When entering the world of studio flash equipment, one of the most popular items you’ll come across on the internet are a couple of products by the Paul C Buff company, Alien Bees and White Lightning.  While I’m still an amateur with Studio Flash setups, I thought I would at least provide some information on how to compare the two items.

• Alien Bees have a plastic case, and the White Lightning’s have a more durable aluminum case.
• The White Lightning units weigh more (4.1 lbs vs 2.1 lbs for 800 W units), and thus aren’t quite as easy to transport as the Alien Bees
• The Alien Bees flash units have a 150W modeling bulb, and the White Lightning uses a 250W modeling bulb.
• The White Lightning has separate manual controls for the flash and modeling power while the Alien Bees has a single control for them both.
• The Aliens Bees circuitry is more compact, and thereby runs hotter
• White Lightning has a 5 year warranty, Alien Bees warranty is 2 years
• White Lightning use multiple smaller capacitors for faster recycling
• Alien Bee units use a new and unique design on the power supply where the very heavy power transformer has been eliminated. The White Lightning units use a more traditional design with the transformer in the power supply.
• The White Lightning lights can be adjusted over a 7 stop range, whereas the Alien Bees can be adjusted over 5 stops
• The White Lightning units use multiple circuit cards, instead of a single one like the Alien Bees which makes repair easier

These are the main functional differences between the two, do you know of any others?