I finally did it. I placed my order for the RadioPopper PX system tonight. It was painful in the checkbook but I’m excited! I placed my order tonight and hope to have them in my hands by the end of this week! 
UPDATE: I’ve received my Radiopopper PX system. I’ve posted an un-boxing video and a distance/performance test you might find interesting.
RadioPopper PX Transmitter
My decision between the RadioPopper ttl and PocketWizard ttl systems was a tough one. Making it harder was the inability to actually have either in my hands to do a try-before-you-buy but RadioPopper guys give a 30 day money back satisfaction guarantee (and I suspect the PocketWizard folks do too). There’s no doubt that for regular O’l radio triggers, PocketWizard is the gold standard – that’s hard to ignore but the RadioPoppers are young, hungry, and I like to root for the underdog especially when he’s playing so well! That with the fact that the PocketWizard for the Nikon hasn’t been released and the Canon version has apparently stopped shipping because of some sort of communications problem I decided to go ahead and pull the trigger on the RadioPoppers.
I’ve been watching RadioPopper closely for about a year now starting with the RadioPopper P1 system and the PX system. The reviews on the RadioPoppers have always been very positive for both the PX and the P1. I really haven’t found a review that was bad. There are some complaints about the mounting method (Velcro) and the way the menu system works (too complicated for just two buttons) but that seems to be about it. The RadioPopper guys are addressing the mounting issue with a new mounting system in the works.
RadioPopper PX Receiver
The RadioPopper effective distance seems to be great, the reliability is reported to be excellent. The thing that I like best about the RadioPoppers is the design choice of making them passive. The RadioPopper system design seems to be superior in this regard in my opinion. Because they “just” communicate by passing the pulses generated by the local commander to the flash and back. This makes the system brand agnostic. The RadioPopper doesn’t care what the pulses are trying to say, they just stand in the middle and repeat them. The RadioPopper PX doesn’t care if your shooting Nikon, Canon, or I’d bet anything else that uses light pulses (read electromagnetic pulses) to communicate with the flash. I also like the integration with the Alien Bee lighting system that is soon to be released in the JrX. When you put all that together I think I’ve got a winning system headed my way!
I promise a full review when they arrive and I get them figured a little!
UPDATE: I’ve posted an un-boxing video and a distance/performance test you might find interesting.
I just picked up a PW TTi to use on my Nikon d300. I have the old blue-colored PW receivers that I use w/ my studio strobes. They work perfectly, as do the old transmitters. But I wanted something really small for the camera. So I unwrapped the TTi, put in the battery, tried it out both test-popping from the TTi and putting it on the camera hotshoe and taking test shots. All worked perfectly.
But here’s the astounding thing: With the camera in manual mode I started raising the shutter speed beyond the sync speed, out of curiousity to see where I’d start getting the image cut off. Somehow that tiny TTi is talking to the camera, saying, “The knucklehead is trying to exceed sync speed; don’t let him do it.” The TTi PREVENTED the camera, in M mode, from exceeding the sync speed setting! Turning the dial on the camera did nothing.
In my reviews and columns I’ve oft complained about the lack of a manual “lock” to keep you from accidentally exceeding the 1/250 second sync speed. It’s too easy to accidentally nude the dial and lose shots ’til you notice. Evidently PW has provided this safety feature as a feature in their unit. And PW, evidently modest to a fault, does not even brag about it. Or mention it.
That’s a very cool feature, indeed.
You do know thats a feature of your camera. It will do the very same if you use the Nikon Wireless system and probably even when you put the flash right on the cam, and it got nothing to do with the PW unit.
There is a menu item somewhere to switch this off, named something like “sync speed 2/250 (FP)”. The FP is the important part.
How can you “review” two units, or do a side-by-side comparison, when you haven’t actually touched either unit?
It’s like reviewing a restaurant without eating there.
Jason,
It was almost two years ago when this post hit the web and the Nikon PW’s TTL solution was not available. I needed The best TTL option available. I’ve been happy with my RP PX system for two years.
So, it’s more like I was saying I would like to try that restaurant but they won’t open for a couple more years for Nikon recipes and they seem to be having some problems with their canon recipes.
Cheers,
Tom