Impressed with the Vagabond Mini Lithium!

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!?!?" .

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!

Modeling light?

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.

chadci wrote in post #14322215
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.

Mark1 wrote in post #14322235
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.

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.

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.

chadci wrote in post #14322215
Modeling light?

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

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.

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.

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

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%.

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

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?