Review on 📸 Andoer Studio Photography Light Kit with 85W 2800K-5700K Bi-color Temperature LED Light, 1 Softbox, 1 Light Stand, Remote Control, and Carry Bag by Alex Webster

UPDATE 9/4: Kit is ok but 4 CFL bulbs broke, either stopped working or broke while screwing them in. Do yourself a favor and buy a set of 12 5000k LED bulbs, I've compared them side by side and they're almost indistinguishable in terms of wattage to the supplied CFL bulbs, and although they are far more expensive photo quality bulbs are. there I'm pretty sure it's not what's included, and the bulbs I received were comparable, costing me $20 for a pack of 12; Also, I don't have to worry about handling them like eggshells now, and as an added benefit, the lower power draw may result in fewer backup issues. Just take a look. First review: After doing some comparative shopping, it's clear that there are 2-3 "types" of this set, with the main difference apparently being how they're branded and the size of the softbox. After all, they are all very similar, if not identical. I think a lot of the complaints come from confusion about certain aspects of first-time users' usage, but if I have catastrophic failures in the next few months I'll come and update my review. Stand: yes, inexpensively manufactured; light and a little thin. If you overtighten the thumbscrews in the plastic, you will likely split it. Don't tighten your joints and you'll be fine, it's "tight" even if it's a little loose. I think some of the complaints about the kickstands and legs breaking may be due to the kickstands not fully extending. .when you unfold it, it will rotate back by itself. It would be easy to assume full extension is at the point where it only sticks out 1/2 unless you've used tripod-type tripods before, but when you stand like that it gets pretty stressful. relatively weak spot. Also, you have to use a sandbag as a counterweight for the Arrow Lantern, which means you have to stuff some weights into it (as mentioned, a little cloth bag with a grommet attached to it) and it requires some fiddling to get the best balance. This is how counterweights work. If you've stretched the bar far and high you may need to weigh it down at the base as well, but do this carefully because if you put too much weight on either bar, you'll bend it or pop it out. Accesories. Light. I have seen many complaints about them stopping working and I suspect MANY of them are related to fuses or lightbulbs. There is not only one fuse, but an additional one with each light block. I suspect some of this may be related to incandescent bulbs, CFL bulbs can cause short term current spikes, especially cheap ones, and especially when they start to fail and the ones supplied seem pretty cheap. very light in my hand compared to the nicer ones I've used. I know that many people will replace the fast-blow fuses (F3AL250V) in their flashlights with slow-blow fuses (T3AL250V) to help with blown fuses. but I'm not sure I'd recommend it unless we know exactly why the fuses are blowing. On the one hand there isn't a lot of sensitive electronics in electronics with a regular lightbulb socket so fast acting fuses are usually used, but I'm also wondering if there is a fuse that helps with the design flaw and using a fusible link takes longer, it will cause a security problem. Before I play around with these I think I'll try some nice lightbulbs, maybe even LEDs. Also the sockets are a bit fiddly, 2 of them started sticking when I screwed the bulb in, if you feel the bulb sticking don't just tighten it, unscrew it and try again. The last thing you want to do is twist the cartridge in its housing which can cause damage leading to short circuits or dead sockets as it only gets worse each time or you break the bulb at its base. soft boxes; The most important advice I can give with them is not to follow their illustration as it will be very annoying if you try to pass the box over the light without knocking the bars out. What I did was put the bottom 2 rods into the sleeves on the reflector and the top two into the light and hold the bottom part including the rods in my hand as I guided it into the light then you can free it let go. hang non-slip as it rests on the top bars while inserting the top two bars into the sleeves and then the bottom two into the socket on the lighting unit and finally attaching the velcro. The tote bag is a bag, nothing flashy. I would recommend not storing flashlights with lightbulbs inside as you will most likely end up breaking some of them or at least rendering them inoperable; They stand out at an angle, so that 1-2 of them always carry some weight when at rest. Take them out and store them separately in a small plastic bag or something similar.