Vivitar 850AF any good for Strobing?

They seem to be discontinued but I've seen a few on ebay for cheap (new).
Anyone use them for strobes?

Well I got them cuz they were cheap. They work fine on the hot shoe but won't trigger with the optical triggers I have. Voltage was measured by some guy at 4.5 volts so I'm stumped. I've tried the flash on manual but nothing. Ideas anyone? (beside buy a 285 )

I guess I'll try them with a sync adapter and see what happens. At least I'll have more stuf to add to my gear list.

Did you have any luck with a sync adapter? I'm currently working to figure out why this strobe won't work with the cactus triggers or with my rebel XT. However it does work on my old canon AE-1 body.

Hi Jason, welcome to the Forum. I haven't got the triggers yet but it works on my 40D. I read while searching it's a dedicated flash so that's probably the reason it wouldn't work with the optical trigger. Either that or a voltage issue but I'm guessing at this point. I'll update here as I get more info.

edit: another thing you could try is taping off all but the center pin.