Hello,
I bought a fresh one last week. As I received it with some deep scratches on display, I ordered a second one while returning the first one. But I had the two during a whole morning just to compare power, etc.
I know that there are a lot of reviews here and there, but these are my impressions as a pentax user, strobist lover manual-mode-only-man, and occasional paid photographer (religious ceremonies mainly). I'm not an english native speaker, so sorry for that.
I just make some quick tests so maybe my findings are not 100% accurate.
My AD200 is going to replace one of my 'old' lights, that light is really a set with three flashes + flash triple bracket + normal bracket + remote control + 12 batteries: slow to set up, not remote power control, heavy...
I can't believe that now I have only one light, more powerfull, that I can control remotely, setup near-instantly and is so compact. My first idea was to buy another AD360 to get the max power for my money, but I'm happy with my AD200.
Size & compactness:
This thing is really compact, just a bit bigger that a simple strobe, doesn't weight a lot and doesn't take space on your bag. Compared to my AD360, I have battery, tube and bulb on one compact package. With my AD360 I need to take extra care for the battey, and need an extra piece to hang the battery on the light stand. Now you just get everything with one hand, attach the thing to your flash bracket... done & ready.
Power and 'power-for-the-money':
My AD200 is more powerful than three standard strobes. I made a quick comparison with my AD360 + 28mm reflector vs AD200 fresnel vs AD200 bulb + 28mm reflector. I had two AD200 to compare. Well, I found a variation in power of about 1/3 stops between different heads, so I kept the more powerful heads. Using the most powerfull ones, my AD200 is 2/3 less powerfull than my AD360 (mkI), which I thing is impressive. The less powerful heads were 1 stop less powerful.
About the price/power relationship, I think with the AD360 you get more power for the money, but also a less compact package, so you have to think carefully what is more important.
Remote control and triggering:
The AD200 can be controlled with the old FT-16 (that I have). You just need to put the same FT-16r receiver that uses the AD360MkI on the USB port and disable the wireless mode. Also you have a 3.5mm socket if you want to use another trigger. I used a RF605N to fire the AD200 without issues. So, if you have the old FT-16 and some other Godox ligths, you don't need to change your triggering system.
HSS:
I don't have the cactus v6ii but I can fire the AD200 using HSS & hyper/power-sync.
The AD200 can be set to HSS on manual mode. Once you put the AD200 on HSS, you can control the power remotely with your FT-16, from 1/128 to 1/1.
To fire the AD200 I put the FT-16 or RF605N on top of my Cactus V6, and after capturing a PTTL HSS signal from one of my pentax flashes I can fire the AD200 starting from 1/128 (power) & 1/8000 (sec). I can use the FT-16 or RF605N to fire it. If you want 'hypersync', you can only use AD200 at 1/1 power, standard mode. Bellow that, you get banding.
Other:
You can put the AD200 on HSS mode manually, don't need a XT-32 or X1 trigger if you just need manual HSS. Really, you don't need any godox trigger to fire the AD200 on HSS mode.
When you switch off and on the AD200, you lost your last power setting (firmware bug?). Firing the flash doesn't recover the correct setting, but sending the 'buzz' or 'lamp' commands recover the lost setting. Of course if you change the power from your FT-16 also the new power is set.
If you put your AD200 on sleep mode and the AD200 goes to sleep, you can't wake it up with the FT-16, but you can do it with another trigger connected to the sync port. Of course touching any button on the unit wakes the thing up.
Sync port and USB port are too near, if you need to put your FT-16r and plug something on the 3.5mm port at the same time, it's a bit cumbersome.
When you fire the AD200, the 'click' sound is less noticeable than the AD360's, an advantage if you are working on sites like churches.
Accesories like the standard 28mm reflector or the AD-S6 fit better on the AD200, and also can be fastened better.
That's all. I send you some quick and dirty pics: first comparing my 'tri-flash device', AD360 and AD200. Notice the compactness of the AD200 (forget the brackets...). Second, just testing HSS at 1/8000, firing AD360 (HSS 1/8) & AD200 (HSS 1/128) using only one RF605N to fire both flashes.
Regards,
Javier.