Kudos to Ikelite and Boo to UPS

[Warren_L]

I can't say enough good things about Ikelite and their service. I bought a set of DS-125s a couple of years ago and I started experiencing some problems with my batteries keeping a charge. After fully charging them, occasionally they would come up as completely dead after only being attached to the strobe (unused) for a few hours. So I sent both back for warrantee repair. The ended giving me brand new flash tubes and upgraded my older Ni-Cad battery packs to the newer NiMH packs, all covered under warantee.

However, I neglected to tell them not to ship back to me via UPS (Universal Piece of you know what). My fault, I guess. As I expected, I got hit with their "brokerage" fee which ended up being 43% of the stated value of the shipment.

Yay Ikelite. Boo UPS.

 

[bladephotog]

Yup, I recently experience excellent rush service from Ike. That stinks about UPS. I feel for ya.

 

[PermanentlyNarced]

Ditto on the service from Ikelite. Top notch all the way.

 

[Diver Dennis]

I've been having problems with mine too Warren. They don't seem to last nearly as long under the same conditions and they are less than 2 years old. I'm contemplating sending them back to be checked. How do the new ones work?

The flash circuitry has been giving me problems from day one when shooting more than one shot, it will pop off 2 or 3 more flashes. I'm not bashing Ikelite here, my system has stood up well for over 500 dives and I love it but I'm just curious about their warranty work.

Sorry for the hijack...

 

[Warren_L]

I've been having problems with mine too Warren. They don't seem to last nearly as long under the same conditions and they are less than 2 years old. I'm contemplating sending them back to be checked. How do the new ones work?

The flash circuitry has been giving me problems from day one when shooting more than one shot, it will pop off 2 or 3 more flashes. I'm not bashing Ikelite here, my system has stood up well for over 500 dives and I love it but I'm just curious about their warranty work.

Sorry for the hijack...

S'alright, not a problem. I wasn't expecting much of a discussion on my rant - I'm generally not one to do so typically, but there are a few things that really irritate me.

Someone from Ikelite called me and told me the scoop. The strobes I bought in 2005 had batteries that were about 3 years old (even though I've had the strobes for just shy of 2 years). The battery packs were probably sitting around for a while and may not have been maintained properly because of this. After running load tests, it was determined that they were defective from the time I got them, and they replaced them with the new NiMH packs. I've yet to get them wet as I just got them back yesterday, but I'll see this weekend.

I would get anywhere between 150-200 flashes out of a full charge (depending on the output). In the last month, one would be completely discharged (after being fully charged and sitting on the strobe overnight), and the other seemed to have shorter battery life as well. So I sent both back.

I would suggest that if you are in doubt, send them back and have them run a load test. If your batteries are as old as mine were, it could very well be the same problem.

Good luck, and don't ship via UPS!

 

[Darnold9999]

Totally agree, hate UPS - don't know why anyone uses them. Will ship any other way if given the choice.

 

[Diver Dennis]

Thanks Warren. I bought mine in September 2005 and started using them in late October. One seems to be worse than the other but I was getting about the same number of shots you were but now it's a lot less. I'll try to send them back from here but I'll use DHL...

 

[snepdiver]

Ikelite has always treated me great. always took care of my problem fast and answered any questions I had. UPS-United Parcel Stinks.

 

[JeffG]

Boo UPS.

Those that cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat them.

(and I shouldn't laugh...I've been caught by the UPS..."How has Brown %^&$#@ed you today?" syndrome myself more than once.)