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Some time ago I expressed my frustration with Tek-Tite underwater strobes. As you may recall, I have had a run of bad luck with these things flooding or just crapping out during a dive. I set out to find an alternative. Here is what I think about one of the contenders, the AQ-4 from Jotron in Norway. I acquired an AQ-4 from one of Jotron's U.S. distributors, Radio Holland USA in Texas. I placed the order by telephone. The folks there were friendly, and accepted payment by credit card. The strobe cost $65, and standard UPS ground shiiping added $4.75. It arrived in five days. (I have paid $45-$60 for the TekTite Strobe 200). The AQ-4 is a slick unit. Overall it is about 7 inches long and 1.5 inches in diameter. The top 1.25 inches is a clear lens through with the flash tube is visible. It is intended as a personal surface marker (and is U.S.C.G. approved for that purpose), but the specifications say its water resistant to 300 meters. The only opening in the case is the battery compartment, which is accessed by unscrewing the bottom end cap. The single C-cell fits into a cradle which slides out just far enough to insert the battery. There is an O-ring at the end of the cradle, which is compressed between the outer wall and cradle end when the cap is tightened. The on-off switch is a slide unit with a nice detent in both the on and off positions. It appears to be a magnetic switch. There is a pair of slots molded into the case 180 degrees apart near the end cap though which a velcro attachment band is threaded, just like that on the TekTite model. There is no attachment point suitable for a snap on the end, however. In order to use the strobe, I threaded some heavy nylon line through the slots and tied a bolt snap on so that is was centered on the end cap where it would be if an attachment point had been provided. In this way the strobe clips to my harness and is held in place by a rubber band in the same way as my backup light. My wife and I tested the AQ-4 on two dives this weekend. We placed both the AQ-4 and one of our two surviving Strobe 200s close together on the anchor line just over the wrecks (not deep; the first dive had the strobes at about 80 feet and the second at about 50 feet). Bottom conditions were typical New Jersey - about 15-20 foot vis with a slight current running. The surface was just rough enough to cause the strobes to bounce around a little. The AQ-4 survived both dives without flooding. There was no apparent drop-off in light output and the flash rate, which is about once per second and slightly faster than the Strobe 200, seemed to remain constant. The single battery is certainly sufficient for at least a few hours. However, the light output of the AQ-4 is no match for the Strobe 200. Just beyond the point at which the anchor line could be seen, both strobes were visible. Just a few feet farther, however, and the AQ-4 disappeared while the flash from the Strobe 200 was still clearly visible. A contributory factor may be that the AQ-4 wants to float nearly horizontal, thus blocking some of its own light from some locations, while the Strobe 200 hangs straight down. A small fishing weight might cure this problem. I judged the AQ-4 to be unsatisfactory as a down line marker on the basis of these two tests, concluding: the light output is poor, the strobe maintains a less than optimal position and no suitable attachment point is provided. The search continues ... -- Art Greenberg artg@ec*.ne* -- Send mail for the `techdiver' mailing list to `techdiver@aquanaut.com'. Send subscribe/unsubscribe requests to `techdiver-request@aquanaut.com'.
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