Vagabond Mini powering the BMC
Posted: Sun Dec 16, 2012 7:18 pmIn another thread paulkosmala asked about powering the BMC with a vagabond mini from Paul C Buff. I have the mini for my strobes but hadn't even thought about using it for the BMC and was about to pull the pin on the switronix package at B&H.
So I hooked up the Vagabond to my BMC and it's going pretty good. The vagabond also has a usb plug for powering other such devices so I plugged in my laptop as well. They've been plugged in now for about 6 hours and so far the vagabond has gone from 75% power to 25% power.
Some con's: The Vagabond is about twice the weight of the switronix and has about a 30% larger mass. Mounting options are limited because it only has one screw mount in a tight corner. I have it clamped to my tripod and it's fine for me because I'm not running around with it and work mostly in a controlled environment, but if your run and gun it might be a little awkward.
Some pro's. It has 130wh as opposed to the switronix 70wh and it's certainly looking like it'll easily have twice the run time. It's also only $230 against the $300 of the swit and has the same recharge time. Best of all the battery is actually detachable from the Vagabond and spares/replacements are only $80. So basically for the same price as the switronix you can have around 4 times the running time.
I don't know if this is of any help to anybody but there it is.
So I hooked up the Vagabond to my BMC and it's going pretty good. The vagabond also has a usb plug for powering other such devices so I plugged in my laptop as well. They've been plugged in now for about 6 hours and so far the vagabond has gone from 75% power to 25% power.
Some con's: The Vagabond is about twice the weight of the switronix and has about a 30% larger mass. Mounting options are limited because it only has one screw mount in a tight corner. I have it clamped to my tripod and it's fine for me because I'm not running around with it and work mostly in a controlled environment, but if your run and gun it might be a little awkward.
Some pro's. It has 130wh as opposed to the switronix 70wh and it's certainly looking like it'll easily have twice the run time. It's also only $230 against the $300 of the swit and has the same recharge time. Best of all the battery is actually detachable from the Vagabond and spares/replacements are only $80. So basically for the same price as the switronix you can have around 4 times the running time.
I don't know if this is of any help to anybody but there it is.