Best Light Kit (listed)

Up in that price range I would personally go with the Lowel.

To me in general they are much nicer than the Smith Victor stuff... (Not that great things can’t or haven’t been done with Smith Victor or any of the kits listed -or less, and not that I wouldn’t mind having a set of the Britek or SM’s myself, because I have even less, and sometimes its not how good or what kind of lights you have, it’s what you do with them that counts.)..., but moreover, I personally don’t feel they (Smith Victor for example) are worth it at that full price, not when I have seen the same kits and variations of them used for like $100 or less countless times on Craigslist, and not when it’s basically $30 of scoop and stand for 3 times the price.

If I could, I would investigate the ins and outs and uses and applications and used prices of the Lowel gear on Ebay and Craig’s and wherever (And ask owners of the various pieces how they feel about them good and bad), then either get a kit of Lowel to build on, or once you have an idea which individual lights of the Lowel would be most useful to you, maybe look at the prices to assemble a kit piece by piece used or new of them with the idea of putting your money towards not only a temp solution, but maybe something that can be part of your lighting arsenal for years to come.

-Thanks-

Britek is an okay brand - not as nice as the other brands, but for the price it is quite good. My personal kits are all Britek.

The stands are rather light, and need to be weighted down for sure. Even the (relatively) light softboxes make them quite top-heavy. Not a huge problem - just something to be aware of, for set-safety.

The models with CFL bulbs generate far less heat, but also pack far less punch in equivalence. Not really sure how's that's measured, tbh, but 1k CFL ain't the same as 1k halogen. On the other hand, it's convenient to be able to wrap a gel directly around the bulb - can't do that on a halogen.

I did a quick look-see at the place I get my Britek from: Skaeser.com

The 3 x 1K (your 3000w) was cheaper at Skaeser, though I didn't compare shipping or possible sales tax issues. (If you're in Cali, they'll have to charge sales tax - though they'll cut the cost of shipping to offset it).

At any rate - Britek ain't the best brand, but it's good value for the money.