Nikon SB-900 Flash - A great flash but...

There are a lot of good review on the Nikon SB-900 flash so I won't give you all the technical info. I am just telling you my experiences with the flash. If you want there is a very good review on DPRReview.com. Here is the link: http://www.dpreview.com/news/0807/08070101nikonsb900.asp I've used the SB-900 about 4 months now and this is indeed an excellent flash. Before I purchased it I read all the comments and there are some very good and detailed comments regarding this flash. But over and over the issue of the thermal protection came up and that caused some concern. I was conflicted over whether to buy this flash. So I took a gamble. Closed my eyes and clicked the purchase button. In the end, all say and done, I believe I have a very good flash. No regrets. But back to the thermal protection that cause all the anguish. I did my research. I read comments at Amazon, read many reviews and comments from professional photographers but they all said the same thing. Great flash but... I read comments about using only certain type of batteries or batteries from certain manufacturers and even some that didn't understand all the fuss because they never experience the problem. When I first received the flash I did my own test. I hit the flash manual button over and over again trying different batteries to the point where I was satisfied I would not have the problem. Then a few months later it happened. I was in Chicago shooting a birthday party and I was continuously shooting couples as they came down a dance line and then it happened. The flash stopped working. Sure enough the thermal protection circuit kicked in. Now the only difference between my test and the actual shoot is that I was using the SD-8A battery pack, however, I don't feel the SD-8A was the cause of the problem. The batteries in the flash were so hot I could not hold them but this was not unusual I had this same situation with hot batteries with my SB-800 flash after a long shoot. That experience as well as some of the comments I read makes me think that the best option is to just turn the thermal protection off. Yes it will get hot but I would rather do that then to worry about when the flash is going to cut off. So I've turned it off and have for about a month been shooting without it. So for now that is where I will leave it.

Once again if you want to see a review of this flash click here. http://www.dpreview.com/news/0807/08070101nikonsb900.asp