Side by Side Comparison of: PBL vs ePhoto vs LimoStudio vs Neewer

My son is a professional photographer who is always out in the field shooting and these would not work for him. But for my home studio where I don’t take them out in the field these are great. Light weight but very sturdy with spring cushioned poles. The legs are hard to open and close but once I have them set where I need them, I won’t have to move them often. I do use an Impact Telescopic Collapsible Reflector Holder Boom on one of them, with an Alien Bee light and softbox on the end and it works great. I do use the sand bag.The sand bags that come with them are also great. Very well made with double zippers so the sand can’t get out, (I have mine in baggies just for safety and to keep things cleaner). The bags are also black and yellow so they are easy to see and you don’t trip over them.The carry bags look like they are also well made with a 1" strap from one end to the other. I will not be using this often if at all, but if I do they will work for transporting the stands.

This is really good stuff. I love everything about these stands. This is the spring cushioned version. Same company makes a version which is air cushioned. I never had spring cushioned stands until now and I must say that I really like them. Different but good and I think in the long run, they'll hold better. For the price, they're great. Everything feels sturdy. I like the quick-release knobs. It's not overly heavy ( along the line of a comparable Manfrotto stand). The bars that support the legs when open are plastic. I don't think it's going to affect durability much. The metal tube gauge is strong enough to support pretty heavy loads. I use Alien Bees as strobes (most of the time); heavier strobes and the stands did well even at full extension. YOU MUST USE SANDBAGS when fully extended (that goes with any stand). The package came with two sandbags which I thought it was nice touch.I used them in the studio and at a wedding already. They collapse down to about the half the height of a normal person (important for that first dance when all you're trying to get is just a little flare or only some edge light but you don't want to see an entire stand behind your clients).My only complain are the rubber feet -- the ones that come with the stands are a JOKE! They pop right out. A quick trip to HD for some real universal slip-op rubber shoes (which I do for all my stands) fixed the issue.Let's hope they last but for the price, I've already amortized that x10. We'll buy again.

I love these, they're so solid and I'm completely confident they'll keep my expensive lights and modifiers on it. The sand bags are an added bonus and a must if you're shooting outdoors and I highly recommend using them indoors as well. I added a photo below and the closest light modifier is a 7ft umbrella with a calumet strobe. I even used this same set up at Yosemite and it stood up unmanned in a light breeze about 8ft high with the sandbags of course. I even added an image bellow with a different set up I found to work really well.

For the money these are great stands. Heavy build quality and nice carrying cases. Now if I would have had the money I obviously would have opted for a set with casters to roll around and some better tightening knobs, but for the budget minded photographer just building a home studio these stands are perfect.

My light stands from Steve Kaeser arrived today. First thing first, the product was well packaged and protected. There was a nice letter from the seller thanking me for doing business with a small company, nice.The stands themselves, absolutely great for the price. Are you comparing them to manfrotto? No, unless you want to triple the price, and at triple the price I expect a few things to be added. But here's where a good set of stands can't be cheap "the locks" for clamping down the stand at a specific height. These are all metal locks that only require a 90° turn to clamp it down. This is nice because I hate twisting, and twisting, to get something to bite in and clamp down. The springs are really strong, so I feel comfortable my speedlights won't come crashing down to a jarring stop. The other part that isn't cheap, the assembly. I see metal bolts, not plastic, seals aren't just glued together, and it's all repairable using hex nuts and philips screws. This means if something goes wrong I don't just have to throw them away like I did my other stands. The cases are just simple little Nylon bags, and I do suspect they won't last. The main reason is you have to tighten the stands down with the interior springs under pressure to make them fit in the bag. This means it's stretching the bag constantly and rubbing at both ends. That's going to tear through probably within 1-2 years, but that's not something I was concerned with. The sandbags are really, REALLY, nicely built. They alone were worth spending $20, so that means I got two really well assembled stands for $30'ish.Definitely recommended highly to anyone that wants a good set of stands for a fair price.twitter: @lifebypixels

These are excellent lightstands! They really are heavy duty and open and close in a pinch! They adjust quickly and I have no worries with my expensive speedlights riding up on top of these lightstands or my shadow boxes. They are phenomenal lightstands! If they could be better, I don't know how! The carrying bags are a great plus too! With the sandbags, even up at the 10' hieght, I'm comfortable with my gear attached to them!You won't go wrong buying these lightstands and they are an excellent price to boot!You'll love them!**UPDATE** Jan 2013 - I still love these stands! They work great and haven't failed me yet! One quick note or suggestion, When you get them, there is a little nut on each knob, take the nut off, add a tad of "locktite" to the threads and screw them back down. Make sure they are only snug enough to get a nice grip on the poles and then faggettaboutit! You won't look back! If you don't add the locktite, every once in a while, one of them will loosen up just a little bit and allow the center pole to slowly slide back down. You can tighten them up real quick with a pair of needle nose pliers, but if you just add that little pinch of locktite, they never loosen up anymore! Oh by the way, I bought two more sets of them since the original purchase! Love them!! You'll love them too!

good value, metal clamps, larger diameter tubes.

Superb stands overall.One huge problem though...The minimum height is very high if you want a low light.UPDATE 08/07/16One of the top locking collars is not locking properly, so the light slides down. I will have to return it

Great for inside use. Be careful outdoors. I had an umbrella attached for an outdoor photo session. The pole kept rotating out of position. I never had that problem with my other heavy duty stands. There is not an option to adjust the tightness of the clamp that holds the pole in position. Other than this, it works as expected. I now use it merely indoors with my speedlights and umbrellas. I use my Paul C Buff stands for outdoor use and studio flashes.

I just bought these and used them over the weekend at a wedding and over all I'm happy with them. They seem very well constructed, the locks work well and the height is very nice. My only gripe is that it is difficult to get the legs out, the locking ring is very stiff. Perhaps this will loosen up a bit with use.The carry bags are OK, but I'm not expecting them to last long. The sand bags are a great addition, especially if you're using the stands at their full 10'.

I've had these stands now for over a year but have used them about 15 times. First let me say the price for these stands are worth what I paid for them, the have gone through some what of rugged conditions, fell a couple time(got knocked over by strong umbrella wind because I refuse to use the sandbag) and they are still in great working condition. I use them for mobile use however with flashes, umbrellas and softbox. They are very sturdy on the ground and even if you extend it to the 10 feet its still sturdy. Let me remind you i'm using it with speedlights and to be honest with you for my heavy studio lights on the go I wouldn't use stands in this price range for that type of equipment. So for mobility with speedlights and reflectors and so on they are great. the reason why I didn't give it 5 star however is that after a few use the straps and zips on the bag went which was very disappointing for me because that's one of the reasons I bought this kit so now I still ended up buying a bag for the stands.

I am an amateur photographer who is slowly gathering my photography supplies. After reading the various product reviews and looking at competing stands, I was very pleased to have purchase this product. The price was good enough considering the high exchange rate I pay for all my items, & the option of getting two rather than one. The stand is the height that I am looking for, very tall & sturdy. They are easy to assemble and dismount. I am also very happy to have received these shoulder bags as well, as it not only allows me to easily carry both stands on one shoulder, but quickly and easily store my stands away while on the go. The stands also fit perfectly on the floor of my vehicle or in the trunk.The only complaint I have is one of the bag's zip broke after the 2nd use highlighting not the strongest quality used.However I would still recommend and I will be purchasing another package in the near future.

I was dis a pointed that these do not come with instructions. I am a first time user.

Not worth the $ because not great quality for location work or travel. If you are going to leave and only use indoors, then ok. Won't support very heavy equipment.

Unit is big, large. You need to randomly tighten the screws, otherwise the unit will fall. Will hold up to use and heavier weight flash or larger system.Unit can go up to 10ft without issue.Minor issue, unit has strange metallic oil smell.

We use these for professional wedding photography. Bought them because reviews were so good. You have to add nuts to the metal collars in addition to the existing nuts to keep the collars from slowly loosening (after only a few setups and tear downs) to where they will not stay up at all. This was very disappointing. Other than that these are very good solid metal. They are still pretty tall when at their shortest compared to all of our other light stands. They are definitely heavy duty.

Quick summary: had I seen and tested this in a store instead of getting it online, I wouldn't have bought it, at least not at this price.Longer review:One unit arrived broken, the uppermost clamp is detached from the middle tube. Pressing it back into place only holds for a while, then the spring pressure causes the top section to pop out with force at unexpected times. It's really quite dangerous because of the spring, and yet the stand won't fit in the storage bag unless the top section is compressed into the middle section.“Heavy duty.” Meh. Yes, it's stronger than a really terrible low-end light stand, but it's a far cry from a Bogen/Manfrotto or a high quality C-stand. Of course, those all cost significantly more and weigh more, so I guess my objection is mostly to the “heavy duty” label when it would be better described as “medium duty.”Spring design: probably doesn't help very much in an uncontrolled flash/diffuser descent because it only cushions the post after it has accelerated and nearly reached the bottom. For example, the top section is able to free-fall about 30” before it hits the spring, and then it only has 3” to decelerate. Whereas air-cushioned designs don't allow the post to fall rapidly in the first place. Realizing this now, I will no longer buy any stand without air cushioning.Since the upper-most section arrived detached, the spring falls out if tipped and I can see that it's only 3” long. If the designer really wanted to make a better product without using an air system, the springs should have been softer and significantly longer so that the posts would descend more slowly.Still, springs seem to be inherently dangerous in this application. I suggest NEVER getting the top of the stand in front of any part of your body while any section is compressed. The spring pressure can cause the post to shoot forward, particularly on a broken unit like the one I received, and yes I really think it could poke an eye out. Best to treat the top-end of the stand like a loaded gun.The storage bag: haven't tested it much, do suspect that it's as reported by other reviewers and not likely to last very long.Stand construction: other than the broken part, the rest of the hardware seems mostly OK. It's light for the size yet pretty stable (indoors) extended to about 7', less so above that height, though as with most stands that's to be expected.Sand bags: surprisingly, these are the best made item in this kit. I'm not saying I love the design, even though it's completely traditional for the product, saddlebags might slip off the leg and I'd prefer something that either wrapped around the center post evenly, or perhaps three separate smaller bags so there would be one for each leg. Regardless of the aforementioned, the strong material, sewing, zippers, and day-glow-yellow warning stripes are all excellent.

One of the springs has failed in one of the stands- so not only does the spring not respond, but it also won't support that segment anymore. I recommend going for a different stand- in fact, I would stay away from springs all together, and go for air-cushioned, or good ol' fashioned C-stands.EDIT-Not actually broken, it's just that the bolts that hold the semgents up become loose. I carry a hexagon-wrench thing around in my camera bag in case they ever loosen up (which they do from time to time- no biggie if you have a wrench), but they have worked out fine, especially for the price.

Terrible sand bags. There is no way to strap them on. They slid right off the stand and my brand new strobe unit fell over and broke. The stands aren't nearly as heavy duty as they implied.

Weak legs and thumb knobs are always loosening. I would suggest buying Newer brand stands instead.

If you're doing film and you can afford it, get a real stand. Matthews or American. These will do the job but they don't feel secure and I don't have the trust in them I put in a real baby stand.

Cheap, flimsy stands, good enough to hold 2lbs if you're lucky. This said heavy duty but it isn't even close at all to being heavy duty. I have a total of 3lbs strobe and battery pack and it barely stays up. I would not recommend these!

I have used them in several shoots and the same thing happens all the time. There is a little screw and nut on the side to set the tension on the light stand so it holds the light in place when you raise the stand. However, I have to keep tightening this nut almost in every shoot because it becomes loose. This means you have to carry a tool and make sure it holds the light before you completely let it out of your site. They are cheap in price and you get what you pay for. I would not buy these again.

First, the sandbags didn't come. Why mention them if you don't ship them?Second - after less than a year of infrequent usage, the collar on one stand started slipping, so now one stand doesn't hold anything properly, it just keeps folding.Junk.

Came without the sand bags instead I got a background support thats loose on both ends. I had to tighten the stands up with my socket wrenches to get them to support my lights whoever assembled them did a poor job. These stands aren't as good as made out to be in the other reviews. The knobs feel plastic even though they are listed as metal. I would get some impact stands before getting these they are big POS's. They would be ok for small LED lights but I would not trust them with anything over a few lbs then you extend them they are very flimsy and seem unstable.

These are EXACTLY like the discount brand, Cowboy Studio. I was expecting quality and these are as light and flimsy as the Cowboy Studio ones I reviewed too! Same exact issue-- Stands can't hold the weight of strobe+umbrella, so they slide down. The black paint is all scratched off, showing the flimsy metal underneath. "Heavy Duty" is a joke.

Leg lock Turn handle broke on first tighten. It continued to spin without getting tight. The feet have thin, paper thin, pads that will tear on first use. The feet do not meet a level floor and only the edge of the feet touches floor; remember the paper thin pad. Poor design and poor manufacture

I purchased this product at the same time that I purchased a Linco light Stand. First things first is they seemed to ship me a product that was returned. Upon opening the box I noticed that there where no sand bags, instead there was a bar for a background support system, but the bar was missing parts to attach each bar to each other. The bar was just thrown in to the box along with the other light stands which is probably what damaged the light stands. To be fair the light stands are still useable they are just dented up in numerous locations.In comparison to the Linco Lightstand the PBL light stand is not as good from the rubber feet to the general overall build quality.My recommendation is to buy the Linco stands instead.Not Recommended

Those stands looks nice only out of the box. When you start using - you get a problems. Stands was used only three times and the adapter on the top of the stand get lose !!!!! Its holding by one small screw.My setup was - Alien bee Einstein E640 Flash Unit (4 pounds, 5 ounces) and 35"Octabox (5 pounds). I'm not recommending this product.