Cheap Chinese Wireless Remote Syncs

[Frank Petronio]

Going to strobe again. Why should I pay $$$ for a Pocket Wizard when these $25 Chinese remotes are on eBay? Any drawbacks? I could buy two or three...

[Paul Kierstead]

I bought one from eBay. The receiver plugs directly into the back of my Monolights (it has 1/4" jack built-in). The transmitter has a hotshoe and cord. It works great in the studio! I suspect its range is a lot shorter and it is much more susceptible to interference than a pocket wizard, but in a single-shooter studio this isn't much of a big deal. When you're shooting remotes in a sports stadium, I expect the pocket wizards are a better value proposition.

[Frank Petronio]

So you just get an adapter to go from Monoplug to Household? (for old American strobes)

[Sevo]

For short distances, there is nothing wrong with them - in particular the more recent ones with 16 rather than 4 channels. If you intend to use them in huge halls of over outdoor distances, something more expensive may be required.

[Bosaiya]

Because if you drop one of the Chinese ones they break. I had to re-solder one and even after it only fires if the transmitter is in a vertical position. Not the end of the world if you're just messing around, but if you're expecting the flash to go off every single time you trigger the remote you may want to weigh how much that peace of mind is worth.

[Frank Petronio]

Well then, in terms of robustness and simplicity -- I don't need the remote to make me breakfast -- which ones are the best? I always had Quantums back in the old days but Pocket Wizards get the marketing these days... And I always had a hard cord for back-up.

Wouldn't it be nice if I could get everything in the kit to run on AA batteries instead of a mix of buttons and 9v's and whathaveyou?

[anchored]

My son bought a set last year from eBay... we tested them against my set of Elinchrome SkyPorts:

a) Range was VERY short... less than 35-feet with any reliability. (almost 900-feet with SkyPorts and they fired every time at that range... beyond 900-feet started to misfire on occasion)

b) Reliability spotty even at close distances (within 20'). (no prob with SkyPorts)

The Chinese units also had a very short life-span... stopped working after several months of use. My SkyPorts are over two-years old and still kicking fine with no problems. He now uses SkyPorts (he borrowed mine so frequently I gave them to him).

I would suggest that that one would be better off using Elinchrome's, or for heavy or professional use using Pocket Wizards. The Chinese units lack of reliability can keep one in a constant state of aggravation and frustration with misfires... especially if you are bearing the expense of using them with expensive film.

[BarryS]

There are several Chinese manufacturers and some of the triggers have very bad reps, but I've heard good things about the Yongnuo RF-602. Supposedly, it has a better build quality and much longer range. I''m sick of getting tangled in my sync cord and I'm either getting the RF-602 or a set of Radiopopper JrX's. The Radiopoppers are also Chinese-made, but designed by a small US company and they already have a decent reputation.

[Ron Marshall]

You could always buy American:

http://www.white-lightning.com/cybersync.html#cst

[Steven Barall]

The thing about Pocket Wizard is that there are a lot of strobe power packs that have the Pocket Wizard receiver built in.

A problem that I've run into over the years is that certain locations have so much electrical interference, the wireless strobe trigger will just not work, either by not triggering the flash or by setting off the flash at random. A really good wireless system handles those types of situations much better. We used the original wireless remote, "The Hawk", (the transmitter is a garage door opener) since the late 1970's (it still works) but started to run into this problem in an office we did a lot of work in so we got a Pocket Wizard and went back into that same office and never had a problem.

I actually now use the wireless system from Alien Bees and I really like it. They make a receiver that plugs in between the flash units own power cord and the flash unit itself so there are no battery issues there. The Alien Bees is also made in America.

You get what you pay for.

[Jeremy Moore]

Split the difference in price: www.radiopopper.com

[Kirk Gittings]

I am very skeptical about cheap Chinese electronic photo components. One example-I bought a Chinese knockoff of my Canon 5D cable release. It lasted exactly one week. I use Pocket Wizards. Flash sync is simply no fun to fool around with on location. It ruins my concentration when I have to fool with crap like that.

[Michael Graves]

I bought one. It worked twice and then died. The company never responded to any of my messages. At that rate, a White Lightning pays for itself is 7 uses. I'm beginning to think the only good thing Chinese is food.

[Jeremy Moore]

I am very skeptical about cheap Chinese electronic photo components. One example-I bought a Chinese knockoff of my Canon 5D cable release. It lasted exactly one week. I use Pocket Wizards. Flash sync is simply no fun to fool around with on location. It ruins my concentration when I have to fool with crap like that.

A friend had a 3rd party chinese battery in his Digital Rebel start to smoke and corroded the battery chamber--luckily he was able to clean it out.

I hear good things and bad things about the chinese wireless remotes, more bad, but more people will always complain than praise. Frank, in your traditional environments: broken down industrial, [h/m]otels, fields/forests/streams I don't think you would have any trouble with the Chinese ones. If they don't work then you get a prop to destroy :D

[D. Bryant]

I am very skeptical about cheap Chinese electronic photo components. One example-I bought a Chinese knockoff of my Canon 5D cable release. It lasted exactly one week. I use Pocket Wizards. Flash sync is simply no fun to fool around with on location. It ruins my concentration when I have to fool with crap like that.

I'm with Kirk here. One bad afternoon of Chinese electronic poo will sour your disposition. There are some good products out there, some made in China, but finding out which ones really work isn't worth the time and money for me.

Some can be mod'ed with external antennas to improve reliability and mod'ed to take AA batts. If you want the adventure it's a fun thing to do.

I can trigger flashes remotely with my Sekonic flash meter using Pocket Wizard IIs. Radio Poppers, White Lightning, and Elinchrom Skyports are also choices.

Google or grep through Strobist.com or the Strobist flicker group for commentary on what's what and what's not.

Don Bryant

[Lee Christopher]

Had a friend who tried them in the studio. Short-range worked great, but every time anyone's cell phone rang, even in silent mode, the flash would happily trigger non-stop. It was very embarrassing in front of clients.

I'm using the Elinchrom Skyports at about half the price of Pocket Wizards and I'm happy with them. It fires reliably through buildings in dense urban settings and I've managed to get about 700-800 feet straight-line with no interference out of them. Cell phones have not yet set them off in a business / trading district where I'm sure there are easily over 500 cell phones working at any one time during office hours but I was probably at least 200-300 feet away. I do not know if the same can be said if I was right inside one of the banking/trading buildings. Performance is battery charge dependent.

[IanMazursky]

I bought a few of those chinese ones on ebay. A 16 channel and a 4 i think.
They would miss every other pop and i finally gave up on them after loosing a few dozen 4x5 sheets.
They were a total loss and i wish i never bought them.

I invested in a bunch of pocket wizards and never looked back.
They never miss a shot or miss fire and they are really rugged.
The chinese ones are in a drawer with the rest of the stuff that doesn't work.
One day ill take them apart and integrate them into a shutter tripper.

[cowanw]

Does anybody use micro sync strobe syncs?
Regards
Bill

[Paul Kierstead]

I shot a bunch of shots again last night with my cheap direct-from-china trigger (16 channel). Never missed a beat. Of course, I was using them at close range; my studio and subjects are somewhat closer then 100's of feet. And no other triggers around. And, of course, I keep a sync cable nearby if I need it (again, tight shooting scenario).

The problem with PW's is that they are often a lot more trigger than needed. The White Lightenings seem like a good proposition; made with in a country with at least respectable labour practices, a sensible price, and the right "level" of functionality. I may well have bought those if I had know about them....

As always

[drew.saunders]

What about the "Cactus v.4" sold by mpex?

http://www.mpex.com/browse.cfm/4,12662.html

I've never used it, but I'd be surprised if mpex sold something that they didn't at least test themselves to make sure it worked well for the money.

[Jim Bradley]

My cheapo wireless units will miss fire about 20-30% of the time. No big deal when shooting digital but it would get expensive fast with LF

JGB

[Daniel_Buck]

Frank, I've been getting into off-camera strobes/flashes in the passed year, and I initially purchased a few of the the (chinese?) "cactus" triggers. They worked only good enough for me to know that I wanted to continue with the off-camera flashes. Their reliability was OK at best, and sometimes very poor. I've since then switched to pocket wizards. yes they are quite a bit more expensive, but I can tell you honestly that I don't think I've even had one miss fire that could be attributed to the triggering system with the pocket wizards. They are wonderful!

People told me I would probably end up going with pocket wizards, and they were right, I tried the cheaper route, and ended up being frustrated with the lack of reliability. I suspect that if you go the cheap route, you too will probably end up eventually going with the pocket wizards as well, even if you use them only occasionally like I do, and even more so if you use them every day. So why not just get them now and save a step and some headaches? :-) They aren't real cheap, but they are as reliable as gravity itself.