vivitar chews up batteries

does anyone have ANY idea where i can find the sb-6? i've searched high and low, im almost ready to buy a canon speed light for the sake of recycle time.
the vivitar chews up batteries and i cant take it
(maybe im just doing something wrong)

i put some fresh batteries in and did some test shots, i barely got 20 shots in and now the recycle time is like 30 seconds, versus the slow 10 seconds.

i like the learning curve of a manual flash though

I get ~8 second times out of my 283s with eneloops. They're good for a few hundred pops. If I keep them at half power I can go for an entire reception on one set of juice and the recycle times are a more manageable 4.

If I put Powergenix in, recycle times are down to 5 seconds but they get hot and don't last nearly as long.

are the eneloops 2000mAh ?
those are the only ones i see at the moment

Something like that. They're white and say "eneloop" on them.

perfect thanks. just my lucky day.

and not too long ago i planned a trip to maryland. lo and behold, i randomly stumbled upon a craigslist ad in maryland for someone selling an sb-6 which i have been dying to get. spoke to the guy today, he said he'll hold it for me until friday. he even called me back and said if i dont make it on friday he can just ship it.

woot! thanks guys, today was a good day (by the way i want those rainbow eneloops that look like they fought a war at the paint factory)

I gotta ask...... what sort of ISO are you using when you're getting short battery life and long recycles?

i cant recall ATM. i bought a "journal" to start recording some of my test work, ive deleted my test photos so i cant even look at exif.

does iso affect battery life?

Higher ISO (and wider apertures - if you combine the two you're golden) mean you can use lower power settings, and the lower the power setting the faster it'll recycle and the more shots you'll get on each set of batteries.

That's why I'll shoot a wedding reception at f/2-2.8 and ISO800-1600 with my 283s. One set of batteries is good for the entire night.

I go to lower ISOs for portraits because I don't need the flashes to recycle that fast, and I have a ton of batteries in the bag that's sitting on the feet of the light stand. I also don't take hundreds of photos at a portrait shoot.