48" or 60" umbrella

I am getting ready to order 2 Alien Bee 800's. Should I go with the 48" or 60" umbrella. I was thinking 2 60" shoot thru's. I have read here that the silver reflector ones have a harsh result. I know that the shoot thru's have a black cover that you can use to use tham as a bounce instead of shoot thru. The soft boxes would be ideal but I haven't heard too much good about their softboxes. FYI- I will have to set these up and take them down when I am done. Thanks in advance.
Ed

Generally bigger is better, but i am not too familiar with Bees to know if there is an exception to be had here.

Rob

I really like 60" umbrellas, although they are quite bulky if you are working in a small space. Silver umbrellas are a little more specular than white umbrellas, but woven silver, as opposed to Mylar or plastic, is a nice compromise. I like to use a silver as main light and white as fill. Put them at the same distance and flash output and you will get a perfect ratio since the silver is about 1/2 to 3/4 stop more reflective than the white.

I wish my 42" umbrella was 60".

I have 2 60" as well. They are very big. make sure to have room for them.

I have umbrellas from 12"->60" in pairs and different reflective. Gold, Silver, white. I also have some photoflex ones that turns in to retangles. can never have too much

Get 2 different sizes, one 60" and one 48". You can use the 60" for the main light and the 48" for fill, or when there space is more limited, use the 48" as the main and a collapsible reflector for fill. The AB umbrellas are not re-known for their quality. I would also not get umbrellas that are only shoot thru because you will be blasting light everywhere out of control.

I purchased Photogenic Eclipse umbrellas and really like their quality. They also came with removable black covers if I want to use them as shoot thru's. I also have large diffusion panels that I sometimes put in front of them to soften up the light even more when I want to. This makes them as soft as a softbox.

Another alternative is the Photek Softlighter II. These come with a removable diffusion panel and a removable black cover. They are very highly recommended by many pros. Best recommendation would be to get 1 Photek 60" and 1 smaller Photogenic 48".

Reflectasol from Larson is another very good brand.