B and H card for Christmas

[sponserv]

Yippeee! Got my stash of annual B and H cards for Christmas and have decided to look at a beginners studio lighting kit. Probably a two head monolight setup. My question is what should I be looking for? Name brand (Alien, Proto) or watt seconds or portability (DC)?

The obvious answer is what am I going to be using it for. Since I have no experience using external flash I want to get something that I gives me the most funcionality across the board.

Any suggestions?

[FLphotoguy]

I bought one of the cheap Smith-Victor kits when I got started and it was functional, but only barely. I upgraded to White Lightnings. What bugged me about the Smith-Victors was the modeling lights burning out and costing $15 each to replace. The White Lighnings use standard household bulbs for the modeling light.