Alien Bees to Europe (Spain)??

[juanillo_76]

Hello everybody!I have spent a few days collecting information about Alien Bees. I am planning to use them on locations and action (indoor basketball games). Do you think if its worthy to buy them overseas??? (Customer Service, warranty, etc..) We don't have anything like this here in term of price so I am considering this...I wait your opinions, best regards from Madrid!Juan

[Hermes]

AFAIK they won't work on the European voltage. They're also a mail-order company so if you need a last minute accessory or repair, you can't just go to a dealer or service centre.

Look at Interfit if you want cheap, good quality strobes that are 240v.

[40Dude6aedyk]

In general, it is illegal to import into Europe items that are not CE marked. I noticed that my CyberSyncs are not CE marked. Many small US business do not bother to get their products CE marked. Some folks have stated that the CE marking rules are just another trade protection trick that Europeans have invented.

I suggest using Elinchroms and Skyports if you are in Europe.

[Spatch]

I have 2 AB800's. You used to be able get them in 240V but have to specify when ordering - there was, however, a charge for this option. They also whacked on a 10% surcharge just for ordering outside the US.

About 18 months ago I was going to buy some more AB's but after being told of the 10% charge I decided to take my custom elsewhere. Plus these days the £/$ exchange rate is crap (not sure what the exchange rate is like in Spain).

I went for some Bowens in the end, more expensive but you do get what you pay for. Having said that, the AB's are good, and I would have bought more had it not been for the 10% shafting.

If in doubt email them, if I remember correctly their response was always very prompt.

Cheers,

[juanillo_76]

Thanks for the replies...

As I understand from the alien bees website, european folks can use these flashes with a magnetic transformer, is this correct?

Including the 10% surcharge and shipping, I can purchase 2 AB800 for 550 euros... Do you know another "european" option for this price?? My main concern is the t.1 Flash Duration (1/1100 sec at full power in the alien bees) for sport freeze...

Elinchroms are a little bit expensive I think... thanks for the interfit suggestion!

Thanks again and Regards,

j.

[Spatch]

Thanks for the replies...

As I understand from the alien bees website, european folks can use these flashes with a magnetic transformer, is this correct?



The ones I own have been modified internally to accept 240V directly into the back. Only thing I needed to do was replace the plug with a UK 3 pin type.

[juanillo_76]

Hello again,

I am looking everywhere the T1 Flash Duration of Interfit 421 Stellar 300 Watts Flash, do you have any idea about this data? I can find this flash locally ;)

Thanks and Best Regards,

j.

[Wilt]

In general, it is illegal to import into Europe items that are not CE marked. I noticed that my CyberSyncs are not CE marked. Many small US business do not bother to get their products CE marked. Some folks have stated that the CE marking rules are just another trade protection trick that Europeans have invented.

I suggest using Elinchroms and Skyports if you are in Europe.

Yes, while CE Mark -- in theory! -- is intended to 'make it easier' for a vendor to sell into the EU, in reality there is still significant hurdles to jump to actually be able to import into areas. For simple example, while one might easily get electrical compliance certification, the user documentation has to be translated into local language for many countries...I could not imagine Buff spending the money to get multilanguage translations and labels, and having to have Spanish version of Cybersync and Swedish version of Cybersync, and French version, etc. etc!

[eduardofrances]

Hello everybody!I have spent a few days collecting information about Alien Bees. I am planning to use them on locations and action (indoor basketball games). Do you think if its worthy to buy them overseas??? (Customer Service, warranty, etc..) We don't have anything like this here in term of price so I am considering this...I wait your opinions, best regards from Madrid!Juan

Juan el problema mas grande que yo veo es las reparaciones, los accidentes pasan y si llegaras a necesitar reparaciones te saldria una pasta de miedo mandarlos a reparar y traerlos de regreso, lo otro que me preocuparia es cuanto tendrias que pagar de impuestos? eso puede equiparar los precios con la oferta que hay en españa, el otro problema que tenes es el tubo del flash -que tendrias que comprar bastantes para no tener que quedarte sin trabajar si por algun motivo tu tubo de flash se arruinara.

Hello again,

I am looking everywhere the T1 Flash Duration of Interfit 421 Stellar 300 Watts Flash, do you have any idea about this data? I can find this flash locally

Thanks and Best Regards,

j.
Pues he buscado y en ningun lado se encuentra informacion, ahi seria de contactarlos a ellos directamente http://interfitphotographic.com/

[juanillo_76]

Thank you all again!

I tried to contact interfit people without sucess... anyone using Interfit Stellar 300 for indoor basketball??

Regards!

j.

[amoergosum]

I don't understand why the company is making it so difficult for customers in europe.