Godox Ving V850 System Review

Physical Description: Triggers

The trigger set is sold with the transmitter and one receiver. Extra receivers can be purchased separately in some stores and on eBay, for about $20.

The receiver is a simple affair. It is a well-made piece of plastic about the size of your typical DSLR remote. It has two controls. First, the wheel lets you decide on the group, and is labeled from 0 to 9 and from A to F. The wheel clicks nicely and settings should not change by accident.

The second control sets the channel. There are four dip switches, meaning that 16 channels are available. Every transmitter and receiver must use the same channel. A small red LED blinks when a command is received from the transmitter.

The receiver requires no battery, drawing power from the flash itself.

The transmitter takes a leaf from the Pocketwizard book regarding design. It is intended to be used upright, allowing you to easily see your settings when mounted on a camera. It has a metal foot and the same locking ring as the flash. The power button is located on the left side, within easy reach. The back of the transmitter holds the battery compartment. The transmitter uses two AA batteries. Godox provides no estimation of battery life, but my tests confirm that Eneloops are still going strong after a few thousand adjustments and flash bursts.

The antenna is flexible, which I feel is a good thing as it makes the transmitter less fragile.

The front of the unit features all the controls. The LCD display, which lights up a soft blue-green when a button is pressed, shows the power level of the current group, the beep and focus lamp status, and blinks an antenna symbol when transmitting settings. The SET button is used to transmit settings when changes have been made with a flash turned off, otherwise changes are transmitted automatically. The BUZZ button turns on the beep and the LAMP button does the same for the spotbeam. Plus and Minus change the power levels. While it is not possible to turn off a group with one press of a button, going from 1/1 to OFF takes a few seconds at most. The TEST button acts as expected.

The dip switches must mirror those on the receivers for information to be transmitted. The group selector is the only aspect of the transmitter which I would like to see improved. While it does its job well and is easy to rotate, clicks are not as clear and well-defined as with the receiver. It is not actually bad, but the difference with the receiver (or the buttons on the flash itself) is obvious. I feel that it might improve with use but it is hard to tell. On the other hand, the click positions are accurately placed in line with the labeled group names.

Verdict

The trigger system is well made, simple to use and reliable. One could wish for more features but the triggers cover all the bases.