Anyone used Alien Bees cybersync yet?

I've been waiting a while for the cheaper radiopoppers to appear, but so far no luck... but, these alien bees

look great. Anyone had a chance to try them yet?

 

$225 (shipping included) for 2 recievers and a transmitter is a pretty slick deal. Especially when (according to

reviews so far) they are easily comparable to pocket wizards.

 

http://www.alienbees.com/cybersync.html

 

Review here: http://flickr.com/groups/strobist/discuss/72157606215649015/

'Especially when (according to reviews so far) they are easily comparable to pocket wizards."

 

You are right, they are easily comparable;

 

They have less than a quarter of the maximum range of the Pocketwizards. Range translates in to reliability. if you use these tools to make money with -- in other words: you have clients who depend on you, greater reliability is worth the extra money immediately.

I think it depends on what you intend to use them for. If you're trying to set up in an arena for sports photography I don't think that'll work. In a small studio they're fine. I have exactly what you mention and use them with my AB's just fine. I haven't noticed any issues, reliability or anything but I'm usually in the studio where things are quite close to each other and its usually just me.

 

To Ellis' point, think about where/how you'll be using wireless before investing. Pocket Wizards are nice and have additional functionality like setting off another, remote camera. These are strictly for lights and I believe strictly for Alien Bee's. Maybe not exclusively, but they won't trigger other lights, they use the Alien Bee Sync cord and sit in-line on the AC power line. Trying to use them with other lights would be difficult if not possible. So it may work but the time, effort, etc may offset any savings advantage.

 

As for the cybersync and alien bee, I'm quite happy with the set up I have. Its inexpensive and I've had no issues *yet*. (knocking on wood)

Mine arrived this week; I hope to try them out this weekend.<P>

 

<I>These are strictly for lights and I believe strictly for Alien Bee's. Maybe not exclusively, but they won't trigger other

lights, they use the Alien Bee Sync cord and sit in-line on the AC power line.</I><P>

 

I don't think this is correct. They have a couple of cord/plug options for the attachment of the receiver to the strobe, in

terms of the sync. The AC power part is just a pass-through, effectively like a mini power-strip, if you will. Also, if you

don't want to deal with the AC power line issue (like me), you buy the battery-powered version of the receiver (which I

did).

 

Last but not least, the price quoted sounds a tad high; mine were $135 delivered for one trigger and one battery-

powered receiver, so two receivers should put you at $205 or a little higher. Note also that I get a full credit for the

trade in of the previous models (which were discontinued for intermittent problems in some units), so my out-of-

pocket cost here is much less.

The cybersyncs (battery powered) will remotely fire a camera with a ten pin cord from flash zebra.

David: My CyberSync's arrived via UPS yesterday. I tested them on my Alien Bees B1600's and Canon Speedlite 580EX's. I was able to trigger the 580EX outdoors up to around 400 feet without any problems.<div></div>

Someone emailed me as to the 10 pin cord that you can use to remotely fire a camera via cybersync.

 

http://www.flashzebra.com/shutter_pw/0091.shtml