Godox AD200 Pro ii: An unnecessary upgrade?
Maybe it's a bad case of Gear Acquisition Syndrome: buying a newer version of something of what you already own might not be the most logical choice in most situations specially if you're tight on cash. So how does Godox convince you to get this newer version of their popular speedlight instead?
It's important to set the narrative by saying that I already own an old pair of Godox AD200 Pros. If you're planning to buy a new AD200, any of the versions are good and will perform very similarly. Their main difference are the creature comforts each iteration introduces.
Improvements
Things that the old version had, but are now better
Major improvements
One of the things that convinced me to purchase this is the addition of "1/512" flash duration (over the previous 1/256 for the AD200 Pro, and 1/128 for the AD200). If you have ever had a photoshoot where you need to mix continuous light and flash, it is often challenging as flash has a tendency to overpower continuous lights (and with a 200 watt flash, it's not hard to do that). It is also very useful in tight spaces where you need to control light spill. Though any ego-fueled photographer will say it's just "skill-issue" and can be mitigated by other means: it's a very welcome addition that will come in handy in several situations.
Another thing they improved on is the prop light: It's finally not useless! Granted it's a 6 watt 12-LED array of lights, the beam is quite concentrated so much so that it looks a lot brighter than it seems. I bet it can be used as a main light on certain clutch situations. And to add in another win, you can now adjust the temperature from 2600 to 6000 kelvin and you can adjust the brightness from 10% to 100%.
Minor Improvements
The charger is now a lot smaller and is now Type C. The old charger was huge so this is a welcome change.
You can now connect a power pack to run the flash longer. I honestly have never had a photoshoot that drained an AD200's battery yet.
For the unexpected improvement that I surprisingly liked: the new menu is so much more easier to navigate now. It's a color screen with a modern menu. The menu on the older models are a nightmare to navigate through with settings represented as codes (resembling the Godox X1T trigger menu system). It's borderline maddening if you're not used to messing around with your flash's settings.
Improvements that are not that much an improvement
There's no on/off switch anymore. I don't really mind it but I see some photographers are seething with rage with this change. For context, you have to hold the test button and rotate the dial a few times to turn it on, then hold the test button to turn it off. I can see the reasoning behind the removal of the switch as it's very easily bumped or on off when in moving the flash to your bag.
Improvements that are niche you might not notice
Temperature (the color) is more stable.
The spread for the fresnel head is also improved slightly.
The screen's glass now too.
New Stuff
The best new thing they introduced
Some photographers will say that this feature is entirely useless, but I absolutely love it.
It's the group indicator light.
If you are a photographer that loves complicated lighting and you have a lot of flashes, I'd say this is a godsend. Other photographers will scoff at the idea that you can't keep track of your flash groupings (or alternatively, you can test fire each group one by one in your trigger). Again, there are infinite ways of dealing with this, but this is an elegant solution which I wholeheartedly welcome.
It also doubles as the light to indicate if the flash is ready to fire again.
Other new stuff:
The flash now has 16 groups you can choose from. Overkill, but I do love these pretty colors.
The flash also has a one-tap sync feature starting with the Godox X3 Trigger, where you just select the "wireless sync" button and the flash and trigger automatically sets the channel and ID for the flash. Might save you a few seconds for each flash you need to sync, but that's another hassle thing eliminated.
Why I bought it
The number one reason why I bought this is because I needed another flash that is very versatile. (Big nudge for me was that it was on sale). There was also not much difference in price with the older AD200 Pro anyways. I also considered other units:
- Godox AD200 Pro - primary choice, just a PHP 500 difference.
- Godox AD100 Pro - cost-to-performance is not as good as AD200. You do get a more portable and lighter flash
- Godox V1 - cost-to-performance is not as good. You can mount this on top of your camera, and that is an entirely different application of flash compared to what I usually do.
- Godox TT600 - cheapest, cost-to-performance is really good. AA batteries are a pain to deal with though.
At the end of the day for my use-case, I bought this flash because it provides convenience. Any of the AD200s will perform the flash part very similarly, but conveniences make the experience of using flashes a lot more streamlined and simple. It will save a few seconds for every shoot you have, but a whole lot less mental things to think of.
I recommend the AD200 Pro ii if you're in the market for a good all-rounder flash unit, but if you are not able to afford it, any of the cheaper alternatives will do just fine. Not everyone needs 200 watts of portable flash power, and certainly you can get by without having one.
Final thoughts and is it worth upgrading over the older AD200 Pro?
I overall liked this third iteration of the AD200. Although it's an incremental upgrade, the quality of life improvements are certainly a nice touch. I could sell my old AD200 Pros for this one, but I probably won't be in a hurry to sell them anytime soon. I understand in other countries the prices between the versions are a lot more spaced out so that should factor in your decision if it's really worth buying the new one.
I recommend the new AD200 Pro ii if:
- if you have multiple AD200s
- if you have the new Godox X3 Trigger
- if you want to pay a bit more for a bit of convenience
I recommend watching this in-depth video if you want to learn more: