Flash: ProMaster 7500EDF question

[Frogroast]

I just got my hands on this flash and have a few questions from those experienced with this unit.

1) Has anyone had any issues with the hot shoe mounting with this or any other compatible PTTL flash? I purchased this flash late Friday afternoon and more than a few times during the evening test session and during my weekend gig I noticed the flash would not respond to the camera (zooming, flash fire, etc). At one point, the flash would respond on and off (I could hear the flash zoom kicking in), so the thought entered my head - data comm problem. So I grabbed onto the flash base and pushed on it. Sure enough, the hot shoe mount pins were slipping off, even when the thumb wheel was supposed to hold the flash securely in place.

I paid good money for this unit so I want to make sure - is this a design issue, defective mount, or user error? Do I need to spin that wheel down so tight it rips the skin off of my fingers?


2) Has anyone found a compatible battery pack add-on for this flash? This flash sucks down batteries faster than my two older manual flashes, however I did use the dual flash feature most of the night and loved it. Doing so I went through 5 sets of 2500mAh rechargeable batts in one evening. That wasn't the issue - I packed 8 sets to be safe. The problem was having to carry a batch of batteries with me as I ran around taking photos and having to change them in a mostly dark environment.