Godox Witstro AD200 Review – Ultimate Versatile Flash!

 

 

 

 

 

WHAT’S INSIDE?

It is actually quite delightful to unbox the gadget. Because inside the box, is another box. Yep, the Godox comes with a carrying/storage case. Some of you folks who have not heard of Godox might think of this as some sort of a “cheap China knockoff”… But no, Godox has come a long way from that, and they really produce some good affordable equipment. Anyway, you will find the following in the box:

• Instruction manual and warranty card.
• Carrying case. Not waterproof, although it seems pretty sturdy.
• The flash unit.
• Flash head.
• Bulb head and bulb.
• Charger and plug.
• Battery.
• Lightstand adapter. I suppose they gave this for a good reason, will get into that at the end of this review.

It did not come with a wireless trigger, obviously. You will have to get an additional Godox X1 wireless trigger to pair up with the AD200 (all the links are above in the overview section).

 

 

 

THE FLASH UNIT

The flash itself has a changeable head, but otherwise, the design is pretty much “one solid block”. Nothing much at the top and bottom, only a standard 1/4 inch screw hole for mounting at the bottom.

On one side are the release catches for the battery (yes, we can buy spare batteries) and head, plus standard 3.5mm sync cable port should you decide to use wireless triggers from other brands. The other side holds the on/off switch and an additional 1/4 inch screw hole – So you can mount the AD200 either “portrait or landscape”.

Some of you guys may have noticed an additional “wireless” port beside the 3.5mm… Which is something that has baffled me. It is a standard USB port and seems to take a Godox XTR-16 wireless receiver… but the AD200 already has built-in wireless? Not sure about the purpose of this “wireless port”, maybe someone can shed some light on the mystery here.

The back of the unit is where all the action goes – the control panel. Pretty simple design, and it only took me 5 minutes to figure out.

 

BUILD QUALITY

Solid. Just a block of solid hard plastic, but it is not indestructible. A friend of mine had his AD200 mounted on a light stand and toppled with a gust of wind… The control panel at the rear cracked, and replacing it is not cheap.

 

 

BATTERY

For the technical guys, the AD200 uses a 14.4V, 2900mAh Lithium-Ion battery.

 

THE FLASH/BULB HEAD

I guess that we do not need further introduction, this gadget is capable of “switching heads”. The flash head itself is rated at a guide number of 52m at ISO100, and that is already one powerful flash. Switching to the bulb head will give you GN60, which is capable of throwing out enough power to fill the darker parts back even under daylight.

For you guys who have the AD360 and wondering if the bulbs are the same – No, the AD200 uses a smaller bulb. However, as the mounting design is the same, you can use all the accessories for the AD360 on the AD200.

Also for those who are wondering, yes, the AD200 has the modeling light mode which is sorely missing on the AD360. Either way, there is also a third-party LED head available for the AD200 if you decide to use it as a continuous light.

 

THE ACCESSORIES

This is what I love about the Godox, a ton of available accessories and you can even use AD360 accessories on it. While they do not come bundled with the “basic package”, you can get them pretty cheaply on eBay.

• Mini beauty dish
• Diffuser dome
• Honeycomb
• Snoot
• Color gels
• Barn doors
• … and a lot more

 

 

TWO HEADS ARE BETTER THAN ONE

As an honorable mention – Is one flash not dishing out enough power? Then combine two of them together. Godox sure comes up with some fascinating ideas, and with the AD-B2, you can use two AD200 like one powerful monobloc studio flash… But that will mean having to buy two AD200 units to make this work.

Note: The AD-B2 is also known as the eVOLV Twin Head Bracket in some countries.

 

 

THE CONTROLS

This is probably the “hardest” part. It does take a while to learn how to set the groups, power, TTL, HSS, and stuff. Not so bad though, considering it can be learned with watching just a YouTube video or two.

 

BATTERY LIFE

With the flash head, the AD200 seems to last forever. Even on the bulb, it took a full 3 hours shoot without any issues. I don’t see a need to buy extra batteries (unless you do full 1:1 blasts for some reason), but they are readily available.

 

 

WIRELESS RANGE

Well, the furthest I went was pranking a friend, firing the flash with the wireless trigger over an entire studio room. That is about the distance of a 105mm lens to take a usable shot.

 

SHOOT EXPERIENCE

Setting up the AD200 has always been a breeze. Since it is a “single-block”, just mount onto a light stand, put the softbox on, switch on, and connect. The rest can be controlled wirelessly from the trigger. As for the performance itself:

• The flash head just works like… a normal flash. Except without a hot-shoe, this is a “strictly off-camera” flash.
• The bulb is strong enough to be used for outdoor shoots, just don’t expect it to beat a full midday sun. Don’t think of using it bare without a softbox either, it’s way too harsh.
• LED head is kind of meh. Stick with a legit LED panel or video light.

There really isn’t too much to pick about the AD200, the only small complaint is a rather slow recycle time. That’s all.

 

 

THE SPECS & CONTENDERS

For you guys who are looking at alternatives for the AD200, I can only think of the AD360 (read my review here) – the bigger brother of AD200. While FlashQ has the Q20 (read my review here), a kind of similar system, but that is hardly a contender because of its lack of power. Thus, I will only do a side-by-side comparison of the AD360 here.

	AD360	AD200
Guide Number (at ISO 100)	80	52 (Flash) / 60 (Blub)
Battery Life	450 full-power flashes	500 full-power flashes
Recycle Time	0.05 to 4.5 secs	0.01 to 30 secs
Color Temperature	5600 +- 200 Kelvin	5600 +- 200 Kelvin
Weight	780g	560g
Size	220*95*75 mm	168*75*50 mm

 

AD200PRO?

Edit: There has been a new version, called the AD200 Pro. From what I gathered from the Internet, this is just a “small updated” version. Upgraded rear panel, flash holder, more accessories, a couple of small redesigns, etc… But otherwise, the technical specs are pretty much still the same. Not a worthy upgrade if you already own an AD200.

 

THE GOOD

• Lightweight and portable.
• Very versatile lighting unit.
• Affordable strobe alternative.
• Tons of accessories available.
• Good battery life.
• High-speed sync, TTL, and integrated wireless!

 

THE BAD

• Not as powerful as a good studio monoblock strobe.
• Slow recycle time.
• Not quite a bad thing, but missing the hot shoe as a portable lightweight flash.
• It can only be used off-camera.