JokingJ
If youre looking for a good system to buy into, I think its hard to get past Godoxs strobes and speedlights. I have a number of other Godox/Flashpoint lights, and I just order a second TT600 to fill out my run-n-gun, three light off-camera portrait setup (now two of these and an AD200). With one of the X1T controllers, or even another Godox flash with commander built in (Ive used my little , you could honestly do almost anything you want with enough of these TT600s. The fact that they can do high speed sync (HSS) up to 1/8000 with any brand of camera (again, so long as you have an appropriate trigger) is really impressive for $65, and theres nothing as capable in that price range from camera manufacturers (e.g. Canon, Nikon, Sony, Fuji, etc.). The V-series lights that use 2000mAh rechargeable batteries are very enticing, but they have the same output, are double the price, and I already have quite the collection of Eneloop batteries that more than get the job done. If youre looking for a capable on-camera flash for bouncing, this will definitely do the job, but it requires a bit more effort since it doesnt support TTL. Ive used my original TT600 this way to good effect numerous times, but with a little tweaking, a TTL speedlight makes the job quicker, easier, and more consistent. That being said, if you really want to get a better handle on how to use and incorporate flash into your event or portrait photos for fill, getting competent at using a manual flash can be very enlightening. Plus, if youre on a budget, it still works fine, just a little more trial-and-error. Overall, these lights are just really solid. The build is comparable to more expensive and similarly capable lights (features-wise) from Canon or Nikon. With good Eneloop Pro AAs in the chamber, recycle rates are pretty quick - probably about 2-3 seconds even for full power pops (youre honestly more likely to overheat the flash head if shooting really quickly at high power than run into recycle rate issues). In a HSS setup theyre very reliable and work very well as fill for a higher-wattage key light in a softbox. The menus are pretty straightforward, and once you memorize how to put them into radio-triggered slave and groups, youll probably never have to look at the manual again. I couldnt say what the customer service is like here in the states because Ive never had a Godox light fail (and Ive not been kind to my original TT600, if Im being honest...), but if thats a concern buy the re-branded Flashpoint R2 through Adorama (same light, same triggers) as theyll back it up. My plan if I ever encounter a problem is to send it to Adorama for service/repair, but seeing as the price is so low on these lights in particular its unlikely that repair would be notably cheaper than a new flash. (One thing to note about using the lights in slave/groups with a trigger is that they blink the AF assist lamp to let you know they have connection with the X1T trigger - doesnt bother me, but a friend of mine said it drives him crazy for some reason. To each their own, I suppose, but theres no way to turn it off.) As for the few people who have experienced quality control issues, Im not sure why they didnt just return/exchange the defective light if it arrived not working properly; if it comes damaged/defective, Amazon should handle that.