My experience of using my new (used) Pocket Wizard triggers

[goodguy]

So after too many mishaps and weird behavior of my old triggers (few companies) I decided to get the Pocket Wizard and after using my TT1 and TT5 set my report is that it went from 40%-50% of problems to 0% problems!

My Pocket Wizard triggers proved to me why pro's use them

Its aint fancy or complex, what it does do is work reliably and that's what I really need

 

[tirediron]

Nice - I've never had a PW failure that was 100% traceable to my own error (turning them on REALLY helps... just sayin'!

 

[table1349]

I have!!!! Of course it was user failure (dead batteries) not the fault of the P.W.'s

 

[Derrel]

Diz-actly. I have two sets of Pocket Wizard triggers. They work every single time. Unless I forget to turn them both to ON, and to set them to the same channel. Whenever I get a misfire, I think, "Dang it--I forgot to turn one on!" and not, "Oh noooooooo...trouble-shooting', bullet-sweatin' time, here we come!"

I totally understand the idea that there are many low-cost triggers available, but when I got into remote triggering, the market was not flooded with Made in China cheapies, so I went with PW's. I've never had to ask people for help with getting my flash triggers to function, never had to troubleshoot what ought to be dead-simple, but have encountered many,many examples on-line of people fighting with cheap products that have failed them, or worked only intermittently, or which were very tricky to get to work.

My first set of PW's cost me about $300, my second set was lower in cost. EVERY SINGLE FAILURE to fire has been my fault: not turned on, not plugged in, or not on the right channel on the sender AND the receiver, or dead battery with me ignoring the dead-battery status as indicated by the lack of the slowly pulsing "ON + Sufficient Battery" LED lights.

I know that remote flash triggering is one of the equipment areas where many people very vigorously defend their inexpensive MIC units, many of which are priced and built as throwaways, and I would agree that for some users, that does make sense: you can buy multiple units, use them as spares as the earlier ones conk out or start getting squirrely, etc.. Same thing with inexpensive MIC monolight flash units versus say Speedotron flash or Profoto flash units. You have truly pro-grade stuff built to last for YEARS on end, every, single time, versus very light-grade build, designed to be sold cheaply.

I think of buying the best triggers as being similar to buying "good glass". Almost nobody has any issue with "buying good glass", yet there are many people who feel that buying the BEST triggers possible is somehow a bad idea.

 

[goodguy]

This is how I see it, why did I buy P.W
As a hobbyist if I get misfire due to technical issues its not a big deal.
Once I move from serious hobbyist to semi pro I cant afford to misfire even once, this means I just missed a shot that might be the "money shot" and much worst it makes me look completely like a non pro!

 

[Vtec44]

I have 6 PW Plus3. I've dropped them, used them in scorching hot weather, pouring rain, and they still work. BTW, they don't like YongNuo flashes for some reason but they work great with my Nikon stuff.

 

[Village Idiot]

Generally my strobe firing mishaps with PWs are because of the connection coming from the PW to the strobe. PC connections absolutely blow and even hotshoes have the plastic collar that can wear to where it doesn't work anymore.