{"id":5589,"date":"2015-07-14T16:26:17","date_gmt":"2015-07-14T04:26:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.kentyuphotography.com\/blog\/?p=5589"},"modified":"2015-07-24T09:43:11","modified_gmt":"2015-07-23T21:43:11","slug":"godox-v860-review-is-it-better-than-nikon-and-canons-flashes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.kentyuphotography.com\/blog\/godox-v860-review-is-it-better-than-nikon-and-canons-flashes\/","title":{"rendered":"Godox V860 Review – Is it better than Nikon and Canon’s Flashes"},"content":{"rendered":"

Lithium battery flashes are making their way to the market and could change how Nikon and Canon build their flashes. Ever since Godox (also branded as Neewer or Cheetah) introduced its first lithium battery flash Godox V850<\/a> back in 2013, users have been praising about them. Godox\u2019s second version of\u00a0 this lithium battery flash Godox V860<\/a> has added support for e-TTL\/i-TTL, HSS capability up to 1\/8000s and full TTL control. The flash has been out for a while but it has been hit by quality issues with the battery. Now that the problem has been resolved, I have picked one up to give it a go. The Godox V860 is selling at about 1\/3 of the price of Nikon and Canon\u2019s flagship speedlights.<\/p>\n

You can order your Godox\/Neewer\/Cheetah V860 here [<\/strong>Canon<\/strong><\/a>|<\/strong>Nikon<\/strong><\/a>]<\/strong><\/p>\n

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No more AA\u2019s<\/strong><\/p>\n

The lithium battery is rated at 11.1V 2000 mAh which is equivalent to about 12 AA batteries.It is capable of delivering 650 full power pops with a recycle time of 1.5s. If you are firing\u00a0 with 1\/2 power or 1\/4 power, you can expect over thousands of pops. For weddings or events, all you need is a couple of spare lithium batteries and that\u2019s it. No more AA batteries.<\/p>\n

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Build Quality<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Godox V860 is about the same size as the Nikon SB-910<\/a> and Canon 600EX<\/a>. Its build quality is surprisingly very good, it feels solid. All the buttons, LCDs, dials and foot locks are well made, it is not going to fall apart by itself. However the Nikon\/Canon speedlights are still better constructed, the dial and buttons feel better on the Nikon\u2019s. If I rate Nikon\/Canon\u2019s craftsmanship a 10\/10, the Godox v860 gets a 8\/10.<\/p>\n

Power<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Godox V860 is rated at GN58 about the same as the Nikon SB-910 and Canon 600EX. I took some readings using a Sekonic light meter and found the Godox is slightly more powerful at full power. The Sekonic\u00a0 light meter read f\/29 at 1m away from the SB-910 and f\/32 at 1m away from the Godox.<\/p>\n

Battery Life<\/strong><\/p>\n

I have yet to fully drain the Godox V860, but it is rated for 650 full power flashes. Compare to the Nikon SB-910, I can get about 230-250 full pops. It is crazy to see 12 AA batteries replace by 1 lithium battery. The Godox battery charger can also be charged via a car charger, how convenient is that.<\/p>\n

Recycling Time<\/strong><\/p>\n

One of the advantages with lithium batteries is their ability to reduce recycle time. The Godox V860 recycle time was tested to be 1.79s (average) at full power. The Nikon SB-910 recyle time was tested to be 2.57s which is 43% slower. The problem with AA batteries is that the recycle time gets longer as the battery starts to drain. Lithium batteries can maintain a more consistent recycle time even when the battery level is low. After an hour of use, the recycle time of the SB-910 has dropped to 3.5s while the V860 maintained at 1.8s (94% faster).<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n
<\/td>\n#1<\/td>\n#2<\/td>\n#3<\/td>\nAverage<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Godox V860<\/td>\n1.78s<\/td>\n1.76s<\/td>\n1.83s<\/td>\n1.79s<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Nikon SB-910<\/td>\n2.51s<\/td>\n2.58s<\/td>\n2.61s<\/td>\n2.57s<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

Handling and Operation<\/strong><\/p>\n

My first impression to he Godox V860 is that it is a simple flash with TTL capability whereas the Nikon SB-910 is a much more sophisticated flash. The Godox V860 comes with a foot stand and a carry pouch, it doesn\u2019t come with a diffuser and colour gels. There are also less functionalities with the Godox V860; there are no illumination patters to choose from. The zoom range is only from 24-105mm compares to 17-200mm from SB-910. The buttons are also not backlit, so it is still using the technology from a SB-800. The LCD on the Godox is smaller and has a lower resolution. The interface is simple, there is no distance scale, no thermal protection indicator (but there is a battery level indicator), the menu system is almost non existence. It\u2019s function menu is named, fn00, fn01, fn02, etc, so you can\u2019t really tell what the functions are until you check the manual.<\/p>\n

There are some physical differences between the Godox V860 and Nikon SB-910 apart from the size and appearance:<\/p>\n