Buying used Speedlites

[wasabimaniac]

I did a quick search, but couldn't find anything.

Can someone tell me what to look for when buying a used speedlite? I would like to minimize the risk of picking up a lemon locally, but am not sure what to look at specifically.

TIA

[Hermes]

Take your own batteries and make sure it powers on, charges and fires with no unusually slow performance or strange noises. Make sure the head zooms, swivels & tilts properly. check the foot and the wide panel for cracks or loose/missing bits.

If the flash won't work, check the battery contacts. I've found that in 90% of cases where a flash won't power on it's because a battery has leaked and blocked up the contacts. Cleaning them will sort it out.

[maximus96]

put it on camera, make sure it works. make sure zoom motor works, test various power settings in manual mode, make sure battery terminals are not corroded...i'm sure there are more but thats all i can think of at the moment

oops, a minute late and repeated most of what was said

[wasabimaniac]

That great! Thanks for the quick responses!

Cheers!