Godox AD200

Our friend from Cheetah seems to be in sales mode. AD200 one stop less than AD600? That cannot be right and casts doubt on his other figures. How is he testing this? It's really easy with these Godox bare-bulbs heads - all you need is a double-diffuser softbox to collect and project all the light in exactly the same way. Test in the same environment away from reflective surfaces and at closish range like 1m (distance must be identical).

FWIW, based on what I know and have read, I'd estimate the AD200 will match two high-end speedlights like the Canon 600EX-RT very closely, and be a bit more than two third-party equivalents like the Yongnuo 600EX-RT. About 2/3rds of a stop down on the AD360 and about one-and-a-half stops down on the AD600.
 
Vid says cheetah stand have redisgned the bracket but it also DIY-able and they're putting out instructions

I'm hoping for rather more than that. Something similar to the existing S-type and Elinchrom bracket, but ditching both those options and fitting it directly in place of the interchangeable speedring (which is rapidly becoming a standard softbox feature). Plenty of room there for two AD200 heads, plus some bright LED modelling lamps with their own power supply.

This is the missing link needed to properly bridge the gap between studio and battery/location flash and produce a truly universal purpose light. And it would actually be very easy to do (y)
 
Our friend from Cheetah seems to be in sales mode. AD200 one stop less than AD600? That cannot be right and casts doubt on his other figures. How is he testing this? It's really easy with these Godox bare-bulbs heads - all you need is a double-diffuser softbox to collect and project all the light in exactly the same way. Test in the same environment away from reflective surfaces and at closish range like 1m (distance must be identical).

FWIW, based on what I know and have read, I'd estimate the AD200 will match two high-end speedlights like the Canon 600EX-RT very closely, and be a bit more than two third-party equivalents like the Yongnuo 600EX-RT. About 2/3rds of a stop down on the AD360 and about one-and-a-half stops down on the AD600.

He could well be in sales mode but then he's discouraging people to buy the more expensive AD600?
 
He could well be in sales mode but then he's discouraging people to buy the more expensive AD600?

I didn't say he was in good sales mode ;) but the most likely first purchasers are existing AD360 and AD600 owners. It's a dangerous game though, as the first thing they'll do is compare the power!

Personally, I don't see too much conflict between models though. AD360 sales might get hit, but that's still a more powerful unit, cheaper, proven, and perfect for events with the flash on a camera bracket and battery over your shoulder. The separate battery isn't too much of a problem on a stand either.

It's not for me though, and I'm kinda looking at two speedlights, two AD200s and two AD600s as my ideal 'total system' outfit. That's not happening anytime soon and I'm not keen on being an early-adopter guinea pig. Meanwhile I hope there's more to come by way of AD200 system accessories, especially that mounting bracket and head-twinning options. That's key for me really, and if it all works as I hope it might (and could so easily), then four AD200s just might be able to do everything I need (y)
 
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If you buy fit for £267 and have to pay £30+ in duties you are only a few pounds short of UK dealer price - the difference? A warranty, I know which I will be buying!

Production run has not started as far as I know

Mike

Agreed Mike, I was just posting the link giving an idea of price, personally I wouldn't buy anything like this from ebay although I know a few from here will, if I purchase one of these it will be from essential or another UK retailer, and it won't be till it's been tried and tested so I would be looking around about late April/May for myself.
 
UK based suppliers of godox equipment seem to be very competitive compared to imports. I guess they have have to be to compete.
 
Thanks chaps! Just need to find one that'll honour a warranty just in case!

UK shops/suppliers have to it's the law, and if they didn't they would soon be going out of business
 
UK shops/suppliers have to it's the law, and if they didn't they would soon be going out of business
Sorry my reply was a little vague - that's why I want to buy from a UK shop, not an EBay vendor. Can only seem to find them at Essential so far, though.
 
Who IS the Godox dealer in the UK? I'm really interested in a 2x 200 and 2x 600 outfit.

The real question is, who will fix it if it goes wrong or you have an accident?

The former, a manufacturing fault, should be covered by warranty but it's not clear (at least, not to me) if that means the dealer will simply replace faulty items, or if it gets shipped off in a slow boat back to Godox in China.

But what about accident damage? Who has the service and repair facilities in the UK, the qualified technicians with spare parts available? This is important, as location flash units have a hard life at the best of times and a nasty habit of smashing to the ground in the wind. These products are not £60 speedlites that are cheaper to simply replace than repair, but expensive pro-spec gear costing hundreds of pounds that can't be out of use for more than a week or two at most.

China is not an option, and this is the problem with a business model that bypasses the normal official/solus distributor network - great prices, but no support. I'm probably not alone in hoping someone like Lencarta might fill the void but it might be difficult to make the sums add up.
 
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If you buy fit for £267 and have to pay £30+ in duties you are only a few pounds short of UK dealer price - the difference? A warranty, I know which I will be buying!

Production run has not started as far as I know

Mike
Godox have, for several years, stated that none of their products can be sold for less than a price that they have specified. Leaving aside the legality of forcing retailers to sell at a minimum price, the idea behind that is that ebay etc sellers cannot sell at cut prices and provide unfair competition to real businesses (which of course ignores the fact that the real businesses have to pay VAT, and also pay taxes on their profits). But they seem to have done nothing to actually enforce this in the past, with the result that they have enjoyed very high sales from dodgy sellers but reputable sellers haven't been able to compete on price.
BUT it now seems that Godox are now starting to keep their promise, and are getting ebay/amazon listings taken down if the price undercuts their own minimum price, so although VAT registered businesses are still having to work on a tiny profit, it is now possible to actually make a profit, and sensible buyers, faced with paying the same from a Hong Kong box shifter with no customer service, will now lose sales to reputable businesses.
The real question is, who will fix it if it goes wrong or you have an accident?

The former, a manufacturing fault, should be covered by warranty but it's not clear (at least, not to me) if that means the dealer will simply replace faulty items, or if it gets shipped off in a slow boat back to Godox in China.

But what about accident damage? Who has the service and repair facilities in the UK, the qualified technicians with spare parts available? This is important, as location flash units have a hard life at the best of times and a nasty habit of smashing to the ground in the wind. These products are not £60 speedlites that are cheaper to simply replace than repair, but expensive pro-spec gear costing hundreds of pounds that can't be out of use for more than a week or two at most.

China is not an option, and this is the problem with a business model that bypasses the normal official/solus distributor network - great prices, but no support. I'm probably not alone in hoping someone like Lencarta might fill the void but it might be difficult to make the sums add up.
As I'm now retired I don't speak for Lencarta, but my advice to them is to steer clear of the AD200 until
1. It's known to be reliable (this may take a few months)
2. Spares are in stock

Because, for the reasons that Richard has given, it's just a waste of money for people to buy one, drop it and then find that it can't be repaired, and without a REAL customer support facility, the small profit margins mean that any UK dealer who sells it will lose money if just 2% of them develop a fault within the warranty period.

Whether it's a good product or not, or worth the money, is almost irrelevant - the latest flashguns have become a must have for many people, who will upgrade to them regardless of whether or not they have a need, just like mobile phones.
 
Big discounts from Essential then :)
Do try to keep up Terry:)
See my thread above, also see this this post
I'm not at all sure that the AD200 will be a game changer - what exactly does it offer that existing products don't?

As I explained in the AD200 thread (to which you added your comment immediately after me) Godox have now started to enforce their retail price management system, which means that no re-seller, anywhere in the world, can now sell their products for less than their "recommended" price.
Which means that everyone at the show who sells Godox products is almost certain to sell them for exactly the same price (the minimum allowed). Anyone who tries to undercut that price will be in breach of that agreement and will be at very serious risk of losing their supplier.

Frankly, anyone in this country who provides a genuine warranty and who wants to sell at less than the Godox "recommended" price is stark staring bonkers anyway because, apart from the cost of warranty, the profit margin takes no account of
1. 20% VAT
2. The effective devaluation of the £, which is another 20%

Let's be clear about this - Godox prices are NOT cheap (except for their softboxes, small accessories etc), au contrair they are extremely expensive. What has, until now, been cheap is the retail prices, driven by online sellers who offer no after sales care, who pay no taxes and who, until the Brexit vote at least, have bought in USD and sold in both EU and £, getting a fair exchange rate for the £. That is now history, I think it must be true to say that no retailer who bought pre-Brexit now has stock bought at the old exchange rate.

Looking forward, if our government keeps their promise and forces foreign sellers selling into this country to pay the VAT and customs duty that's due, Godox (and other) products will disappear from ebay and amazon.
 
I'm not at all sure that the AD200 will be a game changer - what exactly does it offer that existing products don't?

First light to offer both a fresnel and a proper bulb head for starters (correct me if I am wrong).

500 shots from that little battery for seconds

Part of a now large fully integrated TTL system also springs to mind (obviously can all be used in manual)

I belong to number of forums and groups and the AD200 is talked about like nothing else I have ever seen before

Certainly an answer for those that want more power in a smaller form factor and are not interested in a studio style light, will definitely affect sales of the AD360 and I reckon that it will also affect sales of the AD600

For me it fills a gap that we did not even know exists

Might not change the game but will certainly modify it IMHO but time will tell

Mike
 
Do try to keep up Terry:)

Indeed I must Garry, it had been a long day, been up since 4.30am and all the excitement of the AD200 is taking it's toll :LOL: :LOL:
 
Do try to keep up Terry:)
See my thread above, also see this this post

Garry you say Godox prices are extremely expensive, but I don't see any competing gear at the same prices ? do you mean to say that the Ebay prices are far far below the actual RRP? If that's the case, you might just be incentivising me to buy now, before Fuhrer May pushes this this cataclysmic Brexit b******t.
 
What I'm saying is that their factory prices are extremely expensive, in the past they seem to have shown little interest in exercising any control over the prices that ebay sellers (in particular) have sold their products for, which means that there has been a race to the bottom price, from people who offer no customer service, no warranty, no product knowledge, who pay no taxes and who evade our VAT and duty.
This has now been stopped by Godox, obviously if you want to evade duty and VAT by buying from a foreign seller then you'll save some money - unless and until it goes wrong, when you'll find that you have no customer support whatever. You won't believe how many people contact Lencarta, who AFAIK are the only people who can repair (some) Godox-based products in the UK, hoping to get repairs done by them. IMO it's one thing to take a bit of a chance on dirt cheap products that can be binned when they go wrong, quite another to take that sort of risk with expensive, delicate machinery. But, strangely, it usually seems to be the people who can't afford to lose the money who take the risks...
 
First light to offer both a fresnel and a proper bulb head for starters (correct me if I am wrong).

500 shots from that little battery for seconds

Part of a now large fully integrated TTL system also springs to mind (obviously can all be used in manual)

I belong to number of forums and groups and the AD200 is talked about like nothing else I have ever seen before

Certainly an answer for those that want more power in a smaller form factor and are not interested in a studio style light, will definitely affect sales of the AD360 and I reckon that it will also affect sales of the AD600

For me it fills a gap that we did not even know exists

Might not change the game but will certainly modify it IMHO but time will tell

Mike

I also think the AD200 is a potential game-changer, if Godox develops it's 'modular' aspects as I (and others) hope they might.

Instead of different standalone units for different tasks (eg speedlites, studio heads, battery/location lights etc) with different power outputs and flash tubes, and all using different remote control systems, there would be just one basic 'power/generator unit' and one common remote control/trigger. You would then clip together one or more power units according to task, attach the most appropriate flash tube, fit the right battery (or mains). The modifier mount could also become a separate module, housing a bright modelling lamp with its own power supply.

If something along these lines is anywhere in Godox's long term vision, then that would certainly be a game-changer. The AD200 looks like it could be a big first step in that direction.
 
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So am I the only person who has read the 'scuttlebutt', advertising blurb & manual, had a think about where and when I'd actually use this product in place of my current set-up and come to the conclusion that I'm completely uninterested...

Paul
 
So am I the only person who has read the 'scuttlebutt', advertising blurb & manual, had a think about where and when I'd actually use this product in place of my current set-up and come to the conclusion that I'm completely uninterested...

Paul

Possibly. I want 2 of them ASAP to replace my SB800's on location! Only problem is 1) Affording them and 2) Reliability, which has been fingered several times in this thread :(
 
So am I the only person who has read the 'scuttlebutt', advertising blurb & manual, had a think about where and when I'd actually use this product in place of my current set-up and come to the conclusion that I'm completely uninterested...

Paul

Had to google scuttlebutt ;) But no, probably not the only person. For studio based photographers, shooting regular portrait stuff etc, then anything with a battery is likely going to be a step backwards, and more expensive than mains powered options. AD200 is a location flash first and foremost, that also just might be equally at home in the studio.
 
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