Hello,
Sam here, founder of Adaptalux, and thought I would jump in to offer some help and guidance with your questions.
The Pod 3 is much improved on the Pod 2, its been completely re-designed, it's more robust, has a simple and improved manual control scheme and now features a metal thread on the back for mounting. The Flash Arms can be adjusted either using the app or by using the manual control dial on the Pod. We continuously improve our products, as all small companies do, and I have personally put a lot of design work into the Pod 3 and Flash Arms, learning and improving from past comments to ensure the final products are of high quality.
As you will know Adaptalux is not comparable to a fibre optic microscope illuminator, a common mis-conception is the Control Pod produces the light, when in fact it does not. The Control Pod provides the battery power and control, each Lighting Arm has its own dedicated light source to produce high quality and controllable light.
The advantages of Xenon Flash with Adaptalux is the same advantages of the LED Lighting Arms, highly flexible and adaptable lighting to suit you and your subjects needs. You can find the full specifications of the Xenon Flash Arm here: https://adaptalux.com/support/xenon-flash-arms/
They are not the most powerful flashes you will ever buy, the R1C1 probably has more overall power, but the Adaptalux Flash Arms, alongside with everything else we do, have been specifically designed for macro photography and provide plenty of power and control for macro photos.
I hope this helps! You can visit our community page and our Youtube page to see examples taken with our Flash Arms from us and our customers.
Many thanks,
Sam