(And a brief look at the Godox AK-R1 Accessory Kit for H200R Round Head)

When you are deciding what speedlight to buy, it’s extremely helpful to see some of your options in action. This post takes a look at the Godox V860II (same as the Flashpoint Zoom Li-on R2 sold by Adorama) and the more recently released Godox V1 (same as the Flashpoint Zoom Li-on X R2 sold by Adorama). At the time of this writing, the Godox V1 sells for $259 (has TTL & there is no cheaper manual-only version) while the V860II TTL sells for $179, or $139 for the manual-only version (the manual version is called the V850II and the TTL version is called the V860II). So what’s the difference between the V1 and the V860II?

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Here are some of the more important specs for comparison purposes (click on the titles at the top to see similarities & differences):

After looking at the specs for these two lights, the item that stands out most to me is full power flashes per charge. It’s fascinating that the older V860II gets 650 full-power flashes on a 2000mAh battery, and the new V1 gets 480 full-power flashes on a 2600 mAh battery. This means that the V1 uses more power per flash, which is probably related to the fact that the head is bigger, and they designed it to produce a wide and smooth light with a gradual falloff.

I wanted to compare the light output of the flashes in two ways: brightness and balance. Let’s take a look at balance first.

As you can see in the images above, the Godox V1 has a smooth & gradual light fall off, with no lines and without contrasting bright and dark areas. The Godox V860II clearly shows the pattern of the fresnel head, with a large bright circle in the middle, and then sudden and contrasting waves of uneven light. This is not important if you are using light modifiers or bouncing off walls, but if you plan on using direct flash without a softbox, umbrella, or omnidirectional dome diffuser, then this can become a consideration. It is also important to remember that if you add a light modifier like a softbox, you will be reducing the brightness of the light dramatically.

Next, let’s compare brightness.

When bouncing off a white object like these white blinds, the brightness of the Godox V860II and Godox V1 are very similar. It seems that the V860II is less than 0.3 of a stop brighter, so if you are using umbrellas, reflectors, or walls for bouncing light, you probably won’t notice much difference between the two.

It’s All About the Round Head

The difference between the Godox V1 and the Godox V860II all comes down to that round head. Besides having a smoother & more balanced light output, the round head also makes it possible to use the Godox AK-R1 Accessory Kit for Round Flash Head. It’s a magnetic ring system that makes the various accessories super quick and easy to mount or even stack. It comes with a few color filters, a grid, a snoot, a bounce card, barn doors, and an omnidirectional dome diffuser.

Having used both lights quite extensively for architectural interiors (along with a few other Godox lights), I have found the magnetic system to be very convenient and even time-saving. With the Godox V860II, if I wanted to use a grid, color filter, or go omnidirectional, I would use little velcro straps to attach things that wouldn’t sit perfectly flush or straight. I often had light leaking out the sides of color filters, then I’d fiddle around with them over and over. With the magnetic ring system on the Godox V1, the grids, filters and dome diffusers are super quick to attach and solid as a rock, with no light leak and no worries that you are going to bump them out of alignment. If you want additional filter colors, it’s easy to cut a circle from a color filter sheet, or even buy the Godox Color Effects Set for Round Flash Heads. The AK-R1 Round Head Accessory Kit also works with the AD200 H200R Round Head.

So, should you buy the Godox V1, or the cheaper Godox V860II? I think the answer is: it depends.

Buy that shiny new Godox V1 if:

you have traditional speedlight accessories and are sick of fiddling around with velcro or rubber straps
you don’t have a speedlight yet but want one with an accessory system that’s quick and easy to manage
you plan on using a lot of direct, unmodified flash
the round head accessory kit looks sweet

Save money and get the Godox V860II if:

you never use small modifiers
you only bounce off walls, umbrellas, and other reflectors
you never use direct, unmodified flash
you already have a bunch of traditional speedlight accessories and modifiers that you like

I hope this article helps clarify the main differences between these two lights. The V860II is definitely not being replaced by the V1… it is still a great cost-effective option to consider for many people looking at purchasing a new speedlight.