Do you guys recommend battery packs for speedlites?

chris_holtmeier wrote in post #15140080
30? 5-6 in put my DI866 in overheat territory.

I have a CP-E4 copy for my Nissin Di866. Never had any overheating problems. Ever.

Maybe Canon should take a page from the military and have a 3-shot limit when you pull the trigger.

Spray and pray shooting + stobes = bad news.

bigVinnie wrote in post #15149817
Maybe Canon should take a page from the military and have a 3-shot limit when you pull the trigger.

Spray and pray shooting + stobes = bad news.

Even if 3 at a time, if you've got lots of targets the mag goes empty pretty fast.
And the speedlite heats up.

I think fumbling around with 24+ batteries is. My opinion. Yours may vary. Many love to fumble with things.

cdifoto wrote in post #15144102
It's silly to carry adequate quantities of batteries around??

rklepper wrote in post #15150198
I think fumbling around with 24+ batteries is. My opinion. Yours may vary. Many love to fumble with things.

Not sure why anyone would have to fumble around.
There are cases that hold 4 or 8 batteries. I've ended up with some extra trays for my Pixels that I keep loaded. And, as a friend has done for years, there are the rubber bands they use to hold mail together for delivery. A couple of wraps and 4 cells are held together.

And then of course there is the admonition to pause, take a deep breath and do the exchange from exhausted batteries to fresh deliberately.

It used to be that products like Quantum Turbo allowed flash units to recycle in the fastest manner possible. Then, when Canon offered its AA external pack for their flashes, these products could keep up with the recycle rate of the Turbo, and the Canon pack had lower entry cost for the user. The continuing advantage of the Turbo was its capability of supporting almost any brand flash (not simply Canon only), and cameras, too.

Whortleberry wrote in post #15139603
Quantum (specifically) require a more-than-common level of skill to replace their accumulators - for many it would have to be a specialist repairer, in due course....4/5 sub-C cells, classed as 'industrial' rather than consumer, are rather more difficult to find unless you know where to look. They also suffer from the same ageing characteristics of more readily available sizes of standard non-LSD NiMH cells.

This statement is valid for the Turbo 2x2 which uses a special pack made of 4/5 sub-C cells, but replacing the SLA in a Quantum Turbo takes no skill at all.
https://photography-on-the.net …php?p=7370852#p​ost7370852

Whortleberry wrote in post #15139603
The current Powersonic are not of as high standard as the (more expensive, increasingly hard-to-find) Sonnenschein SLA cells.

I wouldn't worry about that issue. Nobody seems to think that Japanese cameras are significantly inferior to German cameras to avoid them!

Whortleberry wrote in post #15139603
Finally, the average Quantum is markedly higher cost than the CP-E4 cited by OP - by a factor of 3 or more.

A set of four AA NiMH costs about $10, and you need at least two sets to equal the capacity of the Turbo with SLA (3.2 AHr). So every 3 years you need to spend $20 for new AA NiMH cells...$20 to get started plus $60 over 10 years. In contrast, you spend $25 every 10 years to replace the SLA in the Quantum Turbo. Yes, Quantum pack itself costs more for price of entry, but the operating costs are lower.

My AA cells are still going strong after 5 years. A good charger works wonders with batteries.

Quantum are too big and heavy for me.

rklepper wrote in post #15150198
I think fumbling around with 24+ batteries is. My opinion. Yours may vary. Many love to fumble with things.

Not wanting to fumble around with batteries is a very good argument FOR a battery pack rather than against one since a battery pack lets you shoot without changing them out or changing them out minimally.

If all you have is the four batteries in your strobe, you might be changing ie fumbling around with them quite often.

One good thing about AA packs vs. Quantums...after you run down your second set of AA's, you can insert a third set, then a fourth set, etc.; with the Quantum, you need to plug into AC source and recharge (or pull out a second Quantum)!

BTW Tim, while you might be able to extract 5 years, my battery computation wrongly assumed only 4 AA cells go into the Canon battery pack (actually takes 8 AA cells)...so my $$$ cost remains the same...buy twice as many AA cells, replace them half the frequency as my original analysis!

And the NiMH life is measured in number of cycles (not necessarily depleting due simply to age, like Lithium ion) at 1000 charge cycles, it has only 50% of the capacity as when new. So lifetime will be driven by how many times you charge the cells, as well as when you find the reduced capacity is too limited.

Wilt wrote in post #15151299
One good thing about AA packs vs. Quantums...after you run down your second set of AA's, you can insert a third set, then a fourth set, etc.; with the Quantum, you need to plug into AC source and recharge (or pull out a second Quantum)!

Or just install a new/charged battery in the Quantum.

DavidR wrote in post #15151425
Or just install a new/charged battery in the Quantum.

I wouldn't want to resort to that in the middle of the wedding coverage!

I don't even need a screwdriver anymore (the screws on the pack are unneeded). I can change the battery faster than changing out 8 AA. Besides I have never ran out of battery power shooting a wedding with a Quantum.

DavidR wrote in post #15151499
I don't even need a screwdriver anymore (the screws on the pack are unneeded). I can change the battery faster than changing out 8 AA. Besides I have never ran out of battery power shooting a wedding with a Quantum.

It sounds like you aren't one of those guys who delivers a CD with 3000-5000 previews to the bride!

In fairness, a friend of mine and I shot a reception where we both had 580 EX IIs on our cameras, and there were two 430 EX II slaves set up on opposite corners of the dance floor for 'light on demand' essentially (with both of us triggering both flashes unless somehow blocked). I never had to change the batteries in any of my flashes (though my buddy may have changed his once, I'm not 100% sure). I may not have delivered 3-5000 images, but between the two of us we darn well took that many..

Battery packs have everything to do with recycle time and very little to do with how many pops you get on a set of batteries or a Quantum.

Both are useful sources of voltage for the high voltage circuit on speedlites. Which one uses is personal preference. Having backups and ensuring there is sufficient battery power to complete the job is essential, unless you're just playing at being a photographer ( ) so the answer to the OP's title question is YES! Pick your preference!