"downgrade" 600ex mk1 to 430ex iiiRT?

Has anyone have any general thoughts and opinions on this to sway me before i jump into doing this?
I assume the 600ex i has a faster refresh rate at full power than the 430ex iii which could be the dealbreaker for me. Reliability i assume is on par for both. The size of the 430 though is a real plus

.. and there's no external pack option, AFAIK.

im good without it as I never used it back in my 580ex days and never for the 600s

I have the 600 RT and two 430 exIII RT units and I find more and more that if I just need two of them, I reach for the two 430s for the same reason you mentioned. Weight.

kaitanium wrote in post #18065588
Has anyone have any general thoughts and opinions on this to sway me before i jump into doing this?
I assume the 600ex i has a faster refresh rate at full power than the 430ex iii which could be the dealbreaker for me. Reliability i assume is on par for both. The size of the 430 though is a real plus

Bad assumption that a more powerful flash is FASTER to recycle. Specs from Canon state up to 5.5 sec for 600EX-RT to recycle, vs. up to 3.5 sec for 430EXIII-RT to recycle.
They both ordinarily use four batteries, and the 600EX would take more total electricity per full power flash to output more light, so it make sense it has a larger capacitor to fill up each full power flash from identical sets of 4 batteries. And, at minimum power output each flash takes a minimum of 0.1 sec to recycle.

If you shoot with 200mm FL, the 600EX zoom flash head narrows its beam to suit to achieve a bit more range, whereas the 430EXIII only zooms to 105mm.

Not really a "downgrade" if you're looking at the 430EX III for it's size and weight. I would pick up a couple of 430EX III's myself, for "on camera" Master flashes, if I knew for positive I was going to stay with the Canon Wireless RT system. Godox is trying really hard to sway me over to an ALL GODOX system but they have yet to build a shoe flash that has the TTL consistency and build quality that I have come to appreciate in Canon EX Speedlites. I doubt I would pick a 430EX III over a 600EX-RT though but I would definitely look at one in addition to.

For me there is no way I would down grade. However, even though I have multiple 600 EX's, I keep thing about buying a 430 EXIII-RT for when I want to travel light and using just one Speedlite, on or off Camera.
You may want to keep the 600 EX-RT and add a 430 EX III RT. Speedlites multiply very fast.
Then you can decide for you which works the best.

agv8or wrote in post #18068915
Not really a "downgrade" if you're looking at the 430EX III for it's size and weight. I would pick up a couple of 430EX III's myself, for "on camera" Master flashes, if I knew for positive I was going to stay with the Canon Wireless RT system. Godox is trying really hard to sway me over to an ALL GODOX system but they have yet to build a shoe flash that has the TTL consistency and build quality that I have come to appreciate in Canon EX Speedlites. I doubt I would pick a 430EX III over a 600EX-RT though but I would definitely look at one in addition to.

yes TTL consistency is why im leery of 3rd party flashes. Had the YN600s before and those sucked bad. Wireless on the YN600s are good though. Not sure about Godox though I have my suspicions.

Bought 1 430ex to try out. I dont ever recall using my 600exs at full power. The only reason why I have 600exs was because that was the only option for a long time.

I may ultimately have 2x on camera 430exs for my 2 cameras and leave the 600ex as off camera. Otherwise Id be losing much $ selling off my 600ex since i bought them when it first came out!!

wow just picked up a 430exiii and i have to say the menu is MUCH easier to use than the 600exi
This flash is also super compact. I think im going to enjoy this very much!