Patience Pays Off

Two weeks ago, I received a Yongnuo YN-460II speedlite in the mail from Cowboy Studio with a broken diffuser. For those of you who don't know about Yongnuo, it's a Chinese third-party brand of camera accessories (primarily flash-related) that's known for both their inexpensiveness and reliability -- two things you usually have to pick only one of when it comes to Chinese knock-offs.

I also received CB's trigger/receiver set.

The YN-460 is a popular model because it's under $50 and is perfect for manual strobing. It's easy to use, fully articulated (-10 to 90 degree tilt and ~270 degree swivel), and usually works quite well in terms of power. It also comes with a handy pull-out bounce card and diffuser.

Of course, the diffuser is thin and made of some shoddy plastic. When I received mine, the hinge broke, and the spring that keeps it pushed against the housing was sticking out. This isn't a big deal, since I don't plan on using the diffuser so much, but 1) it would be difficult to use the bounce card since they both come out at the same time and 2) I was unable to reinsert the diffuser into its stored position because of the spring.

Broken, like my heart.

What's even more discouraging is that the transmitter from the trigger set was completely broken. The single screw that held it together was almost completely out, and the chip inside was scratched. I'm not sure how this can even happen, but it sure pissed me off.

I ended up complaining and requested a partial refund so I could keep the original and buy another one down the line, but the partial was far too little... so I sent it back and got a replacement. CB was very professional and friendly regarding the whole ordeal, while I was clearly frustrated. They even sent me another trigget set for free and let me keep the original!

Anyway, today I got a pleasant surprise in the mail.

And TWINS!

It seems as though CB had sent me another YN-460II. I'm not sure if this was a repair or a completely new model, but it seems brand new! It works just as well as the other flash, sans the slightly louder bulb, but I can't really complain as it seems as though they sent it to me simply out of kindness.

I really have to say, Cowboy Studio made a mess of a situation into something really cool (for lack of a better word). I wouldn't recommend third party products to people with lots of money, but if you really need to buy some cheap flash gear, Cowboy Studio seems like the way to go in terms of service. Don't let your dead Yongnuo stay dead just because it's cheap!

And they work!