Have experience with Kraken Adjustable Lift Float Arm?

[Kirgan]

Hello all,

I got a new camera housing setup. I now need to add some lift to it to get closer to neutral buoyancy. I am trying to decide if a buoyancy arm (like Kraken floats) that has adjustable buoyancy while diving by letting in water (ballast) would be worth it - over something like just trying to find the right combination of Stix floats.

URL to Kraken float


I had thought about using one Kraken float like in the video on the first arm on each side of my housing (to be able to fine tune in water) and then standard Stix for the rest of the arms (since I have some anyway - but not enough to get close to neutral).

Any thoughts? Would you think a float with adjustable buoyancy during the dive, instead of having to manually remove floats pre or post dive to tune the buoyancy, be worth it to you?

--Mike

 

[Gunrock]

What did you decide on? I'm debating the Kraken float arms as well. I've used the Stix floats for two separate rigs and I didn't think they provided any noticeable improvement at all. I'm shooting a Canon 5D MkIII in a Sea & Sea housing. I use a compact dome port for WA and I definitely don't have any issues with the rig being buoyant, however my friends who use full-sized domes do have that problem so the adjustable buoyancy offered by the Kraken arms would be a plus in that situation.

 

[Chris Ross]

The answer is it depends, if you can get close enough with standard buoyancy arms they are a good option. Best suggestion is to weigh your rig in the water. Even weighing in fresh water in as dived condition is close enough. Use one of those electronic luggage scales, then work out a combination which works. I'm using the INON float arms and they are reasonably priced and have a range of buoyancy available. If you look here you'll find the buoyancy of the arms: INON Arm System [Arm] A big dome may need some weight up front if tends to tip up.

you need enough buoyancy to counteract the weight of the housing in water as you'll have strobe arms on to include the impact of strobes you may want to subtract their weight from the housing when calculating. Probably try to get within 100-200 gr of neutral but definitely not positive. INON is actually very helpful providing a page with the underwater weight of ALL their accessories: INON Underwater Weight

 

[ReadyDiverOne]

Wondering whether anyone with a compact setup has used the Kraken adjustable floats? My rig: SonyRX100 in Recsea housing, Recsea tray, two YS-D2 strobes, Inon UWL 100 lens, GoPro clamped to cold shoe, Kraken 5000 on triple clamp of arm. Currently using two Stix plastic arms with Jumbo floats. Thanks.

 

[ReadyDiverOne]

Clarification: two StiX arms on EACH side (of course).

 

[pzouboul]

I have a very similar setup, rx100 fantasea housing with 2 kraken 5000 lights, gopro etc. seriously interested in the kraken KR-FA01 adjustable buoyancy floats. I really like the idea of the control they offer, would have been great if it had some kind of air input with release valve as well, this way I can remove water when submerged if needed. they are expensive though and not sure how positive the overall experience will be. I know how much float I need and two of these with trim floats will definitely be more than enough for my current setup, but it would be great to hear from others experience with them. do they really work as advertised, are they a pita to operate? are they to big etc? I'm confident that they are well made and don't mind spending the money, especially if they provide the flexibility to use them in future setups, but a bit more confidence before purchasing would be great. thanks