JTL lights vs Alien Bees Digibees...

This is a reply got from a vendor on Ebay who is selling some JTL lights. I told him I was also considering the Alien Bees Digibees. They are JandK Group on Ebay. They have been extremely helpful and nice regarding my questions about the JTL. Of course they are trying to sell me their product but they have been helpful nonetheless.

This is his reply:

"Hi Peter,

Thanks for your reply email. Here are the differences between the
JTL Versalight 300 strobes and the Alien Bees B400 strobe Unit.

* JTL 300 watt seconds vs Alien Bees 160 watt seconds
* JTL metal strobe body vs Alien Bees plastic strobe body
* JTL optical sensor on top of strobe vs Alien Bees optical sensor on
back
of strobe
* JTL safety glass on flash tube vs Alien Bees does not have the safety
glass on flash tube
* JTL optional 250 watt modeling light vs Alien Bees 150 watt modeling
light
* JTL offers 3 ft stop range (down to 1/4 power) vs Alien Bees offers 5
ft
stop range (down to 1/32)
* JTL flash tube rated at 50,000 flashes vs Alien Bees flash tube rated
at
250,000 flashes
* JTL no remote control vs Alien Bees optional remote control
* Both are fan cooled

In my opinion, the JTL strobe is more complete and offer more
accessories than the Alien Bees. For the features and the pricing the
JTL
is much more competitive in price.

Here is a strobe kit, using JTL strobes for the main, fill and backdrop
lighting.

Qty Description
---------------
2 JTL Versalight 300 strobes - 300 watt seconds
Main and Fill Lighting
Variable power from full to 1/4 power

1 JTL Versalight 110 strobe - 105 watt seconds
Backdrop Lighting
Full & 1/2 power

2 8 1/2 ft tall air cushioned light stands
1 3 ft Tall Light Stand
1 4 way barndoor for JTL Versalight 110 strobe
2 45" White/Black reflective umbrellas with removable black outer
cover
3 9 ft PC Sync Cords
3 9 ft AC Power Cord for JTL strobes

Price $ 659.99 plus shipping."...end of JandK reply.

Does anyone have JTL or Alien Bees? What do you think of this comparison?

This seems like a big difference. So you can never go WIRELESS with the JTL? * JTL no remote control vs Alien Bees optional remote control

http://www.photography​review.com …0/PRD_143232_31​36crx.aspx

I can't tell what to make of these reviews...

I've read that Alien Bees has excellent reliability and support. Not sure about JTL's reliability? The above link have some negative user reviews of the JTL.

One guy mentioned his JTL catching on fire. Another said he got shocked. It almost seems like these reviews are product sabatoge of JTL by another light maker or certain users? I don't know...

I know most users here already know about the Alien Bees.

So here are some JTL specs:

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pn.md wrote:
This seems like a big difference. So you can never go WIRELESS with the JTL? * JTL no remote control vs Alien Bees optional remote control[/B]

As long as you have a female phono plug or female pc outlet you can go wireless with a Pocket Wizard Plus set up.

Be sure to read the glossary on the Alien Bees site, regarding wattseconds, effective wattseconds, and lumenseconds.

AB publishes all three bits of data for their lights.

The published "power ratings" using only wattseconds can be very misleading, just as is "watts per channel" in audio gear.

None of these items are a reason to chose one brand over the other.

These two items are very important.
You will find the ability to use the light from full to 1/32nd power more useful than only full/half/quater power
And I would prefer a flash head to last for 250,000 flashes compared to one that only lasts for 50,000!!

Evil, thanks for the comparison. It looks like the Aliens are edging out the JTL. I'm going to research the web more about the Aliens. I guess this is why they are so popular and the price is great.

Scott- thanks for the tip regarding the adapters.

Slej- I'll keep in mind all the different terminology. All very confusing; or more likely they're meant to be misleading.

Hi PN,

I'm doing the exact same research as you are. And I've been comunicating with AB customer service for the whole week. I you want I can PM you all the questions and answers we exchange.

I bought three JTL 160’s, and another JTL XXXX to be used as a background, the XXXX and one of the 160’s arrived broke, the XXXX was crap to start with and I just tossed it. The 160 I had the company replace which they did in a timely manner. That same light went out the first day I used them and never came back; another quit but started back up and worked the rest of the day.

That same day I ordered four AB800, they worked fine from the start and are still working, however I can not say the same for their light modifiers.

(see: http://www.photo.net …msg_id=00AviY&u​nified_p=1 )

I boxed up the JTL’s and have them in reserve as backup’s the AB’s are a much heavier feeling unit and I will bet it will be a long time before I call on my backups.

The flash count of the AB’s maybe lower than the AB, but I cut this from the AB’s web site, “This user-replaceable tube offers 250,000+ flashes, with inexpensive replacements available.” , user-replaceable inexpensive tubes coupled with modeling lights you can buy at Home Depot makes the 500,000 flashes of the JTL’s mute.

Maybe the 160’s are the low end models, but I look at them as a 5-600 dollar learning curve. The “heavy duty” stands that came with the JTL would not support the lights and the softboxs without slipping, I ended up having to put a clamp on the stand to keep the height set properly.

Another draw back of the JTL is that plugging a sync cord into them does not disable the optical slave as the AB's do, not a big deal unless you will be using them around other flashes.

Fortunately, their lights is good...or above average. But their accessories is really blah. Luckly I only use Photoflex softboxes. But from other people on the forum their softboxes aren't really that great.

OK, I have received several emails from forum members so I have decided to add my reply directly to the fourum at your request. JTL has 3 levels of strobe: the J-160 which is 160 watts. The regular Versalights which are 300, 500, 800 or 1000 watts. Then the Digital Versalights which also has 500, 800 or 1000 watts and also adds the features of remote control power adjustment and computer controllability. I've noticed that the comparison with Alien Bees is has been made with the entry level JTL J16o which is the entry level unit which is comparably less expensive than Alien Bees and less feature rich. The JTL Digital Versalights are extremely feature rich and blow away most competition especially for the pro photographer on a budget. JTL offers great value when all features are considered. I invite forum members to visit http://www.JTL-Lighting.com to view specs on each of these lights.

I also wanted to mention that there are many JTL accessories which compare to Photoflex and Chimera at half the price whereas the Alien Bees don't have the accessory line. Also a new octagon softbox octadome type for beauty glamour photography

A couple of notes on Alien Bees (which I have been using for almost two full years now).

1. You can upgrade an AB400 to an AB800 or AB1600 for the cost of the difference, plus a touch

2. They have withstood me so far (constantly putting up and taking down my lights, plus a few location shoots.

3. They are far more powerful then they seem from the raw statistics listed.

4. I have a lot of control over my Alien Bees.

5. When I did my research at time of purchase (2 years ago) there was only one set of lights that I thought were overall better lights and that was a set of Eilchrom, which are way more expensive. There are many lights that are better then AB's but for the cost and overall utility I prefer the AB system of lights. And so far all of the secondaries I got with them have been working pretty good for me (except I don't use the remotes or vagabonds as much as I expected to).

If fairness to the JTL, the one JTL light I have (a hot light (Digilite 250)) still works good (although I disliked the bulb that stuck out), but it didn't give me enough control. What it did give me was a great feeling for what I wanted when I got some strobes.

I haven't re researched fully since I got my Alien Bees so there may be better out there, but I trust my ABs.

When using my AlienBees lights, I frequently make small adjustments to the output of one or more of the lights. By small, I mean adjustments significantly less than 1/4-power steps. If I was stuck with 1/2- or 1/4-power adjustments, I would constantly be moving the lights to make small effective power adjustments. Not acceptable in my opinion.

I've been extremely happy with my AB lights. I use modifiers mostly from other sources, but the lights are great.

This was one of the major reasons I picked Alien Bees. Moving lightstands in confined areas is not fun and/or possible. Even if I had unlimited space it would still be a pain.