# Godox AD1200Pro Rumours



## JBPhotog (Dec 18, 2019)

Looks like the rumour mill is in high gear with leaked photos of a Godox AD1200Pro battery powered pack and head system.

Would you want a system like this? Personally I have the Extension Head for my AD600Pro and although a bit more cumbersome, it sure does drop the weight hanging off a boom.

The full story is here:Photos of a Godox AD1200Pro head & pack strobe have leaked - DIY Photography


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## Derrel (Dec 18, 2019)

Only -one-  head output..... too bad.


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## JBPhotog (Dec 18, 2019)

Yeah I thought that too however, maybe my experience with pack and head configurations may be prejudicial against a single head design. I have had to boom my AD600Pro and wouldn't be keen on ding it without the head extension so essentially it is a one head one pack design configuration. The downside will be the gear volume and just how heavy are those AD1200Pro packs? I could see a person getting one or two of these for times when they need an extra stop and still use the AD400Pro and AD600Pro as their mainstay lights.

I would applaud Godox for pushing their R&D further into new concepts. I don't see other brands doing much of that these days or at least coming out with useful gear, the Profoto C1+ is a bit of a joke IMO for $500 US.


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## tirediron (Dec 18, 2019)

I like the idea, but a 1200 w/s pack that only supports one head????  Seems like a HUGE waste of capacity.


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## Derrel (Dec 18, 2019)

Think their corporate people need to explore further the pack and head Market and what is out there. Profoto has two head packs ; Speedotron has 4 and 6 head packs. 1200 Watt-seconds is plenty to power four or five or six flash units. If they were to build in three additional outlets or four additional outlets, which would not cost much, then the sale of each 1200 Watt- second power pack might potentially come with 3 or 4 extension head sales. As it is now ,one pack would only need one head. I think a couple of days of working with sales projections might show that it would make more financial sense for the company to offer users the option of buying three or four or even five additional flash heads with each 1200 Watt-second pack.


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## Derrel (Dec 18, 2019)

I have a number of power packs ranging from 200 watt seconds,to 400, which is my current favorite size, I have one 604D which I find too powerful; I have an older Black Line 800 which I don't use; my first pack which I bought in 1985 or '86 which is a 1600 Watt second  4-outlet, and I have an old pair of 2400 Watt-second Black Line packs which offer me 6 flash outputs.

The key is in offering outputs which are actually useful to photographers at a particular time in history back when I was getting started good color film was ASA 50 or 64; today we can get the same quality from a D800,D810,or D850 or other good camera at ISO 200, so total power output is not as important as output flexibility. In yesteryear's ways of working, 1600 Watt-seconds is about equivalent to 400 Watt seconds today.

I have a really neat Black Line 405B which only has three flash Outlets but yet has the rheostat one-third f-stop click =, and even though it is a "better pack2!! than my two Brown Line D402 packs, I prefer the versatility and capability of having four flashes run off of one power pack, so even though the brown line is quote Lower technology, I prefer its ability to let me use four flashes. If this upcoming 1200 Watt-second power pack were to offer four flash outlets, I think it would be a real winner.

I just cannot see the financial justification nor the Practical advantage of offering a single outlet 1200 watt second pack. I suppose it is possible that the manufacturer does not want to get into pack and head systems and that they have deliberately crippled this offering to discourage users from seeing how great it is to have a flash head that weighs very little but has tremendous power output potential.


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## JBPhotog (Dec 18, 2019)

If we are talking battery powered pack and head systems then the maximum number of heads offered by:
- Profoto, 2 heads @250 w/s (B2 model)
- Speedotron, 2 heads @1500 w/s (Explorer model) however, check out it's flash duration, 1/825 and 3.5 sec. recycle time.
- Elinichrom, 2 heads @1200 w/s (ELB1200 model)

There may be others but these come to mind first, so we can't really include mains powered units in the same discussion. Sure would it be nice to see Godox have a dual head battery pack but I bet it will be half the price of the Profoto and Elinchrom offerings LOL. The Speedotron Explorer isn't really in the running, lead acid batteries and old tech.


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## Derrel (Dec 18, 2019)

The existence of small and powerful pure sine wave inverters makes Mains powered pack systems quite portable, and very few consumers in my opinion are serious enough to buy two systems, so I think it is quite Fair to consider mains power units in the discussion of pack and head systems. I think at the very least there should be a splitter cable available.


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## tirediron (Dec 18, 2019)

Derrel said:


> I have a number of power packs ranging from 200 watt seconds,to 400, which is my current favorite size, I have one 604D which I find too powerful; I have an older Black Line 800 which I don't use; my first pack which I bought in 1985 or '86 which is a 1600 Watt second  4-outlet, and I have an old pair of 2400 Watt-second Black Line packs which offer me 6 flash outputs.
> 
> The key is in offering outputs which are actually useful to photographers at a particular time in history back when I was getting started good color film was ASA 50 or 64; today we can get the same quality from a D800,D810,or D850 or other good camera at ISO 200, so total power output is not as important as output flexibility. In yesteryear's ways of working, 1600 Watt-seconds is about equivalent to 400 Watt seconds today.
> 
> ...


My go-to pack is a 1604D, but I almost always use it at 1/4 power (400 w/s) and usually with 2-3 heads, and often up to 5.  The only time I've ever used a power level even remotely close to 1200 w/s in one head is when i have to shoot a portrait in very bright afternoon sun.


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## Derrel (Dec 18, 2019)

I have the slightly older D 1602 which has a low power setting of only 200 watt seconds, which I used to hate but now I love. It of course  offers full power ,1600, and half power 800.

I really like the 200 watt seconds setting, which is quite fast on Recycle. I got a really good price on the D 604, but I really do not like the output options... 600 watt seconds is just too much power through one head in this day and age of great ISO 100 and 200 camera performance. In fact I prefer three lights or four lights with 200 or 400 watt seconds total.

My very last power pack bought in the Speedotron brand was the tiny 200 watt second D202. It weighs only 5 lb and has two flash Outlets. but I have a Y-cable,or splitter, which I often use.


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## JBPhotog (Dec 19, 2019)

Apparently Adorama have it listed as a Per-order item and some different photos so I guess it is less of a rumour now.

https://www.adorama.com/fplfx1200p.html?origterm=ad1200pro&searchredirect=true


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## tirediron (Dec 19, 2019)

Love to know where the price will land.  Based on their current line, I'm guessing probably around $12-1400 USD.


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## Derrel (Dec 20, 2019)

12.7 pounds for the flash head and generator/battery. Not too shabby really. I think that the $1,200 to $1,400 price range makes sense.


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## JBPhotog (Dec 20, 2019)

I own a Tronix Explorer XT bought many years ago and have used it to power up my Speedotron 2403B and 1205 packs. If something affordable, powerful and battery contained was available at the time, I would have gone that route.

Godox are making a dent in the lighting industry and if I was to do it all over in today's photography climate, I'd own exclusively battery powered strobes. The price for a Speedo Black Line 202 head is @$620 whereas a AD400 Pro or AD600 Pro are only a few hundred more for power and flashtube. The rumoured AD1200Pro will run off mains too so that should made prolonged shoots a thing of the past regarding battery capacity.


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## Derrel (Dec 20, 2019)

I also own a similar Tronix unit. I can't remember if it's the XT or the 1200. As I recall I bought that thing in 2007, and it weighs 18 lb. It works great with a smaller power pack like a 400, but as you said it will power the 2403 power supplies. Just this summer I sold off my newest flash,an elinchrom ELB400,a remarkably sophisticated hi-sync unit that I bought in 2017. It was an amazing battery powered unit, and the most advantageous feature it had was that when you were charging the battery it would run off of the mains. You did not have to wait until the battery was fully charged! It was remarkably small and offered fine incremental control and had an amazing remote controller. It was extremely well-made, much higher quality than most MIC gear. I bought it used for $700 with one flash head,and a Case,  and a bunch of nice accessories. It had the really high-end controller and a built-in receiver in the Pack itself.

I was looking on eBay the other day and 202 VF heads were available for around $100 used, but yes I am not surprised that brand new they are $600 today.


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## Derrel (Dec 20, 2019)

I would agree that if I were to do it all over again I would buy battery powered strobes. The weight of the Explorer I have at 18 pounds, and the weight of my favorite power pack, around 11 lb, the weight of cables and Flash heads and stands and modifiers made me switch to a luggage cart / crate type of rig back in 2012. I think the Paul C Buff Vagabond size inverter would be much handier, and lighter in weight, and of course much smaller.

On November 16th I went to a haunted house group photoshoot and almost everyone there had battery powered lights of various types and brands. I could really see where location work would be much easier with a complete set of battery powered strobes, especially if they all had built in Wireless triggering.


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## Derrel (Dec 20, 2019)

tirediron said:


> I like the idea, but a 1200 w/s pack that only supports one head????  Seems like a HUGE waste of capacity.



Quoted for emphasis.

 1200 Watt-seconds through one head is a lot of flash power, but for the supposedly intended use of overpowering the Sun and doing high-speed synchronization, it would be nice to have 1200 Watt-seconds of raw power.


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## JBPhotog (Dec 21, 2019)

Derrel said:


> I also own a similar Tronix unit. I can't remember if it's the XT or the 1200. As I recall I bought that thing in 2007, and it weighs 18 lb. It works great with a smaller power pack like a 400, but as you said it will power the 2403 power supplies. Just this summer I sold off my newest flash,an elinchrom ELB400,a remarkably sophisticated hi-sync unit that I bought in 2017. It was an amazing battery powered unit, and the most advantageous feature it had was that when you were charging the battery it would run off of the mains. You did not have to wait until the battery was fully charged! It was remarkably small and offered fine incremental control and had an amazing remote controller. It was extremely well-made, much higher quality than most MIC gear. I bought it used for $700 with one flash head,and a Case,  and a bunch of nice accessories. It had the really high-end controller and a built-in receiver in the Pack itself.
> 
> I was looking on eBay the other day and 202 VF heads were available for around $100 used, but yes I am not surprised that brand new they are $600 today.



I used my XT enough times I actually rewired all my 102 heads with a three way toggle in place of the modelling light toggle. Now I can not only turn the modelling light off but also the fan which really saves on battery capacity. I have also had to swap the Tronix LA batteries a couple of times due to age even though they get a daily charge of a couple of hours on a timer, newer battery tech is so much simpler.


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## Derrel (Dec 21, 2019)

I am on my second Tronixs battery. They are around $50 at the USA store named Batteries and Bulbs. I think I am dangerously close to needing a third battery as the unit does not seem to have much life left in it. It's weird, I bought a Quantum Battery 1 in 1986 and it still works. I bought a Quantum Turbo battery in 1987, and by 1991 it was dead.


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## JBPhotog (Dec 23, 2019)

The rumour is now posted on Youtoob.


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## WalterRowe (Feb 19, 2020)

Been a long time since I checked in on this site.

I didn’t see anyone mention Hensel in this thread. They have a line of packs. They also announced a new line of battery powered lights at 1000ws.

HENSEL | Foris 1000

I have some Hensel Integra Pro Plus monolights. Great for studio work, but not very portable without a pack. I recently purchased AD600Pro and AD400Pro lights just to have that portability. They also provide HSS and TTL which I did not have with the Hensel lights.


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## tirediron (Feb 19, 2020)

I didn't even realize Hensel was still around.  That looks like a nice unit!


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## tirediron (Mar 30, 2020)

tirediron said:


> Love to know where the price will land.  Based on their current line, I'm guessing probably around $12-1400 USD.


Looks like I called it a little low!  B&H has it for a pre-order price of $1599 US and in Canada, it's $1999 at Strobe Pro on pre-order.  It's got some great specs as far as recycle time, etc, but at the end of the day, it's still a single-head system with a pretty ridiculous output and a price-tag that's putting it into Profoto D1 territory.  Is this really going to sell?????


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## WalterRowe (Mar 30, 2020)

Interesting .. $1599 also at Adorama for the FlashPoint XPLOR rebranded version too.

https://www.adorama.com/fplfx1200p.html

The difference is the Profoto D1 does not include the battery pack. The Godox unit includes the battery pack.

Profoto D1 Air 500W/s Monolight


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## Derrel (Mar 31, 2020)

Compared to the Elinchrom ELB 1200, the price is less than half...but that single head  limitation really does hurt in my opinion.


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## tirediron (Mar 31, 2020)

WalterRowe said:


> Interesting .. $1599 also at Adorama for the FlashPoint XPLOR rebranded version too.
> 
> https://www.adorama.com/fplfx1200p.html
> 
> ...


Understood, just pointing out that you can get a 1000w/s D1 for similar money to a 1200 w/s Godox; granted the D1 isnt' 'cordless' but still...  it's Profoto...



Derrel said:


> Compared to the Elinchrom ELB 1200, the price is less than half...but that single head  limitation really does hurt in my opinion.


That's what I can't figure out; would adding a second outlet really have been that much of a design challenge?  I can see extra heads being an optional purchase, but at least put a second outlet on the power pack...


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## Derrel (Mar 31, 2020)

A second flash outlet would have been most welcome.


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## JBPhotog (Mar 31, 2020)

Meh, If one needs 600w/s in each head then buy two of the Godox AD600Pro TTL models, same price approx. and not be limited by a cord. I get that us "experienced" pack and head shooters are used to having up to 6 head outlets but the status quo has moved to more compact and battery powered systems.

Adding another head outlet complicates the pack design since circuitry for asymmetric or symmetric power distribution would need to be considered. Additionally, one would be forced into one particular Group setting for both heads unless more circuitry was added for selecting different groups for each head. One is getting into Broncolor complexity with this option.


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## JBPhotog (Mar 31, 2020)

Check out this brochure for the AD1200Pro, looks like a ring light is going to be available too.

GODOX PHOTO EQUIPMENT CO.,LTD  AD1200Pro


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## Derrel (Mar 31, 2020)

NICE brochure!


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## Derrel (Mar 31, 2020)

Kind of like a Corvette with a three on the tree...


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## JBPhotog (Mar 31, 2020)

Interesting how one can sync two packs via a 3.5 mm sync cord. Best case scenario for when maximum synced output is required, as in a splash shot for shortest flash duration but requiring more power.


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## Harry White (Dec 15, 2020)

f


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