Does anyone use Alien Bees? I'm looking at getting more powerful lights for team photos. I've been looking at the Bowens 1000 AC/DC lights. Then I came across Alien Bees and there is  huge price deference between the brands. I would be using the lighting with portable power.
  Anyone use these brands and can tell me what they think about them.

I use Calumet aka Bowens. 750 watt monolights; I own two of them. Very good lights. They can be expensive, but I always look for sells before I put down my Benjamins. I got a good deal. A.B. the best bang for the buck. They can compete with Travelites and many other monolights for a much lower price.

Check the price difference on replacement flash tubes.

I have had both.

Repairs from Calumet - no comment

AB - fast and reasonable.

I'm using too many systems like Bron, Pro-7, Multiblitz and Alien Bees, Alien Bees most often.

I own several bowens units and for me they are great and are much more consistent than AB plus they don't fire without full charge, they are more expensive than AB but in certain places you can find rentals for bowens, specifically for the bowens s type bayonet mods; also you can find in ebay many cheap modifiers for bowens that could be much more expensive in AB like this 22" beauty dish with grid for $79.00 http://cgi.ebay.com/55cm-Beauty-Dish-So … m334.l1262 also check for the same seller the grided octas also you should check this http://stores.shop.ebay.com/KonovaStudi … ec0Q2em322 and lastly bowens is used a lot in latin america so that its very important for me.

AB is a good brand but its not in the same league as Bowens, Bowens is a global company.

Alien Bees are the best bang for the buck. There is better out there, but the price difference does not offset the quality difference. The support is great from PCB.

Before someone jumps down my throat. I only have White lightings, and when I was pricing and comparing features, the AB sold me, but the WL where a step up in materials, with an added weight penalty (metal housing VS plastic). So... my viewpoint is skewed and biased.

If you're planning on taking your monolights abroad newer Bowens have universal power input.