Buy gone bad Elinchrom

[Jockos]

Today I purchased a Elinchrom D-Lite RX 2 to go set, or at least I thought I did:

The seller was located in another city, and my girlfriend was going there to look at a car she wanted to buy (and did buy actually), so I asked her to pick the kit up as well. She headed over to the seller, and everything seemed fine. When she got home, she sent me a picture of one of the lashes, and it turned out to be the Elinchrom D-Lite it 2.

I emailed the seller, and he agreed to take the whole kit back or reduce the price (no word on how much yet).

Now I'm asking, is this kit worth keeping at all? AFAIK, the greatest difference is the build quality, it being crappier, and the it not being able to adjust power with the remote trigger (which sounds very handy).
I've never worked with studio flashes before, so I don't know how much the extras matter.
I'm not photographing professionally, nor do I have a studio, so currently there isn't much running involved to adjust power.

I was planning on using these with my large format cameras, my Leica M3 and my Sony a7 if that matters.


What do you guys think? It's a three hour trip there and back with the train to return them, or a ~$80 postage.

 

[Nokton48]

Why not try it and see how it goes?

I prefer Broncolor but I've heard good things about Elinchrom. Did they make a bad flash?
If you are working in the studio, why do you need remote control? Just wondering?

 

[Jockos]

If you are working in the studio, why do you need remote control? Just wondering?

Because I wont be tripping over cables and ruining my equipment! Why would anyone trigger their flashes with cables in 2016?

 

[Nokton48]

Why would anyone trigger their flashes with cables in 2016?

OK. I see your point.
I use cables because that is what i already have! 😉

 

[Vincent.G]

I use the Elinchrom 500 BRX set.
Reliable and works with remote trigger or PC cable.
Usually I check the condition of the modeling light bulb and flash bulb to see if they are relatively new or not. I am will also inspect the locking mechanism on the strobe that holds the diffuser box mounting ring. Make sure the diffuser mounting ring is easy to remove from the strobe. A to-go studio set may have been dismantled and set up many times and my experience is the locking mechanisms are the weakest link.

 

[CK Dexter Haven]

I'm not familiar with newer elinchroms, but with all studio flash units, I always pass along good advice I was given when I bought some used profoto gear years ago:

Get a flash head that can accommodate the highest wattage modeling light possible. Even if it's only one of the heads in the kit, use hat one as your key light, because it really helps with focusing, whether you focus manually or with AF. It's especially important if you use modifiers, as you can lose a lot of the modeling lamp through the sometimes multiple layers of diffusion in a soft box.

 

[Jockos]

I use the Elinchrom 500 BRX set.
Reliable and works with remote trigger or PC cable.
Usually I check the condition of the modeling light bulb and flash bulb to see if they are relatively new or not. I am will also inspect the locking mechanism on the strobe that holds the diffuser box mounting ring. Make sure the diffuser mounting ring is easy to remove from the strobe. A to-go studio set may have been dismantled and set up many times and my experience is the locking mechanisms are the weakest link.

Thanks for solid advice, will check these points tonight.

The guy replied and offered a very nice discount, so I'm actually considering keeping them. With the discount I could buy a third monolight that has the remote features, for high or far mounting, and control the other two "locally".