In this age everything is wireless and portable strobes are all the rage. There's a good reason for this: cords are cumbersome and before the current generation of battery powered monoblocs and pack-and-head systems you had to resort to extension cords or carrying around a separate, sometimes very heavy battery pack to use studio strobes on location. Today we have some really cool options like Profoto's B1 monobloc and B2 pack-and-head system and Phottix's slightly more affordable rendition, the Indra 500. All of these will still set you back at least $1000 dollars however, and that's not exactly affordable to every budding strobist out there.

Enter Adorama's recent offering - the Xplor 600. Here we have some high-end features in a more economical package. It has a self-contained removable battery, TTL, and high speed sync and comes in four flavors: TTL for Canon, Nikon and Sony (currently priced at $749 bundled with a wireless remote) as well as a manual version ($549 with remote.)

All four have a built-in receiver that works with the Flashpoint R2 remote. As a bonus, the remote will also fire anything else in the Flashpoint TTL enabled family, including speedlights.

The Xplor 600 has a Bowens S-type mount, which makes it compatible with the most widely used mount for modifiers. This further adds to the value for photographers who don't have an arm and a leg to spend on lighting equipment because many of the inexpensive modifiers you can find come in an S mount.

Another interesting feature of the Xplor 600 is the add-on extension head you can purchase, which comes in 600 and 1200 watt second versions. It basically transforms the Xplor 600 from monobloc to pack-and-head so you can easily put it on a boom stand or have an assistant hold it on a boom pole. These are also quite affordable. The 600 watt second version sells for just $79.

It's worth noting that the Flashpoint Xplor 600 is the same unit as two differently branded strobes, the Godox AD600 and the Cheetah Stand CL-600X. The pricing is similar, so depending on your region one of these options may work better for you. The Godox version is also available with the Godox mount.

All in all, this is my favorite alternative to Profoto OCF lights I've found. The Profoto's still recycle a bit faster, but for the price this is a great option.

You can check out the full spec sheet here.

Adorama Flashpoint Xplor 600