Thanks for sharing the info. Very Useful.

Thanks for the update. I was excited the first time the v4s showed up, but the Strobist Flickr thread quickly turned into a quagmire of varied results. Glad they are working well for you. Usability like that for such a price puts optical slaves to shame.

I'd like to mention that there are now (at least) three solid "middle ground" triggers out there between the Cactus and the PWs.

The Alien Bee Cybersync system has near universal reports of 100% reliability, and have a build quality second only to the PWs.
The Radio Popper JRx system is not quite as well made as the ABCs, but can offer @ camera control of strobe intensity. (remote manual control, not TTL). (These are what I use and I find them dreamy.)
The aforementioned Yongnuo RF-602's have mild reports of problems (less than the Cactus v4s) but (as mentioned) offer remote control of the shutter as well as the strobe.

The ABCs and RPs go for ~$70 a unit and the Yongnuo's for about half that.

EDIT: OH - and the Cybersyncs also work in relay mode just like the PWs. Not a bad deal - 1/2 the price and all you really give up is having the "industry standard". Not a big deal, in my book, once you're outside an academic setting.

Sheesh... what a month its been. At long last, I've finally gotten some time with the Cactus Triggers. I don't know what else to say other than "They Work!".

At first I was having some trouble with mis-fires and then I realized that it was because my flashes had gone to sleep. A half tap of the shutter button will wake your flashes in ttl, not so on manual flash, so you'll want to run down that setting in your flashes settings bank if you need them to fire even when you haven't shot recently.

That said, these little guys worked flawlessly around the house. Not counting the wake up frames, they fired 100% of the time (out of about 40).

To be sure, this is a no-frills remote. No TTL, no setting the output from your camera. These are flash triggers and flash triggers only. You'll have to shoot in straight manual (which isn't as daunting as it seems like it would be).

My only real concern about these is the build quality. They feel pretty cheap (because they are). I wouldn't expect them to survive a fall with a light attached. But for $20, a piece, you can always keep a few extra on hand if you need to.

I'd also prefer that they run on AA batteries like the rest of my gear instead of AAA batteries. This probably won't be a big deal. I can find some room in my bag for a couple of AAA's.

If you are looking for a pro level trigger, bite the bullet and pick up some pocket wizards. If, on the other hand, you are like me and just want to experiment for an off camera flash solution for your D40, you can't go wrong with these. I got a 100% fire rate on three different flashes from just about anywhere in my house. They are easy to use and do exactly what they say they will. For $20, how could you possibly go wrong?

My triggers finally arrived from Hong Kong yesterday. Low and behold, the boxes are in fact glossy. I'll put something up tomorrow along with some first impressions (assuming my girlfriend doesn't run off with all the flashes tomorrow... something about a paid shoot).

This is lower end equipment, so I'm not expecting the boxes to be near as glossy as last time. I have to be comfortable when I make my art.

Don't forget the unboxing photos...without any reflected self nudity this time :^)

So I pulled the trigger on the Cactus triggers... so to speak.

I'll let you guys know how it turns out. They are shipping from overseas so it will be a few days.

I know Willis but right now there should not be a problem with the frequencies that PW is using in Europe and Nrth America.

Pete

Thanks for the tip Pete, I'll check it out. I guess the downside of having in-camera radio triggering is that you have to get clearance with the various regulatory bodies, which means different models for different countries. And a 1 month delay while you wait for approval.

One more thing I think the YONGNUO RF-602 remote is properly the best of the lower priced remotes and they can also trigger your camera. I was going to get this kind of remote again I would get a set of these

Next year in BMX I like to take a picture on a cloudy day under expose the picture and then overexpose the flash, 250/sec does not 100% freeze the image, but I might need 2 flashes, so 3 PW's Man would it be great to have wireless build in to future Bodies and flashes

Pete

I'm with you 100% BMX. Supposedly the V4's will sync up to 1/500th, but they won't do FP or anything like that. I just want something to fill in for those times when CLS isn't working for me.

I have the V2 and they work, but the V4 have a better flash mount. But my next one will be PW the one that can sync my with my flash for highspeed remote flash exposure. But $200 plus per unit does hurt

Pete

Anybody had a chance to use these. I'd like to get into the radio trigger game, but I'm not quite ready to make a Pocketwizzard sized investment. A full system of these guys would cost me $80 for my three strobe set-up. Which is pretty manageable.