2 Profoto AcuteB 600s or 1 7b?

[wcl4]

Wanted to get a portable setup to take on location once in a while that could also double as extra studio lights. Looking at the Profoto 7B, but weighs 27lbs while the new 600s weigh around 12. Anyone know of advantages with the 7B other than one head could be powered up to 1200 watts, recycle times and battery duration?

[chtgrubbs]

There are two significant advantages for going with two units instead of one. If your 7B fails, you have no light. If one of the 600 units fail, you still have light available. Also, on location it is very common to place a background or accent light in another part of the room which would require long extension cables from the main pack to the remote head. With a second independent unit this isn't a problem.

The advantage for a single higher powered source occurs if you need high output from one light in order to shoot at a smaller aperture, e.g. if you are lighting an industrial plant with an umbrella and need f/11 for depth of field. But the 7B is only one stop advantage, and you can easily make that up by increasing ISO.

My vote if for the flexibility of two light sources.

[René Damkot]

Got a good point there. Also the two seperate units would allow more flexible asymetric setting.
However IIRC, there is one more difference between the 600 and 7B: The latter supports a more powerfull modelling light (100W instead of 65W).