Strobe Arms

I'm about to pull the trigger on a Hugyfot housing for my Canon 40d and looking at the Inon Z-240 strobe. I found a good deal on the strobe with the Fantasea arms/clamps. The seller actually tried to talk me out of buying the package with a warning that "you get what you pay for" with regard to the Arms/Clamps. They were pushing Ultralight arms/clamps at a much higher cost.

Of course I welcome any feedback on the Hugyfot/Inon purchase, but I'm mostly interested in understand about Arms/Clamps. What is good vs. bad? Should I consider arms with buoyancy?

Thanks in advance
Sean

I don't have the Fantasea arms or clamps, but have briefly looked at them on some online stores. From the photos that I saw, they appear to be missing two useful features that you will find on the Ultralights.

1. An o-ring around the ball. This is useful for keeping the arms in position without cranking the clamps so tight you that you need to loosen then tighten them again every time you want to adjust your strobe position.

2. Spring loaded clamps. Not as critical as the above, but is handy when assembling and disassembling your rig.

There is O-ring around the ball with the fantasea arms. But if I had more money at my disposal, I would have gotten the ultralight instead because it is more sturdy and more well constructed. But the Fantasea does its job just fine.

EDIT: What Jarhed says, save money and get ultralight arms. Fantasea okay, but its basically what you pay for.

I use the Ultralight and am very happy with them.

Some food for thought, once you get you DSLR housed and underwater, strobe positioning will be one of the most important adjustments that you make and will seperate the great pics from the ok ones with alot of backscatter, boring lighting, etc.

a good strobe arm system like ULCS will run ~$500

A lot of money to be sure, but probably around 5% of your total system cost to include camera, lenses, housing, ports, lights, etc.

I can't comment on the Fantasea arms because I've never used them, but poor strobe arms seem kinda like lawnmower wheels on a ferrari.

As far as good arms, I don't feel like I need the bouyancy arms, they are a bit bulky for the amount of traveling I do. With a macro setup, you may find your rig a bit negative for your taste, in wich case some closed cell foam around the arms cam get you a little more neutral.

I shoot with a S&S housing,but have heard great things about the Hugy housings.

If I were to buy new strobes today, I would get the z-240s, I love the small size (may find buoyance issues here, but great for traveling) I have heard they have pretty good recycle time and are reasonably powerfull with good battery life.

Just an opinion.
John