Godox AD600BM Flash

After weeks of research, countless YouTube videos, and mulling over my purchasing decisions, I decided to purchase the Godox AD600BM. I know strobe and monolight photography quite well and anticipated my first shoot with the unit tonight.The positives:- I was blown away by the color and the consistency of color across multiple step values. The color change from 1/8 to 1/128 is almost none.- The unit feels VERY sturdy, and operates better than other flash units I have used. I would say that the operation of this unit is the BEST I have used so far. Other units I have used were the Elinchrom lights, Promaster, RPS, and Alien Bees.- The multitude of buttons are pretty straight forward and very intuitive- The LED modeling light was an unexpected bonus, with an umbrella it works well, with a softbox, it's not as effective but still works. The LED is more on the bluish white side.- When inspecting the bulb, you can tell it was made of quality materials. It appears the bulb has a UV cover (IMPORTANT) and is quite large compared to other bulbs I have used. The bulb does NOT have an exposed ground wire like the Promaster/RPS/Elinchrome lights. The base is VERY sturdy. If your used to handling strobes with an open "O" shaped bulb were one has to carefully install the bulb without applying to much pressure to one side, you will be fairly pleased with the quality of the bulb.- Some of the shots I did were in the dark. The screen backlight comes in HANDY (see cons though)- The gloves were a nice touch for installing the bulb- Battery installation is very easy when the light is still on the stand.Negative Findings:-The buttons on this unit should have been backlit with the screen. They are impossible to see in dark lighting conditions.-When changing the angle of the arm, the arm sounds like it's going to break off violently. It's not a very smooth transition when angling the light for your next shot.- This unit does not come with a reflector (I purchased mine separately in the same order.). This is great if you only have softboxes but not so awesome if you plan on using this as a third light with an umbrella.- Heavy (this could be a pro or a con depending on how you view it), if you are planning to use this on a boom be prepared to get some sand bags for the other side of the boom OR purchase the remote flash head.I would highly recommend this monolight to anyone. I am giving this product five stars, I was initially considering four stars on the account that the monolight REALLY needs backlit buttons for dark operation. However, I feel the other positives outweigh this.

This light is terrific, and I couldn't be happier!I recently shot with this flash at intervals of half to full power for THREE HOURS of constant shooting with two models and it didn't even run out a majority of the battery life. The first photo posted here reflects that shoot. The second photo was my most recent shot, using the light on a beauty dish at the lowest power setting. I was able to show her real movement while capturing her face crisply using rear curtain sync. I don't think my speedlights could have performed this beautifully.It's not too heavy, the construction seems solid, and the controls are easy to understand without a manual. Just remember though, if you don't have a C-Stand you're going to want to invest in one.My only two complaints would be:The modeling light is a bit dim. It works for my autofocus, but it might not work for everyone in patch black situations.Every Godox light I have likes to reset itself to full power at random. It's likely a problem with my trigger, but I'm mentioning it just in case.UPDATED REVIEW:After having my light for a year and a half I bought another, and let me tell you I can't see myself ever switching to anything else. I have never, EVER had my battery die on me at a shoot. Even ones that I'm shooting full power for hours, these things are amazing. I recently upgraded to the pro godox trigger which I highly recommend as well to make it even easier to remotely control your power settings. These lights are absolutely perfect and I suggest you grab one! Updating my photos for the review as well! <3

Powerful, relatively compact (including the built in battery) unit - with a great wireless system.One knock I had with it was the crank which secures the angle of the strobe is plastic & I wondered about it's durability. Sure enough, one day on set I over tightened it and stripped the threads - locking it into that one position. Disconcerting, however I was very pleasantly surprised with how prompt support was to send out a replacement part - which was rather easy to replace. All in all, for the money, I rate this 600Ws strobe very highly - unless you have the budget to spend lots more for a Profoto unit.Oh, PS, Godox, it would be great if you would come out with an easy cover for the strobe bulb to be used for applying gels (CTO & such) - there are a few DIY ways (other than using a barn-door setup with framed gels), but it would seem not that big a deal to build such a modular option to make strobe color adjustments easy.All in all, thanks for crafting this instrument.

This is a great light! I also have the Flashpoint version and the are the same and work great together. It is heavy though so I recommend getting the Flashpoint travel kit that let's you separate the light from the head. This is easier to work with on location and on a C-stand. Battery life is awesome. I've hade shoots that last 9hrs and have not run out of juice. Battery charg time not so awesome. These take a while to charge but they also hold their charge for long periods of time.