Any Bowens TravelPak experts?

[CambsPhoto]

I'm looking at buying a used Bowens TravelPak off eBay, but am a tad confused over a few models.

I have both GM500 heads and GM500R heads. According to those manuals for the GM500 the TravelPak is the BW7631 kit, which includes unit, case, charger and lead (the BW7630 is just the unit alone). For the GM500R heads the TravelPak is stated in the manual for those heads as being the BW7693 (smaller) or BW7694 (larger), though not sure if these latter two models are just the battery, or the 'kit'.

Anyway, my question is, what is the correct TravelPak model for my GM500 heads and GM500R heads and can I use both models of my heads with both TravelPak models?

I'm just assuming the BW7963 and 7964 are possibly the later replacement TravelPaks that will still work with both the later GM500R heads as well as the slightly older GM500 heads?

Ideally, I'd like to grab a Godox AD600Pro, but at £699 compared to the used price of a TravelPak (about £100 on eBay) I figured the latter.

 

[Garry Edwards]

I'm no expert, I only tried to use one once, a brand new kit on loan from the dealer who wanted to sell it to me. Even new, it was too slow to recycle and ran out of battery too quickly.

Even then, it was yesterday's technology pretending to be the solution to today's needs, can't imagine how bad it is likely to be with an old battery...

You have options. There's the Visico 5 at a sensible price and there are also some 3rd party battery packs that will run any mains powered flash heads.

 

[CambsPhoto]

Looked at Visico, I need 500 or 600 watts.

 

[simonbarker]

There are two major versions of the Travelpak, the old model (BW7631) which is one self contained unit and the newer ones (BW7693 and BW7694) which have two parts allowing you to swap batteries (standard and large just denotes a different battery size, large iirc is 12AH which is noticeably larger and heavier).

You can use either with most Bowens heads including yours, just have to look for the travelpak connector on the back at the bottom but I'm not aware of any compatibility issues between any combination.

 

[simonbarker]

I'm no expert, I only tried to use one once, a brand new kit on loan from the dealer who wanted to sell it to me. Even new, it was too slow to recycle and ran out of battery too quickly.

That'd be because they're about 30 years old, a great idea for the time but compared to modern kit incredibly outdated.

Still if you use Bowens and just want the ability to use it away from a mains outlet, they work.

 

[CambsPhoto]

Thanks, Simon. Could finance a Godox AD600Pro, but that's the same price as the Bowens XMT location light, so...

 

[Garry Edwards]

Looked at Visico, I need 500 or 600 watts.

A modern, efficient 400W/s (not watt) unit is probably on par with an older 600W/s unit.

And even if it isn't, we're only talking about half a stop, max.

 

[simonbarker]

Thanks, Simon. Could finance a Godox AD600Pro, but that's the same price as the Bowens XMT location light, so...

Having briefly used all of them, your money will go furthest with a AD600BM, £450 new (probably £400 on Black Friday in a month) or £240 used.

I don't think you can really rely on the Bowens XMT kit because Bowens no longer exists (you will eventually be unable to source tubes and batteries), if you can source them cheap that's another matter but I think most of that stock has dried up from Bowen's closure.

A Travelpak works fine although do note it only allows you flash at reduced speeds, doesn't support modelling etc.

 

[CambsPhoto]

Makes sense, Simon. I'll look at a used AD600BM, seen a few for that price on eBay.

 

[Bobby G]

I don't think you can really rely on the Bowens XMT kit because Bowens no longer exists (you will eventually be unable to source tubes and batteries), if you can source them cheap that's another matter but I think most of that stock has dried up from Bowen's closure.

Bowens has been relaunched and all the kit is new stock.

 

[Garry Edwards]

Bowens has been relaunched and all the kit is new stock.

Maybe so but my take on this is that Bowens is a brand that has rightly lost public confidence. If it doesn't sell well it can't survive for long.

 

[simonbarker]

Bowens has been relaunched and all the kit is new stock.

They are but they're not, I don't have any real confidence that you'll get the same level of support as from other companies because all that remains of Bowens is the branding and whatever Godox will produce for Wex.

Happy to be proven wrong, I'd love nothing more than to see Bowens as a fully fledged company but I don't see it happening.