[ChipBulgin]

You have indicated that you want to shoot a lot on location (away from electricity), but also want to build a studio space. It seems you want lights that perform equally well on battery and on AC. Since you intend to do a lot of location work, I would think you would want something lightweight, compact, portable, rugged, and integrated. Don't underestimate rugged. Traveling is hard on gear, so you want well-constructed components and accessories. And by integrated I mean that you want to minimize the number of connectors, wires, adapters, straps, etc. lying around. The system should mesh well.

Regarding battery-driven systems, pack and head systems are in general more compact and integrated than mono light systems so I'm going to focus my attention on those. Battery-powered mono light solutions are still a bit of a kludge. With pack and head systems, the batteries are interchangeable and fit right in the power pack. On a two-light system you end up with only 3 cables connecting everything together (one to each head plus the sync cord to the camera), and you can reduce that to 2 cables if you select a system that can be triggered wirelessly.

There are a few drawbacks to battery-driven systems. They are more expensive than AC systems, often carrying a premium of about 50%. The modeling lamps aren't nearly as bright as their AC counterparts, rarely exceeding 75 watts (vs. 250-300 watts for AC systems). Most packs only allow you to connect two heads to them (vs. 3 or 4 for AC systems). They also recycle more slowly, taking in the neighborhood of twice as long to recycle as an AC pack of similar capability from the same manufacturer. Finally, they don't run directly off of AC power out of the box. You typically get 150-250 full power flashes off of a single battery charge, so if you wanted to shoot in the studio all day you'd probably want multiple batteries. Several manufacturers offer AC power adapters for their battery-powered units, but they typically run around $1000 or more, adding further to the cost.

None of the above drawbacks really prevent you from having an extremely flexible system. Ignoring cost for the moment, the only real downside (in my opinion) to the battery-powered systems are the weak modeling lights. But in exchange you get a go-anywhere, anytime lighting solution. Taking all of the above into account, there are two manufacturers of battery-powered systems that would suit your needs: Profoto and Hensel. Assuming you wished to put together a two-light kit, consider the following:

Profoto:
Pro-7b 1200 W/S generator with (1) Pro-7b lamphead: $2900
(1) additional Pro-7b lamphead: $735
Universal Power Adapter (for use on AC): $1400
(2) Lightstands and case to hold the works: ~$350
Total: $5385
Total weight: ~57 lbs.
A comparably equipped AC-only Profoto kit (Acute 2R 1200) would run ~$3700.

Hensel:
Hensel Porty Premium 1200 W/S AS kit w/ 1 lamphead, wireless transmitter, lightstand, umbrella, softbox, extra battery and case: $3000
(1) additional 1200P flash head: $690
AC power supply: $965
(1) Additional lightstand: ~$60
Total: $4715
Total weight: ~46 lbs.
A comparably equipped AC-only Hensel kit (Vela 1500 W/S AS or PRO MINI 1200 AS) would run ~$3000.

There is an alternative way to go, and that would be to purchase an AC light kit and a battery system capable of powering it. This approach gives you the advantages of an AC pack (lower cost, faster recycle, brighter modeling lights, and capacity for 3 or more heads) and the flexibility of a battery at the expense of slightly less integration (you need to run a power cable from the pack to the battery). Dynalite makes a battery (the XP1100) that will handle power packs discharging up to 1000 W/S and provide ~200 full power flashes. The nice thing about this battery is that you get the same recycle time as you do when your AC pack is plugged in to the wall. Dynalite also makes really compact, lightweight, and rugged packs and heads. To that end, you might want to consider the following for a combination AC and battery-powered solution:

Dynalite M112W-PS kit: 1000 W/S pack w/radio receiver, (2) 2040 flash heads, stands, umbrellas, and case: $2285
Dynalite XP1100 battery and inverter: $1235
PocketWizard Plus II radio transceiver: $190
Total: $3710
Total weight: ~47 lbs (24# - kit / 23# - battery).

Any of these systems would provide you with a flexible and portable solution. You would still need to think about softboxes, speedrings, reflectors and such. Some of the above kits come with umbrellas and/or small softboxes. They're enough to get you going and keep the cost and weight down, but for shooting the glamour and casual work you're interested in you'd in all likelihood want to purchase larger softboxes and modifiers that give you a higher degree of control in shaping your light. But that's a discussion for a different post.

-Chip