RadioPopper releases details on RadioPopper X system
Ok, I’m drooling. The new radiopoppers look simply incredible, and I’m really looking forward to upgrading my old P1′s already. Four new units were announced today, along with a nice promo video that does a great job summing everything up as well. The new units are the PX Transmitter/Receiver pair that replaces the P1′s – and the new JrX Transmitter/Receiver pair for use with manual/monolight/studio strobes. While the JrX’s look damn interesting to me for studio work, what i’m really itching to get my sweaty hands on are the new PX units to use with my 580EXII’s . The biggest improvements that I’m looking forward to with the new models are:
- No more fiber optic tube! – now you can just stick the units right onto the front of the speedlites. No more velcro or gaffers tape (for the tube, at least!) Awesome! This means faster, easier setup and transport, which is *always* nice.
- No more exposed carbon resistor! – call me crazy, but the exposed resistor on the transmitter unit always tweaked me out. I know it was soldered on well, but I was still always mindful of it, just in case – I really didn’t want to bang in on something or break it off somehow. The new units look to have the whole shebang enclosed, which again makes carrying them in my bag just a little easier on my nerves.
- No more unscrewing the case to change batteries – the PX’s now have actual battery doors. +100 points. Interesting to note: the new PX’s take two AAA’s – this can only be good for both range and longevity.
- Longer range – the new units are now using pulsed radio transmissions to blastwave the signal to your strobes up to 1500 feet away. Not that I’ve used mine at anything close to that distance, but I’m sure this can only lead to increased firing reliability just about anywhere.
- Battery life indicator – not knowing how much juice I had left in mine meant constantly unscrewing the cases and replacing all the batteries in every unit before a shoot, since you never really knew how much power you had left. Knowing that you’re running low (or fully charged) will save me both time, worry and money on AA’s.
There are however the three gigantic, hairy, closet-monster questions remaining. No information has been released so far on:
- How much they’ll cost?
- How much will be alloted for trade-in/trade-ups?
- When will they be available to ship!
Stay tuned for details, according to the blog: "Once the traffic calms from today we’ll make a separate post…"
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UPDATE! Press release posted, containing all the juicy details:
http://radiopopper.com/docs/radiopopper_xsystem_pressrelease.pdf
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PX System Pricing: $249 PX Transmitter $249 PX Receiver JrX System Pricing: $99 JrX Transmitter + JrX Receiver Basic Kit $129 JrX Transmitter + JrX Receiver Studio Kit $69 JrX Transmitter Individual $59 JrX Receiver Basic Individual $89 JrX Receiver Studio Individual $50 Aftermarket Software Upgrade (Basic -> Studio) P1 System Trade-Up: Any owner of a P1 Transmitter or P1 Receiver will be offered a credit of $125 for each P1 unit traded. This credit may be applied toward the purchase of a PX Transmitter or a PX Receiver. This offer will expire on March 1, 2009. Any customer who purchased a P1 Transmitter or P1 Receiver between October 12, 2008 and March 1, 2009 will be offered a credit of $180 minus any discounts, for each P1 unit traded. This credit may be applied toward the purchase of a PX Transmitter or a PX Receiever. Quantity of P1 unit trade up credits issued cannot exceed quantity of PX units purchased. Release Dates: PX Transmitter and Receiver units will be available for purchase in North America the third week of January, 2009. JrX Transmitter and Receiver units will be available the last week of February 2009. We expect to have a limited number of units available for purchase and take home at PPA Imaging USA 2009, here in Phoenix January 11-13. Visit us at booth 540. The whole team will be there. We’d be honored to meet you. We’ll have demo units to play with. We expect availability of all units to Europe and Australia within eight weeks following the North American ship dates.
Joel 
