The Backscatter HF-1 strobe has been out for a couple of months now, and a number of divers are using it with great success. The reviews have been largely positive as well, and it seems to be a great product. I've done about 20 dives with the HF-1s and I'm really pleased with it. The power level, recycle time, battery life, and actually useful videos lights add up to very compelling product. When compared to other strobes with fewer features at almost twice the price, it's a killer deal.
All that said, when I've talked to other UW photographers about it, I've really only had one criticism related to the controls and ergonomics. The Power Level Knob is terrible.
The Power Level Knob is too difficult to turn while wearing gloves and worse, you can't tell By Feel what power level position it is in. There is a tiny white dot on the knob indicating its position which you can't see unless you point the strobe's back right into your face. Personally, I use long arms and rarely have the strobes pointed straight forward so I have to reposition the strobes just to change the power level. At night this is even worse as you also need to point a light at it. This design is very problematic, and I hope Backscatter will fix it in later production.
In the meantime, I have come up with a solution. I made a new knob that slips right on top of the existing one.
This simple 3d-printed part slips snuggly over the existing knob, aligned with the existing white dot. It is much simpler to turn with glove on or off, and you can easily tell it's position by feel. The knob turns freely in the full range of settings.
![HF-1 Power Knob [DLH].jpg](https://scubaboard.com/community/attachments/hf-1-power-knob-dlh-jpg.857542/ "HF-1 Power Knob [DLH].jpg")
It was just as easy to print out 10 as 2, so I made a big batch to share with others who might be interested. I still need to do a few more test dives with it before I declare it to be finished, but I'm pretty happy with it so far.
I'll publicly share the 3D STL design files once I've tested it a bit more.
All that said, when I've talked to other UW photographers about it, I've really only had one criticism related to the controls and ergonomics. The Power Level Knob is terrible.
The Power Level Knob is too difficult to turn while wearing gloves and worse, you can't tell By Feel what power level position it is in. There is a tiny white dot on the knob indicating its position which you can't see unless you point the strobe's back right into your face. Personally, I use long arms and rarely have the strobes pointed straight forward so I have to reposition the strobes just to change the power level. At night this is even worse as you also need to point a light at it. This design is very problematic, and I hope Backscatter will fix it in later production.
In the meantime, I have come up with a solution. I made a new knob that slips right on top of the existing one.
This simple 3d-printed part slips snuggly over the existing knob, aligned with the existing white dot. It is much simpler to turn with glove on or off, and you can easily tell it's position by feel. The knob turns freely in the full range of settings.
It was just as easy to print out 10 as 2, so I made a big batch to share with others who might be interested. I still need to do a few more test dives with it before I declare it to be finished, but I'm pretty happy with it so far.
I'll publicly share the 3D STL design files once I've tested it a bit more.
