Radio Popper At It Again

Posted by Zeke Kamm on 12/02/08 • Categorized as The Latest - One Comment - Add Yours Below

Well, well, well. If the folks over at Radio Popper haven’t been busy little boys. According to the RP Blog they’ve got a secret to tell and they’re telling all on Dec. 12th. You can read the post, but if you just want the gist…

No more P8. The P8 was going to be the souped up multi-channel version of the P1 that I mentioned in my Radiopopper Review. The new version, they say, is going to blow it away, able to integrate your studio strobes and non ETTL flashes for use in the same shot.

Price: The P8 replacement will likely be more than the P1. Actual amount revealed on the 12th. The JR replacement will be, “one of the least expensive options currently on the market.”
Availability: they’ll have a huge batch ready by December 17th, but probably won’t ship until January thanks to FCC.

No more JR. Some folks are all in a huff about this. They had their hopes set on a $25 reliable trigger. Well, they’ve got a way improved replacement for the JR. I hope and expect that it can be triggered by the P8 replacement in order to mix the studio strobes with the ETTL flashes. They pretty much say so in their post.

Price: The JR replacement will be, “one of the least expensive options currently on the market.”
Availability: They’re hoping to ship it by the end of February.

Improvements:

Simple, no tool req. battery door!!!!!!!!!! Hooray!!!!
No more fiber optic to tape on your strobe because they are now small enough to put right over the sensor on your flash. Nice!
Longer range. Seriously? Wow. They’re already long range.
Software upgrades will be available to unlock more advanced features as required by the individual photographer. Hmm? What’s that mean exactly?
Magic sauce. Okay, they don’t mention it by name, but I can tell it’s got some in there.

The RP guys (I keep calling them guys, they probably have some gals there, too) made a promise when they first started selling the P1′s they said we could trade them in for a full purchase price credit towards the P8′s when they came out. Guess what? The offer still stands. Nice! UPDATE: Mr. Popper himself saw this post and sent me an email to clarify – people who purchased the P1 after Oct. 12 ’08 will get a full purchase price trade up credit. Early adopters like myself will not get a full credit. They will, however get a “substantial credit, but it won’t be 100%”. Now, don’t get your panties in a twist, kids. What they’re bringing out is not just an 8 channel version of the P1 and for them to give any credit on an upgrade I consider to be good business, sure, but also more than plenty of other companies might do. How much is substantial? We’ll see. Based on past experience with them something tells me it’ll be nice.

I’ve been very happy with my P1′s, but will upgrade just to get the no tool battery door. All the other improvements are just a bonus Seriously, though, I can’t wait to see what is waiting for us on December 12th.