Flash Equipment

Good Day everyone...time for some more big brain pickin'

Ok...so I'm still kinda new to the digital SLR and picture taking world. did lots of film stuff back in the day and was always outside. Now I'm looking to get into more styles, portrait and more things indoor. Problem is now I'm looking at lighting/strobe/monolight kits and with all the choice out there I'm kinda lost. So all you large cranium'd photo types, what's a good portable flash solution that's not going to put me in the poor house. I'm just a hobbiest, not doing this for money but maybe someday. 1 light? 2 light? What kind of setup should I be looking for?

Let's say $500 budget, like I said, just for fun/in home but something that's not going to crap out after a year

$500 isn't very much..... for this you can get a couple of speedlights (hot shoe flash), umbrellas, stands, and some ebay triggers.

for this you should check out strobist.com ... this guy is a speedlight psycho...

An alien bee setup runs about $800 - $100...

good luck

Yeah I know it's not a lot..but I've seen a lot of monolight/2 monolight kits on ebay for anywhere from 300 bucks on up...I just have no clue about brands/what's good etc

Yup for strobes Alien bees are getting great reviews and they are very competitively priced.