What's the difference between these two flashes?

Hi What's the difference between
http://www.alienbees.c​om/b400.html

and

http://cgi.ebay.com …30087QQrdZ1QQcm​dZViewItem


Why is the alienbee one is much more expensive than the strobe?

The AlienBee strobes are studio type strobes. By that I mean that they have modelling lamps, variable output (5 stops of variable), can have softboxes and other modifiers attached to them, and much more.

The junk you found on ebay is just that - junk. There's no way to control the output of those things, and their output is so weak when compared to even the B400 AlienBees units.

Actually, I started out with a used setup similar to the stuff you found on ebay. However, I bought the whole kit - stands, umbrellas, lamps, etc. - for a whopping $10 bill. It was OK to start with, but basically all it was good for is learning that I needed much more to have the ability to do the quality work I was hoping for.

Then how about this one?

http://cgi.ebay.com …30088QQrdZ1QQcm​dZViewItem

Is this also a piece of "Junk" It is unbelievable cheap!

euro wrote:
Then how about this one?

http://cgi.ebay.com …30088QQrdZ1QQcm​dZViewItem

Is this also a piece of "Junk" It is unbelievable cheap!

My suggestion is to stay away from anything that screws into a lightbulb socket. All of those units are not good enough for what you want to do. There's no adjustment for the output, they cannot use conventional accessories, etc.