Paul C. Buff, Inc. Technical Forum

We received our three Vagabond Mini Lithium units this past week and proceeded to run them through their paces. I thought I would share those experiences with you all here to see if you have had similar experiences.

We posted a video on this on Vimeo and YouTube as well.

We posted on our blog as well.

The size and weight are perfect. The capacity is perfect, with our experience being:
- 785 full power pops from an AB800 with less than 2 second recycle time.
- 775 full power AB800 pops whilst running a 40 watt modeling light for 1 hour.
- 3 hours of run time on a 40watt modeling lamp.

On the down side, some of which has been previously described:

- The light stand mount does not meet our expectations. It won't work on larger diameter stands, and when it does fit smaller kit stands, it will slide down the stand, and any angle-ish motion (twist) will cause the unit to fall off. What does this mean: you can't put it on a stand, then lift the stand up and put it over your shoulder (a common thing for us when location shooting and relocating, etc.) We will come up with a work around, I am sure.
- The battery pack disassembles. The fingers which hold the cover closed don't hold enough. The battery pack inside the case rattles. We fixed this with some foam and some super glue. No big deal.
- The USB port on the front won't charge an iPhone, iPod Touch, or a Samsung phone. I really couldn't care. At all. I have a charger for my truck, and for my laptop, so it doesn't matter to me.

We will be ordering three more units before our busy summer season, along with some spare batteries.

So, I post hoping others will share their experiences, tips, tricks, etc.

Cheers!

BUD THORPE
theSOPHA.com

Had they mounted it on the second tube from the bottom and let the VML rest on the knuckle below the clamp would work as designed.

If a tighter fit it desired, replacing the spring with a short 1/4" ID tube will allow non-slip clamping to stand tubes under 1 1/4" tube diameters.

Some have placed a strip of rubber on the stand clamp to avoid slipping.

Others have used the included shoulder strap to hang VML from the stand . . . this is what Profoto Ranger and Elinchrom Quadra users must do. No competitive product (what competition?) has a stand clamp whatsoever.

I feel the whole stand clamp issue is blown way out of proportion.

But I appreciate the otherwise excellent review.

By the way, the revered Elinchrom Quadra gets only 150 400WS pops per charge from its SLA battery and weighs and costs a whole lot more. Similar performance for Profoto Acute system.

As for the 785 pops at 320WS, I get over 1000. I have measured 550 pops at 640WS from and AB1600. Perhaps the modeling lamps was on in the review?

Batteries are now shipped glued together and have foam to eliminate rattle.

I agree that in the artificial forum world, the light stand clamp issue is blown out of proportion, which Dave and I made a big point of in the video.

The product exceeds my expectations. That sums it up. And despite the fact that I teach many (many!) classes on shooting with battery-powered shoe flashes off-camera (and have been for ten years now!), I cannot see myself bothering to kludge together a Strobist style set up for my own location photography. The VML is a game changer. I have 15 speedlights I am seriously thinking of selling off!

The shoulder strap on the VML is a fine option, but it is unlikely I will use it routinely to hang it from the stand. I don't like the idea of the VML banging up against the stand, especially as I am likely to pick up and move the stand frequently. And as I know I will be renting these out to folks daily, I will come up with something that will work to prevent damage. No biggie.

As for the capacity, here is how we tested it. We charged the unit for three hours. We put an AB800 resting on a sand bag on a table. The strobe was set to full power, and the modeling lamp was off. The AB800 has a 8.5" reflector, not that it matters. We attached it to a Pocket Wizard. My camera's intervalometer was set to fire once every ten seconds. We have the camera take a picture of the rear of the light, and we also put a clock in the frame so we would know when it died. It ran for 785 pops before it died.

As a junior scientist, I will acknowledge that gathering only one set of data is very limiting. I did this test but once. I have more than two dozen of your lights and three of the VML batteries, so I will repeat the test a few times and see what happens.

I am certain that regardless of the outcome that the VML exceeds my expectations.

Paul, you are a crazy son of a gun, and please don't stop doing what you are doing. One of the members of my studio made a comment on my Facebook page the other day: "Paul Buff should probably start working on the whole cloning thing. He's not getting any younger and once he's gone who will come up with these wonderful toys for us?"

True!

I agree your video was very positive. But there is one technical point that concerned me . . . you reported 785 shots without the modeling lamp and 775 shot with a 40W modeling lamp turned on. This indicates some sort of discrepancy (discrepancies always occur in such tests). The 40 W modeling lamp should have used 1/3 of the battery's 130 watt hour capacity in one hour of use, thereby reducing the number of flashes by 1/3 in a one hour flash test.

In several tests of VML with 640WS AB16000, without modeling lamp, I consistently achieved 550 Full Power pops per charge at one pop per 10 seconds. This would indicate the 320WS AB800, without modeling lamp, should have achieved closer to 1100 pops without modeling lamp and about 733 pops with the 40W modeling lamp on. However, if the model lamp were set to go off during recycle, this would extend the number of pops slightly as the model lamp would not be on full time.

No complaints though. I will try to find time to repeat you AB800 tests and see what I get.

Along these same lines, the Einstein power supplies draw more power than the AB supplies, so the number of 640WS pops per charge has come out 442 pops per charge vs the AB's 550. Elinchrom RX600 tests yielded about 475 600WS pops per charge, and at least one user has reported successful operation with two RX600 attached to the VML and fired every 15 seconds at a total of 1200WS per pop. We have successfully operated three Einsteins from a VLM and four or more AB/WL units, as well as a 2400WS Zeus,albeit at a long 20 second plus cycle time.

Profoto Compacts and D1 don't work at all with VML, and BX500 and D Lite units are iffy at best.

@ theSOPHAdotCOM , thanks for the review, think I seen the video on youtube! ;)
I have a couple quick questions for you. The 40 watt modeling light that you use with your AB800's, is that a typical over the counter, ie Lowe's or Walmart type of bulb? If not where would I purchase them? I have 2 mini's on order and hopefully I will reveive them soon and want to have my AB800's ready when they arrive, with 40 watt bulbs on stand by so I am not running around turning stuff on and off when using the mini's. I will switch back to my 150 watt quartz bulbs when not on location! :P Anything else I need to know would be greatly appreciated.

Yes, a plain grocery store 40W or 25W bulb. Einstein takes a special bulb to do this . . . . we're working on that.

Yes, the bulb is a simple 40 watt incadescent bulb. Mine came from the hardware store, because that is where my morning errands took me. This will work fine in both Alien Bees and White Lightnings. An depending on your expectations for output when working the studio,you may not have to switch them back. If 40watts is bright enough for you to focus inside, why bother switching them back and forth?

I know we will, because many of our studio rental customers keep the studio lights off and rely on the "look" of the modeling lamps to show them what they are going to get (WYSIWYG).

Hey yawl thanks alot! :D

The web site explains some differences... DON'T CHANGE THE RULES GUYS (still impressed however, but it chapps off the Buff!)

"
Without 40w light, AB800 Full = 785 @ 10s interval
With 40w light, AB800 Full = 775 @ 5s interval
"

Was the modeling light cycled on refresh or did it burn 100% for 1h 2m?

PCB, Do VML's opperate more effeciently with a minimum load?
i.e. whats the difference between 40 Ws ramp up to 120 Ws/second vs. 0 Ws ramp up to 120 Ws/second
i.e.2. 8 seconds of idle time without the 40w light vs 0 seconds of idle time with the 40w light


Awe hell, its still a descrepancy, but its a game changer none-the-less.

Thanks PCB.

I'm going to put a slightly different spin on the clamp and USB issue. This was mentioned to Tech Support, by the way, while discussing an unrelated Einstein issue.

The literature that was available before and after the VML introduction gave the impression that the clamp would securely attach the VML to a lightstand. Absent anything to the contrary, it was anticipated that the VML would always stay put, even if the lightstand were thrown over a shoulder. As it turns out, this is an iffy proposition that would very likely lead to a broken VML. In addition, the literature did not specify a max diameter of 1.25", nor did it state that the bottom of the VML had to be resting on a joint, knob or knuckle. Reality eventually fell short of expectations.

Similarly, there are issues with the USB port. Buyers expected to have an additional way to charge any USB device that drew less than 0.5A. However, it's already been reported that some devices (i.e. iPhone) that draw 0.5A or less will not charge. I'm not aware that this discrepancy has been explained.

Personally, the clamp and USB port on a VML is sort of like a remote starter on a car; very nice to have, but totally irrelevant to its primary purpose. Even so, owners would do more than simply shrug their shoulders if they got home and discovered that the remote only worked while buckled in the seat.

One way to handle this is to ignore it and do nothing. However, a better option might be to manage expectations by modifying (1) the VML description on the PCB website(s) and (2) the VML Quick Start Guide. Just publish the restrictions in both of those locations, and life goes on.