Gossen Sixtomat F2 or Sekonic 308X

[madNbad]

Currently I have a Sekonic 398A, a really old Gossen Pilot and myLightmeter Pro phone app. All produce good results but I've been looking at meters with a digital display. Having owned a 308, it's a very capable meter and will do more than I will ever need. Gossen has introduced an upgrade to the Sixtomat which provides backlighting to the display for five seconds when values are under EV 3.
The Sekonic 308X is currently available, the upgraded Sixtomat was released at the end of October so most of the available inventory won't have the backlight feature. The ability to read flash output is about equal on both meters and both operate off of a single AA battery. Just curious about what other members opinion is and I'm in no particular hurry to buy one.

 

[B-9]

Really like my L-408

Always went with Sekonic so here’s a vote for the 308x

I’m always tempted by the Gossen Digisix myself. It’s small!

 

[Richard G]

I’d get the Sekonic 308x for the key reason that the lumisphere faces in the same direction as the display. For incident readings my original Gossen Sixtar (Piiot) and the new Sixtomat have an end sphere which work best for reflected readings and are a pain for incident readings. I use the Gossen DigiPro F with a swivel sphere which can face you for incident readings.

 

[madNbad]

I was hopping for a bit more feedback but I did learn a few things since posting. Gossen released several updates to their meters at the end of October. Many of the updates were features Sekonic has had for several years, like the backlighted screen. Sekonic's' backlight for the 308 comes on at EV 5 snd stays on while you're using the meter. Gossen lights up at EV 3 and is on for five seconds. The Gossen display is busy with secondary information, much like an analog meter. If I want all of that, I'll stay with an analog meter. I had an opportunity to handle a Sixtomat F2 and found I like both the forward facing lumisphere and the side mounted controls on the 308 better than the controls on the front and the end mounted lumisphere on the Gossen. The Sekonic also offers a larger field for reflective metering. B&H informed me they have both the older versions and the latest release of the Gossen in stock but I think a Sekonic 308x from a local seller is the choice. Thanks for the help.

 

[sebastel]

coming late to the discussion, here is one more against the gossen.
i used to use a predecessor of the sixtomat F2, the sixtomat digital (without flash meter).
while i was happy with it while it worked, i noticed after several years, that the buttons became unresponsive. seems it was some dirt between button and circuit board, which would have been easy to remove if i only could have opened the case without destroying it.
so, i'd not choose a gossen meter that uses those rubber buttons.

just my half cent.