sb600 being discontinued?

Micah · Mar 16, 2009

My wife is buying me a sb600 for my birthday, and I was wanting to buy local but my local shop, Columbia Photo and Video has been out of stock for a while. I called them today to ask if they had any in and the guy said something about the sb600 possibly being discontinued. I havent had much luck with this store, but he promised me a good price (199.00) a month ago when I talked to him. Should I just blow him off and buy from B&H like I usually do, or is there something new coming out that I need to consider?

Corbin Lane · Mar 16, 2009

Nice to see a fellow Missourian

Nikon SB600 Discontinued??? | Life sUKs : Radical Living

It's not official but it might shed some light into the situation. I'd wait for an official statement before I made a decision unless you need that flash now and if you do then I'd just buy it.

Micah · Mar 16, 2009

I might as well live in Columbia. I work there. If you've seen them, I'm one of the guys who drives the plumbing vans with the picture on the drivers door to make it look like I'm on the crapper.I freaking hate it, but its a good company to work for. Thanks for the link. I think I agree with Del. I want my sb600 so I guess I'll buy online. Looks like they're hard to find.

bjorkfiend · Mar 16, 2009

bhop · Mar 17, 2009

You probably can't find one because everyone that would've bought the sb-800 doesn't want to pay 500 bucks for the sb-900 and is buying the sb-600 instead..

Corbin Lane · Mar 17, 2009

Micah said:
I might as well live in Columbia. I work there. If you've seen them, I'm one of the guys who drives the plumbing vans with the picture on the drivers door to make it look like I'm on the crapper.I freaking hate it, but its a good company to work for. Thanks for the link. I think I agree with Del. I want my sb600 so I guess I'll buy online. Looks like they're hard to find.

Yepp, I see that all the time.

JerryPH · Mar 17, 2009

I called a contact at Nikon and was told that the SB-600 will be discontinued, just not before 2010 at the earliest. There is no SB-600 replacement and I was also told that sales for the Sb-900 were *terrible*... so they are definitely not going to stop making a flash that is being sold off the shelves faster than they can make them.

This is just a supply and demand thing, nothing more.

Joves · Mar 17, 2009

Yeah that sounds more reasonable. And at $500 I dont doubt the 900 sales are sluggish.

AlexColeman · Mar 17, 2009

Yeah, no.

What would they replace it with?

They might discontinue the 800, but not the 600. For a while.

Mitch1640 · Mar 17, 2009

i thought the sb800s have already been discontinued? i cant find them anywhere.

JerryPH · Mar 18, 2009

Yeah, they're gone for several months now. Sad, because the 800 was stronger than even the 900. If I could find 2-4 more used 800's in good condition and a fair price, I would jump on them soooooo fast. As it is, I will likely pickup 2 more SB-600s and then one 1000+ W/s monolight for some strong daylight strobing.

SrBiscuit · Mar 18, 2009

Corbin Lane said:
It's not official but it might shed some light into the situation.

ba-DUM-bum.

sry...the term "shedding light" in a flash thread got me. my bad. :lol:

shivaswrath · Mar 18, 2009

and to think that the sb-600's were $177 NEW last year this time. . .sigh. . .how time changes things!

JerryPH · Mar 18, 2009

They were $172US DELIVERED this year last time... I picked up 2 for that price. Between that and the 30-35% increase thanks to a weak Canadian dollar... disgusting.

cashcoach · Mar 23, 2009

I have a couple of those sb-600's and I love em. They have always been very reliable even living in the shadows of it's bigger more powerful brother the sb-800.