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I have the Westcott Apollo, plus 2 others in the series, the Orb and the StripBox. The Westcott units are pretty good, folding up like an umbrella for transporting and they provide good light. I shoot manual flash though, and would not use them without having some kind of triggering system. (actually this applies softbox or not…) It IS a pain to go over and open up the diffuser to adjust the flash each time you use them, especially if you use multiple lights. Also have the Lastolite Exybox and Cheetastand Q boxes, these are pop up 24" softboxes with double diffusers where the flash is adjustable from the back without opening up the diffusion layer. There are a couple of negatives with the Apollo, it does not have a 2nd diffuser or cannot use a grid, unlike the pop up boxes. (the Orb and Stripbox both have wider velcro for mounting the diffuser and can use a grid). And, as the light stand shaft comes into the unit from the bottom, you cannot tilt the unit upward or downward beyond the zippered opening limit, maybe 5 to 10 degrees, before hitting the light stand. There are some solutions to this involving add on parts, but they can be costly to implement. ($40 to $60)
Early this year I switched to the Cheetah/Godox 360 bare bulb flash units. The Apollo is now my least efficient light modifier of the 14 I own. The Apollo is 1-2/3 stop less efficient as the Ezybox or Qbox when all are using 1 stop diffusion and still 1 stop less when the others have 2 diffusion layers. I can get f/20 with the pop up boxes at 5' 6" distance, one layer of diffusion and full power with the AD360, the Apollo is f/11. The 24" pop up boxes will help with full sun situations, the Apollo not as much. I never tested the light output with the speedlite flashes, so take this as specific to this light type only.
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