I am a commercial & editorial photographer in Colorado and just purchased this flash because my lumedynes are on their last leg and my calumet travelite 750's are getting long in the tooth. I was going to switch to AlienBee 1600's but After reading all the positive reviews and because they have a Bowens mount that should work with my travelite accessories, I decided to give these a try. I am very impressed by the flash, it is so useful to have the AC/DC option which I have already used twice in the 3 days Ive owned the flash. The build quality is very good almost as nice as the calumets travelite's and about the same as the Alien Bee's and better than the Photogenic StudioMax ac/dc strobes. They are pretty light for their power, though they are the same physical size as the calumet travelite 750's they are much lighter, though not as light as the AlienBees 1600. They recycle very quickly at full power on ac mode and about twice as long on DC mode. The audible beep is very useful. The battery is small and light and easily hangs off a light stand. I got about 100 full power flashes before the flash beeped at me to stop. I was concerned about the power output and whether they were really a true 600 watts, so I tested it against the calumet travelite, the Alien Bee 1600 and a Menik LD800 flash I have at the studio. I was able to use the same reflector on the Calumet, Menik and Mettle and the standard reflector on the Alien Bee, to my surprise they were almost all exactly the same! Coming to within 2/10's of a stop of each other at the same distance. I have to still test the flashes against each other with a soft box and a bare bulb but am impressed by their power. The only issue I have is that none of my original Bowen's reflectors fit on Mettle 600ad, they are a little too big but all my after market mounts and reflectors work fine. I think Theses flashes are fantastic and I would recommend them to anyone looking for a good mono-light system.
(Update)
After a couple of weeks of heavy use, I have to say these flashes are even better then my original impression. They are great for quick moving editorial use. When I am not sure what kind of lighting situation I am are getting in to, it's great to have the ability to go from ac to dc with the same flash. I have been able to get about 110-120 full power flashes from a battery charge(I ended up buying 2 spares). The hardest part is remembering the reduced recycle times in the DC mode. These flashes recycle very quickly, slightly faster than the AlienBee 1600's. These flashes also seem to work well with the Paul C Buff Vagabond system when faster recycle times on location are needed(I tried this once). I made a comparison of all the similar mono-light flashes I have or have access to in a chart below. I included the Menik LD-800 because I know it's popular in Europe. The one I have, I suspect is really a 240 volt version sold to me as a 120v version with a 120v plug and light bulb, which causes it to recycle very slowly. This is too bad because the Menik is a nice quality light and from the reviews from Europe, it does not seem to have the same problem. I did not include the Photogenic StudioMax ac/dc lights because honestly they are not in the same league as the other flashes.
All lights were measured from approximately 15 feet away with the same umbrella, softbox and reflector when possible. I was careful to put the light on the same stand and at the same height. I fired all the flashes simultaneously to get the recycle order. I did not post the recycle times because many different things can effect this. The mettle 600ad recycles in about 3 seconds at full power in ac mode at my studio.
............................................................Mono-light Comparison
Light....................Umbrella..............Reflector.........Bare Bulb.......Medium Softbox.......Recycle Order
AlienBee
1600......................f/ 5.6.8..............f/ 11.4............f/ 8.5...........f/ 5.6.8................2
Calumet Travel
light 750.................f/ 8.5................f/ 11.5............f/ 8.9...........f/ 8.1...................3
Mettle
600ad.....................f/ 8.3................f/ 11.8............f/ 11.0..........f/ 5.6.8................1
White Lightning
Ultra 1800................f/ 8.1................f/ 11.6............f/ 8.4...........f/ 8.0..................4
Menik
LD-800....................f/ 8.1................f/ 11.8............f/ 8.4...........f/ 56.7.................5
The Mettle 600ad was much more powerful than I expected and was slightly better than the AlienBee in almost every category. I will add some photos when I get a chance.
PS. sorry about all the periods in the chart but that was the only way to get it to work.
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Reviews with images
Both the Menik SW-400 and Mettle 400C work fine for normal portraiture or still photography.
This is a side-by-side review of the two Cowboy Studio monolights. The Mettle 400C and the Menik SW-400.I've had a couple of the Menik SW-400s for a couple of years. They still work fine, but I decided to order a couple of more this year. Plus I purchased a Pentax K3 camera this year. The Pentax camera won't work with the older Menik SW-400s. But the camera works fine with the new Menik SW-400s. (Don't ask me what the difference is.) And my older Pentax cameras works fine with all of the Menik SW-400 flash units. Cowboy's instruction booklet for the newer Menik SW-400 flash units is better written then the old one was, too.Since my new camera is now my workhorse, I ordered in a couple of Mettle 400C monoflash units. They also works fine with my new camera.Here is a brief comparison between them:. Both units put out plenty of light.. The Menik SW-400s has a red-eye setting. (I have never gotten it to work properly, but I don't put a lot of effort into it. The original instructions did not cover using it.). The Menik SW-400s take about twice as long to recycle as the Mettle 400C. In fact, the Mettle 400C has a faster recycle time then I am used to.. The Menik SW-400 has a digital power level display and the Mettle 400C simply uses markings on the housing around the power knob.. The Mettle 400C will flash to discharge power when you turn the power down.. The Menik SW-400 has a smaller body then the Mettle 400C.. Both flash units use the same Bowens accessories. However, the Mettle 400C umbrella holder with a Bowen reflector lines up better with umbrellas. The Menik SW-400 needs some minor help from a Dremel on the umbrella opening of a Bowen reflector to line up properly.. The Mettle 400C slave seems to be easily blinded by room lights. The slave on the Mettle 400C had no problem in a darkened studio. But with the room lights on, the Mettle 400C originally could not see other studio flash units firing unless the flash unit was very close. However after using it for a few shots with a darken studio, I turned the room lights on and afterwards took a few more shots with the room lights on. The flash worked OK then. This does not seem to be a problem for the Menik SW-400.Either flash is fine for normal photography work. The Menik SW-400 may have an edge for normal portraits with it's red-eye reduction setting. But I am finding the Mettle 400C easier to work with.I am uploading a photo. It was taken with 2 Menik SW-400s and 1 Mettle 400C. One Mettle 400C and one Menik SW-400 were using umbrellas. (No comments about the wrinkles in my background, please.)(Note: My 2nd Mettle 400C arrived without a camera sync cord in the box. Someone in the Cowboy Studio warehouse must have slipped up.)
