help lighten the load of everything she is going through. I know almost all of his gear, but the strobes are a brand I've used over the years. The strobes he used most recently are Retra Pro Xs. The three strobes put away in a drawer were Sea & Sea YS-2Ds. All three look different from the other. One has a black body, the other two are yellow. One of the yellow strobes has two cast-in tie loops on either side of the ball mount, the other has only one (just like the black bodied one). The strobes all appear to work fine and are in really good condition. So, the questions I have are:
1. Other than color, are there any differences I should note between the strobes?
2. I've done some searches for sold YS-2Ds - is there a difference in value between the 3 versions?
I have owned several YS-D2's, both black and yellow labels. The black label ones were made in China in 2015-16, and often malfunctioned. As a result, Sea & Sea moved the YS-D2 strobe manufacture to Japan in 2017 and changed the label color to yellow, and added a J to the name, YS-D2J. A yellow label J strobe is worth considerably more than one with a black label, a new YS-D2J yellow label strobe is about $670.
A good way to find out the used price is to look in eBay, where today used YS-D2J's are $420 to $470.
Thanks for the input. I had heard about the China vs Japan built units, but didn't know the differentiation. Tested all the strobes today and the China-built one is flaky. Works most of the time, but occasionally went dead and/or failed to flash. Likely a parts unit. Again, thanks for the input.
You mention "flaky... Likely a parts unit". I am a tinkerer and have opened several Sea&Sea YS and Inon strobes: They are rather complex and once opened their insides tend to fall apart, such that it is rather difficult to fix them. In other words, if a strobe gives trouble, rather than trying to fix it yourself, have a pro work on it.
It would be of interest to hear from others of their experience on how to handle defective uw strobes.
I have 1 china version D2 that I bought to use for a third (slave)strobe in my blackwater setup. I haven't had any electric problems with the unit, but I did have the issue of them burning the lens because of the high power output and its associated heat flashing on a plastic lens. At least that was my understanding of the problem. It happened twice to me and both times I took the unit apart and refinished the lens with a headlight polish kit. worked really well. The second time it happened I installed a piece of plate glass between the bulb and the lens and haven't had a problem since. I believe S&S did a recall on the china version, but I had owned my too long and wasn't under the warranty at that time. Doesn't the japan version have a lower output and they went back to a glass lens?
