Impressed with the Vagabond Mini Lithium!

[Mark1]

I have had the Vagabond Mini Lithium for a few weeks now, but have not had a chance to use it for anything more then playing with it in the back yard to see how well it will recycle my lights. I have a 100 foot extension cord and will plug in whenever possible. So until today have not really used it.

Today I shot on location with no power, and used the mini for the first time. To make the story short. I shot just about 400 images in 2 hours with it powering a 300 watt light at half power or stronger. No signs of the recycle slowing down at all. They stayed about 2-3 seconds... I didnt actually time it, but was fast enough to keep up. And, when I looked the power indicator when I was finished, it still said more then 3/4 power remaining.

I can whole heartedly suggest it to anybody thinking of picking one up. I hesitated so long (since vagabond 1), it is now one of thoes "Why didnt I do this sooner!?!?" .

[Scatterbrained]

Here's my question, would it fit comfortably in a backpack? If so, you could throw it in a backpack and use it with the ringflash!

[chadci]

Modeling light?

[Mark1]

It will fit easily in a back pack. With plenty of room to spare. It is heavy for its size. Because the battery is so dense of materials. But I would not really call it heavy. You could carry it arround all day in a backpack and not have it wear you out.

[Mark1]

Originally Posted by chadci

Modeling light?

Its a battery, so no, it does not have a modeling light!

It is suggested to use the modeling light only to line up the lights then turn it off. But you can chimp a few shots and line it up just as well. That is what I did today.

[chadci]

Originally Posted by Mark1

Its a battery, so no, it does not have a modeling light!

It is suggested to use the modeling light only to line up the lights then turn it off. But you can chimp a few shots and line it up just as well. That is what I did today.

Ha ha, my daughter ran in the room and I hit submit before I finished my thought

I didn't think it was suggested to use the modeling light. I know some do - some don't. There's a portrait shooter I see often with an AB800 and large box. Not sure which battery he is using but, he always has it on. Perhaps he carries a spare in his bag.

[Mark1]

It definatley can be left on. Such as My shoot today, I had so much power left over I probably would have been fine with keeping it on. But to get the MAXIMUM amount of flashed you turn it off. I would guess the guy from your example found the same thing I did. With so much power left there is no real need to turn them off.

[dmward]

Buff sells 25W modeling lights for the Einstein for use with the VML to keep power consumption down.
However, I generally just turn them off.
If I were on location where there was not much available light for focus etc. then I'd probably use the 25w units. I have some, just never bothered putting them into the lights.

I'm sure there is a low wattage bulb that would screw into the AB socket as well.

[bobbyz]

Originally Posted by chadci

Modeling light?

I left modelling light on my EInstein by mistake. It smelled but ran for 30min or more.

[asamimasa]

According to the manual, the VML is not made to power a modeling lamp over 120W. And while it's okay to turn it on briefly, isn't designed to keep powering a modeling light.

I've done it several times by accident, but it was clear that it was having a hard time.

Besides that though, my experience with the VML was nothing short of great. It fits in any backpack slot that can take a 24-70.

For a large group shot I had to do once, I ran an einstein with two AB400s connected to a splitter, one of which was running through a 50ft cord. I noticed that the recycle time on the AB400 connected by the extension cord had a significantly longer recycle time, as some of my shots had an underexposed side from the light not firing.

[chadci]

Sorry to OP, didn't mean to derail the topic on modeling light.. was just curious if it was used or not in their situation.

[ben_r_]

Yep, they are pretty awesome. I have two of them and use them to power two Elinchrom 600RX units and they have always pleased. I also use the batteries to power quite a few other random things. Very nice little unit. Poor build quality IMO like all the other Paul Buff things Ive seen, but still a good performer despite it. Just dont drop it! lol

[Mark1]

I dont know if I would call it poor build quality... But I agree it is far from a top quality build. Paul seems to build with a "good enough" design philosophy. Not that that is a bad thing. But when the law of dimished returns comes into play, they seem to stop. Rather than make something that is 10% better, but at 50% more cost, they just dont do it. Even if they could charge the extra 50%.

[110yd]

Mark1
I am Curious as what lights you are powering with the Vagabond Mini Lithium. I am considering a portable power source other than the monster DIY unit I have(12V Battery and Samlex 600w Inverter). I would like to be able to power two Elinchrom RX 600 units or two Alien Bee 800's. The inverter in the Vagabond Mini Lithium is some what of a lightweight and I suspect full power pops might cause trouble...

Regards,

110yd

[zenabi]

Sorry to hijack your thread, but I was wondering if anyone has tried plugging their laptops into the Vagabond Mini. If so, how did that work?