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color temp. is going to be far more consistant especially over time with the Profoto that is one of their biggest selling points but for Micro I don't know if it really matters for the end user. Less color correction in post with the Profoto when mixing with daylight than some of the other cheaper brands.. Accessories and durability are another reason. You can't make a comparison to their durability and longevity, it's like the difference of closing the door on a VW as apposed to the door of a high end Mercedes. You get what you pay for. Get the 7b 1200 watt second Profoto if you are planning on staying in photography for sometime. It will be the last pack you'll have to by. 2 sec. recycle time is a big pain as well. Tough to capture that expression when you are waiting for your lights to recycle if you are shooting people.

Agree.  Alien Bees/White Lightning are considered to be prosumer lighting.  If you want true professional lighting, go with Profoto.  It's the brand Annie Liebowitz and other top photographers use.


Right, Annie Liebowitz also uses Hasselblad, Mamiya and Nikon.
I guess that means Canons are prosumer.

Oh, and there is this one kinda-sorta professional photographer named Dave Hill (maybe you have head of him) that
is known to use Paul C Buff strobes right along side his Profoto ring flash.

The White Lightning strobe is cleary visible in this video:
http://www.davehillphoto.com/behind_the_scenes/atreyu.mov
http://www.davehillphoto.com/

Check these out first:
http://www.robgalbraith.com/bins/content_page.asp?cid=7-9991-10061

I'm having this problem with my AB800 right now. But I'd say it's about 20% of my shots it's not firing which is starting to get annoying.

Maybe I got a lemon but I don't have that loving feeling about ABs that most other people do. The power cord connector doesn't stay secured in the back. The power switch sometimes doesn't work.  And compared to some other lights I looked at they seem kinda homemade. But everybody raves about them so I figured I'd try them.

I contacted support to see what they have to say and am awaiting a response.

I'm also checking into the Genesis strobes that Calumet carries. http://www.calumetphoto.com/item/CF0514/

The power thing is kind of deceptive with ABs. They're rated with effective power and true power. Looking at true power at AB800 is 320 w/s and the Calumet 400 is 400 w/s so technically the Calumet is more powerful. In actual light output I'm not sure how this works. The Genesis strobes I saw in the store are pretty nice and well built. On the downside the speedring for the softbox is way more than the AB.