Alien Bees B800 vs Photogenic Powerlight vs Godox AD400Pro

I already have 6 Alien Bees B800. I also have 5 Photogenic Powerlight 1500's. Does it make any sense at all to abandon these two platforms and switch to new technology such as the Good AD400Pro?

Granted, the Aliens and Photogenics are all manual but you get dependability and the ability to get them repaired after all these years if I need to. The folks at B&H told me today that if something happens to the Godox's after two years, you don't have the ability to get them repaired given their company is in China. Maybe newer isn't always better....... Any thoughts or opinions on this? Thanks for your responses.

Adorama sells Godox under the Flashpoint brand and offers repair service once the warranty expires.

That said, if your current lights get the job done and you’re happy with your work, no sense in upgrading.

CanonBme said:

I already have 6 Alien Bees B800. I also have 5 Photogenic Powerlight 1500's. Does it make any sense at all to abandon these two platforms and switch to new technology such as the Good AD400Pro?
Granted, the Aliens and Photogenics are all manual but you get dependability and the ability to get them repaired after all these years if I need to. The folks at B&H told me today that if something happens to the Godox's after two years, you don't have the ability to get them repaired given their company is in China. Maybe newer isn't always better....... Any thoughts or opinions on this? Thanks for your responses.

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As someone who owns both Paul C. Buff (the company that makes Alien Bees) and Godox flash systems, to me this is a totally apples-to-oranges comparison / consideration, and there are at least two huge issues:

(1) Economical life: just because something can be repaired doesn't mean it makes sense to pay to have it repaired. A new Alien Bees B800 is a 320 W-s monolight that costs $300; a new Godox AD400Pro is a 400 W-S monolight that costs $529. If you have a five-year-old sample of either model, does it really makes sense to spend substantial money to have it repaired, instead of simply buying a new one?

(2) Comparable products: the Alien Bees B800 and Godox AD400 Pro are very different products. The Godox includes a battery and is intended to run on battery, but the AB800 needs to be plugged in. The Godox has a built-in radio receiver and can be fully controlled from an $89 remote on your camera's hot shoe; the Alien Bees needs a $70 CyberSync just to be triggered remotely, and you can't remotely adjust the output. The Godox can work with high-speed sync and TTL control; the Alien Bees cannot. If you want more comparable products, then from Paul Buff you need to look at the Celestial.

I have a Paul Buff kit with 2 White Lightning X-3200 monolights, 1 White Lightning X-1600 monolight, the older-type CyberSync hot shoe trigger, and a CyberSync battery-powered receiver. It is heavily-built, professional-grade, old-school gear. If you don't need a hugely-wide system and mostly work in a studio or at least don't move the lighting gear around a lot, it's great.

I also have, not long ago, started assembling a small, but probably to-be-expanded, Godox kit, with a TT-685 II shoe-mount TTL flash, a TT-600 shoe-mount manual flash, and an XPro II shoe-mount trigger. The XPro II can totally control either or both flashes, independently of the other. It is lightly-built--but IMO not low-quality--gear. It's part of what's very likely the widest, most flexible, and most capable photo lighting system that has ever existed. It offers a lot more control / flexibility than the Paul Buff gear does. For low-fuss, low-muss shooting / anything remotely run-and-gun, it's a great counterpart to my Paul Buff gear.

Both are basically very good products, but they're very different. Paul Buff makes some newer models that are more like Godox gear, and I bet they're great. But to me, any of this is really about choosing the best tool for the job--and that's not always the same tool or even same brand of tool.

CanonBme said:

I already have 6 Alien Bees B800. I also have 5 Photogenic Powerlight 1500's. Does it make any sense at all to abandon these two platforms and switch to new technology such as the Good AD400Pro?
Granted, the Aliens and Photogenics are all manual but you get dependability and the ability to get them repaired after all these years if I need to. The folks at B&H told me today that if something happens to the Godox's after two years, you don't have the ability to get them repaired given their company is in China. Maybe newer isn't always better....... Any thoughts or opinions on this? Thanks for your responses.

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As has already been pointed out the AD400Pro is difficult to compare directly with either of the lights you have (I'm in the UK so whilst I know a bit abit PB lights I've no idea what a Photogenic Powerlight 1500 is (other than it's a mains strobe). If you were to look for a Godox light that is easily comparable with the B800 you'd choose the MS300V

If you are buying a Godox strobe you are buying into a huge interoperable range. Strobes range from 2400Ws down to 70Ws speedlights. All have radios and can be configured and triggered by speedlights or dedicated triggers. Speedlights are available as single pin camera brand agnostic and multi pin brand dedicated models for Canon, Nikon, Sony, Fuji, and M43rds cameras. Triggers are available for all those brands plus Leica but most can be switched into single pin mode. The mains lights do not support TTL and only one family (QT) support HSS. The battery lights (including the multi pin speedlights) support TTL and HSS off camera. The single pin speedlights only support HSS off camera.

A word about "reparability". You current lights will have circuit boards with discrete components (capacitors, resistors, ICs) soldered into holes in the board. These can be repaired by desoldering the component and replacing it. Modern lights have surface mounted components which are robotically placed and flow soldered in an automated process. This is quicked, cheaper, more flexible and results in far fewer initiall faulty boards then the old way. However it is not economically possible to repair the boaud, you just replace it. For things like speedlights and triggers it's not worth fixin it as the price would be more than the cost of buying another. Godox does sell replacement feet and battery doors so you can fix problems like that yourself.

In the US Adorama and Molight offer repair services when it's economically sensible (e.g. for an AD400Pro). Where I am in the UK there are two or three businesses offering Godox repair services. The old complaint of "you can't get Godox kit repaired" is no longer valid.

CanonBme said:

I already have 6 Alien Bees B800. I also have 5 Photogenic Powerlight 1500's. Does it make any sense at all to abandon these two platforms and switch to new technology such as the Good AD400Pro?
Granted, the Aliens and Photogenics are all manual but you get dependability and the ability to get them repaired after all these years if I need to. The folks at B&H told me today that if something happens to the Godox's after two years, you don't have the ability to get them repaired given their company is in China. Maybe newer isn't always better....... Any thoughts or opinions on this? Thanks for your responses.

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Is your goal to make or spend money?

No power cables or trigger cables lying around on the floor reduces the risc of tripping, and controlling all power settings from the on-camera trigger in stead of the hassle of moving around to dial in the power setting on each strobe, increases the time you have to focus on your model.

Less fiddling with gear, more focus on staying in flow.

I recently bought into the Godox system (2 x 600 Pro, 1 x 300 Pro), upgrading from old Elinchrom monolights.

I was committed to buying new tech, so the choice to go with the Godox was financial and logical, and when compared to the Elinchrom Five (for example), I could basically afford another whole AD600 Pro unit and still spend less than the Five's.

The point I'm making is if something happens to your equipment, one viable option is to purchase another unit while one is off being repaired/sourcing parts.

All equipment can fail at any time, so it's more about what you would do next.

I shot with Alien Bees and DigiBees until about 2-3 years ago. Nothing but praise for them. Never let me down. Had the 800s so plenty of power for my headshot and portrait needs.

All of my associates were switching to Godox so I got a couple of AD200 Pros to start. I have to admit, I do like the fact that I have no power cords. Even with a Vagabond you still need a small cord. Granted it's not on the floor.

I shoot A LOT of headshots. Probably more than most on here. As well as portraits. The 200s as well as my newer AD300 is more than enough for that kind of work. I'm rarely using more than 1/4 power.

So far my AD200s and 300 have worked as expected. The Constant Color setting is nice so they all put out the same color temp no matter what power setting. Or at least close. Being able to adjust power with the Pro trigger is quick and easy.

I do miss the modeling lights of my Buff units. But there are work arounds if need be, Small battery powered LED lights can help. I don't want to drain my strobe battery using the modeling light. Not that great to begin with.

Overall, I really do like my Godox units. I doubt I'll ever get anything more powerful than the AD300 Pro. I don't need the power.