Yongnuo Reliability?

Someone advised me to get Yongnuo speedlights for tabletop macro.

However, I've read a LOT of posts regarding YN560 IVs dying and only operating at full power.

Has this problem been resolved at the factory?

I've read about the fixes, but I'd rather not buy a flash, knowing up front that it's going to take a dump and need to be disassembled and repaired at MY expense.

Have they been fixed, or should I pass?

I've had my original 560 for 4 years now, never skipped a beat and I've dropped it numerous times on accident(while on location).

Haven't used the IV yet, but the 1-3 I have and all are built very well. As good as canon units. I have 4 total and never had an issue with a single one.

I have 4 of the 560IV units that I have used for thousands of flashes. No problems here.

I have owned 5 or 6 Yongnuo YN-560 iii and iv flashes. I had the full power failure on two of them, and on another the battery door broke. I researched a lot about the full power issue, and never read where Yongnuo admitted to the issue or said it was solved.

I also bought a Yongnuo RF-605 trigger, and found that groups cannot be controlled from the trigger, even though it is marketed for groups. Same issue there, I did a ton of research, never found where they admitted to the problem.

jake14mw wrote in post #18327797
I have owned 5 or 6 Yongnuo YN-560 iii and iv flashes. I had the full power failure on two of them, and on another the battery door broke. I researched a lot about the full power issue, and never read where Yongnuo admitted to the issue or said it was solved.

I also bought a Yongnuo RF-605 trigger, and found that groups cannot be controlled from the trigger, even though it is marketed for groups. Same issue there, I did a ton of research, never found where they admitted to the problem.

It sounds like IBM and the defective CMI hard drives in the first batch of PC-ATs.

Unfortunately, I have my doubts about the likelihood of Yongnuo being shamed into fixing the problem...

jake14mw wrote in post #18327797
I have owned 5 or 6 Yongnuo YN-560 iii and iv flashes. I had the full power failure on two of them, and on another the battery door broke.

On which ones did you get the full power failure? The IIIs, the IVs or both?

Just curious.

Temma wrote in post #18327840
On which ones did you get the full power failure? The IIIs, the IVs or both?

Just curious.

One was a iii and the other was an iv.

jake14mw wrote in post #18327842
One was a iii and the other was an iv.

That seems in line with other peoples' experiences.

Thanks.

One way to look at the question...
At 1/7 the price of a 600EX, you can afford to throw away 7 failed units for the price of purchasing the Canon flash!

I have Amazon Prime, so if I went that way, the best plan would be to use it a LOT as soon as I got it.

Wilt wrote in post #18327864
One way to look at the question...
At 1/7 the price of a 600EX, you can afford to throw away 7 failed units for the price of purchasing the Canon flash!

And who is to say that the Canon flash wouldn't fail? Things do; nothing's perfect - all you are looking at is the Balance of Probability. The way I look at this is that the likelihood of 7 consecutive Yongnuo flashes ALL failing is fairly slender.

Another point is that we rarely get the full story of these failures. When was the last time you came across someone saying "Well, I've dropped it a few times and it's blown over on top of an 8ft lightstand twice. It lives in the back of the car where it's subjected to really wide temperature ranges and rattles about taking little knocks all day, every day. Then it suddenly went and broke on me so they're all totally unreliable"? Doesn't happen, does it - all we get is "They're rubbish ... totally unreliable ... avoid".

Final point - at the low price point of the unit, replacement with a newer model of higher specification is far less painful than with the higher priced Canon unit. I have 2 Metz 45 CL4 (pre-digital models, no less) hammerhead flashes which are probably older than half the members here (1970s/80s??). Ultra solid, ultra reliable (never even needed a replacement tube), seriously expensive (back then - may be worth as much as €1 / £1 / $1 each now ) and I still use them but there is so much that they DON'T do - no TTL let alone ETTL / no zoom reflector / no 2nd curtain sync / no HSS / s..l..o..w recycling / replacement battery packs cost as much as a full new YN flash (but I build my own anyway). Very very good units but unbelievably outdated and limited by comparison with modern units. If I'd been stuck with those because of the money invested there'd be so much I couldn't do. Far better to have the flexibility of updating without the pain of discarding.

Of course you could buy the Canon unit, but it doesn't really actually guarantee anything at all. BTW I have 4 (old) Metz, 4 Godox, 4 Yongnuo but ZERO Canon flash units - but those were my choices.
Failures over the last 50+ years mainly professional use (wrinkly old pensioner now living on the proceeds of what the flashes produced over the decades)?
1 smaller Metz (54MZ4) needed a new tube, nothing else apart from the inevitable batteries. So my single failure was on a (then) top-of-the-range flash, not a cheapo.

Whortleberry wrote in post #18328088
And who is to say that the Canon flash wouldn't fail? Things do; nothing's perfect - all you are looking at is the Balance of Probability. The way I look at this is that the likelihood of 7 consecutive Yongnuo flashes ALL failing is fairly slender.

Based on some of the threads I've read, it may not be THAT slender.

Whortleberry wrote in post #18328088
Another point is that we rarely get the full story of these failures.

This appears to be a very specific and easily diagnosed issue.

The Renesas part # RJP4301 IGBT transistors in these units seem to be of poor/inconsistent quality. From what I've seen, replacing them with a higher quality equivalent appears to ALWAYS fix the problem. Dropping a flash won't cause it to have substandard components. Neither will heavy usage. In any case, I've seen numerous stories of people who used their units either very lightly, or in fact, almost not at all prior to them failing.

At this point, the cause of the "stuck on full power" failures appears to be definitive.

My question is, "Has that defect been remedied by the manufacturer, or does it continue to exist?"

If it's still happening frequently, I wouldn't bother and would look elsewhere, even if it's toward a different budget brand with a better reputation at a modest increase in price.

My understanding is that the reliability has gotten worse--older units were made to better quality standards.

I think Godox has pretty solid reliability and a unit which uses a more powerful (faster recycle, more flashes) rechargeable battery. Under $100.

A lot of people have moved to Godox now because failures there have been much less of an issue. And they also have a logical upgrade path, where you can add HSS and TTL flashes, and larger strobes without discarding your manual flashes and moving to a separate system.

With YongNuo this has been a constant cycle from the very beginning, its always been something of a lottery. Having said that though the odds a still pretty good and that's why there are still a lot of people that either love or hate them.

I think YongNuo have mostly given up trying to compete now though and diversified into things like developing lenses. They seem to be taking the same approach to that though as well.

I'm just starting to do my research, but the Godox (especially Adorama branded) is starting to look very attractive.

This is going to be a future purchase, as my current contract gig is about up. Assuming that a likely opportunity turns out, this (and a couple of tabletop light stands) will be my first acquisition.