I've used both quite a bit. I bought my first Novatron powerpack and 4 heads back in the late 70's. They still work just fine even after numerous falls of the heads to the floor. So they are solidly built. But the Alien Bees are so much more convenient to use. With the ability to set each head independantly over a 5 stop range, you have a power to setup lighting ratios that far surpasses what you can do with the Novatrons. Also the much faster recycle times are great. And should you break a flash tube it costs just a few dollars to replace the tube. So I'd go with the Alien Bees.
Cheers,
rfs
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