ST-E2 or 580ex II to trigger other flashes?

my friend has the tranmitter and i have the 580ii
we've set up multiple 580ex flashes as slaves and his almost always triggers the slaves without hassle compared to mine
there are times when i cant even trigger the slaves even if im standing right next to him

outdoors is worse...his transmitter is able to fire the slaves where my 580ii wont even trigger them
ive also set my 580 to not fire (pre flash only)

Cougar548 wrote in post #5475096
Can anyone shed some light on the topic? Is a ST-E2 good? Is a 580ex II better? Any input would be great. Thanks!

Guess I will jump in here with my opinion!

The benefits to owning the 580EX for use as only a master are:

• You have a backup flash.
  
• Can fire slaves much easier (in certain circumstances) because of the movable head.
  
• Can control group C.
  
• Every so often in a stressful shoot I can fire the master as well to light up an otherwise excessively dark and huge room.

Right now the price difference between a ST-E2 and a Canon 430ex is only about $15 at B&H. If you already have a 580ex, then there is no question that you should spend the extra $15 and buy the 430ex over the ST-E2. The main reason is you will now have 2 flashes, instead of one. Plush, your 580ex can do more than the ST-E2 can. However, in the end you have to realize that the Canon wireless system really works best indoors. If you plan on shooting alot of outdoors stuff, then you will find the working range will be small, and you will be best served by going to a RF type of device (such as PocketWizard, SkyPort, or RadioPoppers)