hid bulb

fa-mi?!?! I'd leave my hands off them! got burnt big time:

Took ages to get the technical spec to decide which model I wanted to have,
it then took another 2 months to get the torch, only to discover that the
umbilical cable had a cut and the plastic of the cable was BRITTLE and
disintegrated when extended. Fa-Mi don't take a word, they have to see for
themselves, so it had to go back all the way to Italy (add P&P) and only
then was a replacement sent (more delays). The 2nd unit was a duff as well:
the battery gave app. 20% of its expected burntime. I got in touch with
Fa_Mi and they recomended I keep on charging and discharging. After 10
rounds I was at 30% burntime and gave up...

Beeing a trained mechanical engineer I was shocked by the shoddy workmanship
of the battery pack- if any of my trainees would hand me in work like that,
I'd send him straight back to the bench! And Fa-Mi claim they have a quality
management system- maybe for cheese production?

At this point and time my local dive shop and the UK distributor advised
AGAINST Fa-Mi, pointing out the standing history of poor service in case of
breakdown/flooding. The UK distributor even said that he was contemplating
of stoping Fa-Mi all together as it was to much hassle. (but apparently they
are brilliant if they work). Not something you want with an expensive torch
like that!

I have now got myself a Greenforce HID lamp - roughly the same price - and
it does what they say on the box. The craftsmanship is great, one does
notice the precision aquired machining parts for nuclear power plants.

So I'd give Fa-Mi a wide bearth!

Safe Diving,
Franklyn

"Dave Morgan" <morgand@cix.co.uk> wrote in message
news:memo.20040601081727.27337B@morgand.compulink. co.uk...
> In article <c99rm0$r7d$1@titan.btinternet.com>, im@fedup.com (david)
> wrote:
>
> > HL ? which light is that ,
>
> Check out www.fa-mi.com
>
> > The main reason for trying to find out which
> > bulb
> > is
> > best at cutting through the cr*p in the water.
>
> For phography ? Video ? or just illumination ?.....
>
> > If there is any stuff in
> > the
> > water video
> > will be pretty poor.
>
> I certainly get pretty good results.
>
> > How long does the bulbs last.
>
> Indefinitely, I'm told.........the good thing about the HL lights is that
> you can switch them on and the light is instant.....no warming up, switch
> off and on as you like underwater, no waiting time.......and the light is
> extremely good.....at night it lights everything up like daylight.
>
> Dave Morgan @ Work in the UK
> Take out the "goes diving" bit....
> Trip photos on line at www.morg.co.uk

In article <c9uean$ft4$1@hercules.btinternet.com>, ask@nospam.com
(Franklyn) wrote:

> fa-mi?!?! I'd leave my hands off them! got burnt big time:

Well my motto is speak as you find so i can't argue with above, but i
would add that Fa-Mi were very good with me.
I had been recommended to them by a guy in YAP who does some good video
work, i had watched a short film of his while we were there at Christmas.

I contacted the only Importer of Fa-Mi in the Uk, and spent a deal of time
phoning to pin down exactly what i wanted, i then arranged to drive about
150 miles to their "very small" industrial unit only to find that they
did'nt have what i wanted, i had told them i was in a hurry and needed the
lights etc in about 4 weeks as i was going to Sabah in March, they then
told me there was no chance.........Fa-Mi are slow they said.......so i
e'mailed Fa-Mi in Italy direct and explained what i wanted....they said
they would ship the following day day if i paid the importer in the UK, i
paid by PDQ and the whole thing arrived in two days.......the importer got
his markup for doing nothing, was not impressed by him.

As for the quality......the light heads and cables are fine, the battery
pack is heavy and difficult to mount for underwater use, but it works fine
and the burn time has not caused a problem even on night dives......

There is good and bad in everything i guess, nobody is perfect.....

Dave Morgan @ Work in the UK
Take out the "goes diving" bit....
Trip photos on line at www.morg.co.uk

> > fa-mi?!?! I'd leave my hands off them! got burnt big time:
>
> Well my motto is speak as you find so i can't argue with above, but i
> would add that Fa-Mi were very good with me.

I think FaMi are generally slow to get things into the UK, but they
(actually I think it was probably the importer rather than FaMi) were very
good to me when I had a problem. Basically, I waited a while for something,
it wasn't suitable (sent the wrong thing), they didn't have what I wanted in
the UK so they offered me a replacement (and upgraded) torch rather than
making me wait.


> As for the quality......the light heads and cables are fine, the battery
> pack is heavy and difficult to mount for underwater use, but it works fine
> and the burn time has not caused a problem even on night dives......

Yeah, I love my torch now. Umbilical is so much nicer because it really is
huge if you use it as a lantern-type. I still haven't found the best way to
mount the battery pack yet (I haven't done much diving since I got it) but I
have had it just clipped onto the cam band of the cylinder - good during the
dive, just a pain to try to hold the BCD, pony and torch all in the right
place while tightening the tank strap. Its probably going to get moved into
an SMB pocket on the back of my BCD now...

David

In article <ca1bde$8e5$1@wisteria.csv.warwick.ac.uk>,
wbsdavenews@hotmail.com (David Walker) wrote:

> (actually I think it was probably the importer rather than FaMi) were
> very
> good to me when I had a problem.

I think we are talking about the same person .........just did'nt appear
bothered to action anything.

> Yeah, I love my torch now.

Yes me too, some of the photos on the link below used the light from the
two heads to great effect.

> I still haven't found the best
> way to
> mount the battery pack yet (

I made a very simple 1/8th plate that slid into the battery pack and was
underneath the video housing, QD fastening, but with no weight belt and 4K
under the camera the body tended to want to end the dive and the camera to
explore deeper depths........

> I haven't done much diving since I got it)
> but I
> have had it just clipped onto the cam band of the cylinder -

So how do you switch on and off while on a dive ?????? and how do you
pass up the camera to the boatman while connected via the cables ?????

Dave Morgan @ Work in the UK
Take out the "goes diving" bit....
Trip photos on line at www.morg.co.uk

> So how do you switch on and off while on a dive ?????? and how do you
> pass up the camera to the boatman while connected via the cables ?????

Ah sorry - little confusion there - mines just a torch torch, not a light
for a camera. Its got the switch on the head of the light (Multistar)
rather than the battery pack. :O)

David

In article <ca1ujo$m50$1@wisteria.csv.warwick.ac.uk>,
wbsdavenews@hotmail.com (David Walker) wrote:

> Its got the switch on the head of the light (Multistar)

Ah....i did'nt like those, complicated rotating of the head to get the
desired output.

Take out the "goes diving" bit....
Trip photos on line at www.morg.co.uk

> > Its got the switch on the head of the light (Multistar)
>
> Ah....i did'nt like those, complicated rotating of the head to get the
> desired output.

Hehe - yeah, takes a bit of getting used to... like when you first connect
the battery, the torch will turn on, even though its in what would usually
be the off position. Since I didn't want to melt the thing, I pulled the
battery off again - spent hours playing with that. Once I got the hang it
does make sense though, and its a reasonable way of working - you can't
change quickly, but can use one hand and a quick twiddle of the ring and I
can get what I want. Better than the normal one (the 2001) anyway since I
can extend the runtime to twice that I would otherwise get, useful in eg
warm water that is clear and so doesn't need such a bright light (when I was
using the 2001 I ended up regularly swapping between a 35W and 50W bulb to
extend the life when doing night dives on reefs and things, and then putting
the 50W in for wrecks - but thats a lot of faff, especialyl now I have the
external charge module now I never need to open it up at all.
Anyway, each to their own - obviously video needs different solutions
anyway. :O)

David

In article <ca5inm$67a$1@wisteria.csv.warwick.ac.uk>,
wbsdavenews@hotmail.com (David Walker) wrote:

> takes a bit of getting used to...

I use the Slim 9, the battery is the only pain, its shape and weight are
not user friendly, 4K is a lot of weight to carry either above or below.

Dave Morgan @ Work in the UK
Take out the "goes diving" bit....
Trip photos on line at www.morg.co.uk