Review on Canon 1177C002 Speedlite 600EX II RT by Alan Pfeiffer

Let me start by saying that I have been a professional wedding/portrait photographer for 21 years. I use Canon products all the time. I started with 540EZ, then 550EX, 580EX, 580EXII and now the new 600EX-RT and 600EXII-RT. I'm not sure what Canon did with these new 600 versions, but they just don't have the durability of older devices. I need flashes that are fast and reliable. My 580EXII strobes were, and still are, heavy workhorses. I've shot at events and fired one of my 580s to the point where the front lens melted, but it kept going and didn't overshoot. My flashes are always connected to an external battery. packaging so that it can be quickly recycled. At the start of the day, those new 600s are fine as long as you let them rest at least 15 or 20 seconds between shots. It's good. Too bad when they have to fire every 3 or 4 seconds they start to fail. The original 600s go into overheat mode and just stop working. The new version 2 just doesn't work anymore. It usually takes 5 or 6 seconds to charge with a fully charged battery pack and fresh batteries. totally unreliable. If you use them in manual mode no problem, my problem is if I use them in ETTL. Radio triggering is also no problem. I really want to love these flashes, but when I really need them in an emergency, they keep failing. If you're a hobbyist and only shoot occasionally, this is a good option. If you need them to work no matter what, look elsewhere. I dread the day my 580EX IIs die for good because Canon won't fix them anymore.