Posts Tagged ‘infinity’

1st review
2nd review

This is hopefully my last and final update of the Cactus V4 by Gadget Infinity. I have given up on these cheapo products and have decided to go with the Cybersyncs.  I sent back the 1st gen receiver and transmitter since the transmitter was faulty. After waiting about 2 weeks to get my replacement, I can finally test them again. I had also ordered an additional receiver. I tried to do more testing using the Cactus V4 and one of the recievers was not working. After wiggling around the hot shoe on it, it worked fine but once I removed it and put it back on, it didnt work again.

The one working receiver actually works fine and is pretty reliable but due to all these issues, I highly recommend against these units unless you dont mind the stress and trouble in dealing with getting them resolved with Gadget Infinity. I have exchanged numerous emails already about sending back the 1st generation transmitter and now I have exchanged more emails again about this faulty reciever. They said that there was no known issues with the receivers and gave me instructions on removing the extra clip on top of the hot shoe and said that might help with the issue. I tried that and still have no luck. The receiver is basically defective. Since Gadget Infinity is in Hong Kong, it is also troublesome exchanging emails since the time zones are switched and everytime I send an email, I have to wait until the next day to get a reply. Even if I send it during my nighttime which is their daytime, they are still not very responsive with emails.

I did manage to do two photoshoots with the Cactus V4, but only with one receiver, and they worked out okay but with all the trouble I had with these units, I refuse to use them anymore. 

I just recieved my new pair of Cybersyncs so I can now return the Cactus V4 units for a refund. Unfortunately, the shipping policy of Gadget Infinity says that I have to pay for shipping even if the units are faulty. This is pretty lame considering that the unit was faulty when I received it. Hopefully others can learn from my mistakes and issues and if you still decide to purchase the V4s, dont say I didn’t warn you!

Cactus V4 Update 1

April 9, 2009

v4 cactus transmitter

Final Update 2 since this review

original first review

So since I have received my Cactus V4, I only tested it on the day I received it. I wanted to try it out again this week but when I took it out, the transmitter was not working. So maybe it was the battery since they ship with cheap batteries. I bought a new battery, put it in, and it still didnt work. The cover for the antenna also fell off.

I contacted Gadget Infinity, and they said I can ship it back and they will send me a new unit. They will also cover for the shipping back to them. I asked if it was really necessary for me to ship it back first before they sent me a new one and they said yes. They gave me their UPS account number but I had some difficulities sending it back to Hong Kong. Since it was international, I needed a customs form and I wasn’t schedule a UPS pickup online for some reason as it didnt give me a customs form. It also required me to create a UPS account even though I was using Harvest One’s account. I had to call UPS to have them schedule a pickup and they sent me the link to create a customs form. Basically a big hassle just to send something back.

Assuming it will take about a week to send back, another week for them to test and verify, then one more week to get another unit, I will get the new unit in 3 weeks.

This is very unsatisifactory and if I had to do it over again, I would definitely just go with the AlienBee Cybersyncs. The money I save by getting these cheap triggers from Hong Kong does not really make up for the inconvenience and reliability.

We will see how reliable the Cactus V4 as I will definitely do more testing when I receive the unit again.

cactus v4 

Final and Last Update 2

Update 1 since this review

I received my Cactus V4 Remote Flash Triggers yesterday and tried it out on Domo. I ordered a set of Trigger and Receiver and a additional receiver. The Cactus V4 is a update of the original V2 cheap EBay remotes that everyone uses as opposed to Pocket Wizards. Unfortunately, they always have a lot of issues either misfiring or not firing at all unless you modified them. I hated using them because they would always not fire. The Cactus V4 by Gadget Infinity went on sale March 13th and quickly sold out. You cant even see any info about them on their website which is sort of funny. I waited one week for them after ordering and since they ship from Hong Kong, that is not bad. You can get 3-day shipping for like $48 or something like that, but waiting several more days for regular airmail was a way better option.

These are the specs for the set: 

1) New antenna design that increases the reliability and effective distance to 30 meters.
2) New power source for receiver –AAA batteries.
3) 16 selectable channels and advanced anti-interference feature.
4) Compatible with low trigger voltage portable flashes, high trigger voltage portable flashes and studio strobes.
5) Trigger set includes three (3) connection cables while receiver only package includes one (1).

I tested my two receivers out on a Canon 430EX, 580EXII, and a old cheapo Sunpak strobe with a Canon 40D. They fired almost everytime on all 3 flashes. The batteries that came with one of them was low, which scared me at first because I thought it wasnt working but once I changed the batteries, it worked fine. The Cactus V4 was suppose to be able to fire up to 1/500 but it definitely was not able to do it. I was able to shoot at 1/100 to 1/250 and it worked fine. I didnt do much testing on the range but I dont usually need a big range since I am usually not too far from the subject and the flashes.

Overall, I am pretty happy and impressed with them so far but I have not tested them out that much yet. I hope to try it out on a model shoot soon.

domo

For this image, there is a 430ex behind Domo pointed at him at 1/16th power and another 580exII pointed at him at 1/16th power.