After months and months of waiting, the PocketWizard TT1 & TT5's for Canon flashes came out a month or two ago. Immediately it was discovered that PocketWizard's estimates of effective distance were illusory, based on really terrible testing protocols and were probably a bit purposely self-serving. A lot of their advertised features also didn't work. But, with plenty of smoke and mirrors they brushed aside all criticism and patted themselves on the back ... after all, it wasn't their fault, it was the Canon flashes radio frequency interference. They didn't seem to care that distances, rather than being 800' or even 300' feet were actually less than 50'.
But the distance problems, among others, just wouldn't go away. They had sold too many units to too many guys who know how to count and measure. So, to quell the distress they invented the AC7, a radio frequency baffle of sorts. Once it was in the product pipeline, they could just refer to it each time they were criticized, once again deflecting responsibility. The trouble is, after months and months and many promised dates, there are still no AC7s! They were supposed to be here in June, then July, then August, then September, but today they were slipped until October. Not credible.
And if you're a Nikon shooter, it's even worse. They've kept the Nikon guys on the hook for months and now it may be a year!
So, I'm very disgruntled with PocketWizard. I was one of the guys who believed their advertising and promises and bought quite a few hundred dollars worth of their new line: one TT1 and Three TT5's ... I thought the PWs would work as advertised and then I thought the new shield would come on time. I was wrong.
I guess you can get away with this when you're a virtual monopoly. Oh, I know about RadioPoppers, but they can't also trigger cameras, which is one of my needs ... the Canon infra-red trigger I own doesn't work well in bright sunlight, sigh. So, I am screwed. I expect thousands of guys are screwed. I suppose PocketWizard will eventually be willing to take even more of our money to make their equipment barely limp along way under specs with their AC7s, but I don't expect them this calendar year.
Hope this saves some of you a lot of expense and disappointment.
Travel safe!
Dwight
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