AussiePro
Registered
I bought an ISS4000 for my wife for her birthday about 6 weeks ago. Very next day went on a two day live aboard trip. I prepared it myself and checked for leaks in the bathtub before going as well as when it went into the water. It all seemed fine. The strobe fired all dive without a drama and it wasn't until we got out if the water that I noticed the back start to fog. There was no indication during the dive, no bubbles, no visible water due to the black plastic and no firing issues. There was quite a bit of seawater inside when I emptied it. I cleaned the strobe out and returned it to the shop when we got back to dry land and they gave me a replacement. Needless to say I was even more diligent second time around, bordering on being a bit anally retentive about how it was prepared. The second strobe went on two dives fine but they were shallow at around 4m or so. It wasn't until the weekend just past that we took it deeper to 10m. Once again I prepared it according to the instructions an being extra careful because I already didn't trust the waterproof integrity. Once again it was fine in the tub and in the ocean at shallow depths. Once again it flooded, no bubbles, no visible water due to the black plastic. This time the firing did play up though so we aborted the dive and I emptied out a bunch of seawater before cleaning it. Another underwater photography trip ruined. What is going on with these strobes? I absolutely know that it was prepared correctly. I have been doing underwater photography for 10 years with not a dingle leak because I am diligent with preparing my camera gear. Between us we have 3 cameras with housings. Another strobe, focus light, dive computer, torches. All of this underwater electronics that relies on o-rings to seal and I've never had a single issue but two dud ISS4000 strobes in a row.
