I've seen that the prices for Smith Victor gear are generally lower than other light manufacturers. Are these decent lights? I saw the Q60 600 Watt open faced light with lamp and barn doors for than $100. That's a lot of wattage, some degree of controllability, and a nice price. Anyone love these, hate these, feel any way about them? My girlfriend just bought an omni light. With stand, barn doors, and bulb, it came out to almost $300. What's the difference between that and the light I mentioned above? Anything to do with softening or diffusing can be done with bouncing or tough spun, no?

Josh,
Do a Search. We had a lengthy thread dealing with low-budget lighting here very recently. All of your questions are answered there.

You get what you pay for. If you are buying a $100 light, you are getting $100 worth of craftsmanship and reliability.
I have a couple SV lights sitting in a case gathering dust, acting as a stand for a stack of VCRs.

That's a good use for the SV kit; wish I had thought of it before I gave mine away.

<<<-- Originally posted by Bill Pryor : That's a good use for the SV kit; wish I had thought of it before I gave mine away. -->>>

You better believe it! They raise the VCRs to juuuust the right hight that I don't have to bend over all the way to put tapes in them! Really saves a lot of strain on the back. :)

I shouldn't knock them though. Dollar for dollar, they do offer alot of bang for the small buck, for people just getting into video.