Ikelite Nicad Pack vs. Alkaline Batteries

[Tsunami]

Hi All.
I have an Ikelite 150 I plan to use on an upcomming Red Sea liveaboard trip and have to decide whether to buy the Nicad pack and charger or just bring a bunch of "D" cells. Ikelite tells me to expect 150-180 flashes per set of batteries. Can anyone confirm this? I'll be diving for 6 days. If I shoot two rolls a day...that would be 432 flashes or 3 sets of "D" cells. I can probably buy that for $25.00. Contrast that with $100.00 for a Nicad pack and charger used on Ebay. Also... I'll be lucky to dive once a year!
And... if I do buy the Nicad pack and it malfunctions, I'm out of luck. One more question...Since I'll be on a liveaboard in Egypt... should I worry about voltage and go with the more expensive smart charger which regulates the voltage better?
Thanks so much!
Steve

 

[ike]

Alkaline batteries will provide perhaps only 100 flashes on the 150 strobe. Alkaline battery pack for the 150 was disconinued years ago when we determined that these batteries which were not isolated from the electronics caused stress cracking and leakage by the dome. Smart charger definitely recommended for foreign voltage input.