GloxyTR-985 °C Flash

Bought the Gloxy TR-985C after my Canon Speedlite 430EX II stopped firing, the repair bill would have been £95 so for £5 more bought a brand new Flash.First the positives... it works mostly as expected! It produces a perfectly fine flash output level, definitely on par with the 430EX II on default settings and greater than the 430EX II when bumping the output power... I did not have a 580EX II so cannot compare it to that.Secondly and very unexpectedly, it can and does fire off-camera with the use of my IR Trigger (I have a MultiBlitz but should be fine with an Elinchrom or Prolinca etc IR Trigger), that right away is a plus over my 430EX II which wouldn't do that. (I use a 550D camera by the way which has no built in wireless triggering). Previously I thought it was essential to use a another Flash head such as a 580EX II with master controls to trigger this device off-camera.Build wise, it is quite bulky and heavy compared to the 430EX II though this is not a bad thing, it doesn't feel AS solid however, the plastic perhaps or maybe the balance of the bottom vs top half, but by no means would I say its of poor build.The reason for the 4 stars and not a perfect 5 is that on occasion it doesn't fire properly, I've noticed it on occasion produces a weak flash that the resulting image clearly looks like too dark (almost like no flash fired), I'm using the same 2750mah batteries as I used to use in my 430EX II, so can't put it down to the batteries, I would say this occurs at least 5 or 6 times throughout a range of 40 shots regardless of how long is left between shots. Update. 5th October 2013I've used it off-camera and noticed it has fired perfectly every time, so I guess there might be an issue with its metering when on-camera.Overall I would recommend, but do keep in mind if you absolutely need to capture a shot 1st time when using it on-camera you might be in trouble if the flash decides to not fire properly at the crucial moment, I cannot verify whether this is a fault or just a design flaw with the metering.

Appears to work well. I have only used it on a couple of event jobs so far. On TTL setting it appears very sensitive to reflective surfaces and white tops. So sensitive that it shuts down completely at the time of taking the picture and you end up with a black image. This is something that my Canon flash guns did when they were reaching the end of their life. Being able to reduce the amount of flash output is essential for the work I do, Fairly easy to do with this model although the adjustment wheel would be better if it clicked into place. It's dead easy to dial in 1 stop reduction in flash output when you only really want to dial in a third of a stop less. Other than that. For the money this is a great piece of kit.Phil Witcomb

This was a gift purchased for my son, as an alternative to the much more expensive Canon branded product.He was absolutely delighted with it, so a great buy. It works remotely also via the small flash on the camera which we hadn't realised so an added bonus.

Use on my 550d and am very pleased with the results free diffuser and stand come with the flash and it also has built in wide angle diffuser and reflector

Bought as alternative to Canon unit. Bought after reading really good reviews in the magazines. Great little flash to use on non flash cameras and as more powerful unit.

After spending hours looking for a budget flash to use as a secondary off camera unit and reading many reviews I opted for the Gloxy. However, it simply refused to fire the flash even using the test button. It has been returned for a refund.

this is a great flash does all you want, when I let a pro use it he said it was better than his EX430!!

This is a great and all round unit, very sturdy product and it does what the instructions state and a good product