Li-ION350II vs Li-ION580II vs GIO1

With the release of the new GIO1 Speedlite, there is now another competitor on the market. In this Blog, we compared all of the PiXAPRO Speedlites available, the Li-ION350II, Li-ION580II and GIO1, to better help you choose which is best suited for you.

Functions

These three different Speedlites do share quite a lot of the same functions. For instance, they all have the capability of operating High-Speed Sync all up to 1/8000^th second and the all are capable of using TTL (Through the Lens). These different functions can help to make your shoots easier and helps to offer different options for your shoot.

Guide Number

Each of these speedlites do have a very good Guide number, but they do differ. The Li-ION350II offers a Guide number of 32m, this is due to the design of the Speedlite being so compact, making it perfect to be used with Mirrorless Cameras. Next is the GIO1 Speedlite at 42m, which is due to how the new and improved flash tube focuses the light when being produced. Finally, the Li-ION580II offers a Guide Number of 60m, making it the most powerful across a longer distance.

Controlling the power being outputted from your lighting is very beneficially, as it allows you to adjust to better suit any particular shoot you find yourself on. The Li-ION350II and Li-ION580II share the same power range, 8-Stops (1/1 ~ 1/128) at 1/3 Stop Increments, which is still extremely useful when it comes to controlling your light. But the GIO1 does come out on top with this, as it offers a power range of 1/1 – 1/256 in 1/3 or 1/10 Stop Increments, offering you even more control of the power being produced from the Speedlite, as well as giving you more options for levels of light.

Power Supply

All three of the PiXAPRO Speedlites come with their own specifically designed batteries to help get the most out of these units and to help offer portability for location shoots, with the Li-ION580II having the most powerful battery at 11.1V compared to 7.2V batteries offered with the Li-ION350II and GIO1. The benefit to the lower powered batteries is that it can take less time to charge these, making it perfect if you are in a rush for your next shoot.  This addition battery power is reflected further in the number of Full-Powered flashes capable during a single charge. The Li-ION350II is capable of approximately 500 flashes and the GIO1 is capable of approximately 480. These differences are simply due to the fact that the GIO1 is more powerful than the Li-ION350II, as shown previously with the Guide Numbers. The added power of the Li-ION580II battery helps it to achieve up to 650 Full Powered Flashes, which is very useful if you find yourself on location for a long time.

Recycle Times

Having a quick and precise Recycle Time can better help capture action and movement shots, as the longer the Recycle Time, the longer it takes your camera to reset the Speedlite between each shot. Each of the PiXAPRO Speedlites do offer very quick and useful recycle times. The Li-ION350II has the longest Recycle Time of 1.7 seconds at Full Power, which is still very fast and a good quality, but the Li-ION580II and GIO1 both have a Recycle Time of <1.5 seconds at Full Power, therefore all three Speedlite would be suitable and a good choice when it comes to action and motion photography.

 Colour Temperature

Making sure that you are producing vibrant shots with accurate colour representation is important, as it helps to make your photography look professional and up to the highest standard, and this is where Colour Temperature becomes important. For all of our Speedlites (Li-ION350II, Li-ION580II and GIO1), each of these offer a Colour Temperature of 5600 ± 200K. So if you are trying to create a colourful and accurate representation during your shoot, any of the Speedlites would be a great addition to your lighting set-up.

Channels/Groups

If you wish to control multiple lights at the same time, these need to all be set into the same Channel. If this isn’t done properly, you are unable to trigger your lights at the same time. The option of multiple channels allows you choose which lights you wish to trigger at which time. The Li-ION350II allows you to choose from 3 different groups, but the Li-ION580II and GIO1 allows you to choose from 4 different groups, offering you more freedom.

To adjust the settings of your lights, these needs to then be placed in Groups. If you wish to set your lights to all have the same settings, you can do this by placing these in the same Group. If you wish to adjust different lights to have different settings, you would need to have each light in its own individual group. The ability to choose from different groups allows you the freedom to adjust the settings on a wider range of lights you may be using. The Li-ION350II and Li-ION580II are capable of being placed in 16 individual groups, whereas the GIO1 is capable of being placed in 32 individual groups.

Additional Features

As the GIO1 is the newest Speedlite out of the three available from PiXAPRO, it does have some additional features which help to make it different from the Li-ION Speedlites. The GIO1 has a Magnetic Modifier-Mount, making it compatible with attaching Round-Head modifiers and accessories, compared to the standard head from the Li-ION Speedlites.

The Li-ION Speedlites also come with a Rectangular Flash Head, which helps to offer a more direct and hard light onto the subject. The GIO1 comes with a Round Flash-Head, which helps to produce smoother and more gradated natural looking light fall-off. Below we have tested these lights to show the different light being produced from the Li-ION580II and GIO1, to better show the difference between these lights.

Conclusion

Having looked through the specifications and features from all three of the PiXAPRO Speedlites available, each of these have their own specific benefits to them. So, whilst each of these Speedlites do differ, any of the PiXAPRO Speedlites would be incredibly useful and powerful, and they all would be a great addition to your lighting set-up.