Re: Buying a lighting kit - your thoughts?

Did you ever watch one of those ScFi (SyFy?) movies where as soon as the space ship gets close to the Earth and hovers, the military comes out and starts throwing nukes at the ships?

That's just us production people arriving for the shoot. Seems everyone thinks we're hostile invaders so we grumble a bit after being shot at by marking people say they can do their videos with Flip cameras and such.

We're aliens. We don't speak Earthlingish all that well (that is what you speak, no?) but we bring shinny magical things that can increase revenue and drive sales.

I've used Totas with Umbrellas. They're my least favorite light. It's kinda like wearing patches on your pants (our space suits). It's ugly as all heck. Cheaper than buying another expensive pair of pants (and certainly a space suit) but it sure is better than having a big ugly hole in your pants (our space suits).

I've used Totas with Umbrellas to generally raise levels, splatter softish light controlling it with either white or silver 'brellas and lighting through them or bouncing them off walls, light green screen, soft light something when I don't have another soft box and I don't mind the lack of control.

Umbrellas are a last resort choice because of the lack of control but they're better than nothing.
One analogy might be the difference between painting a representation portrait a sponge and or a set of fine brushes. The latter is going to give you much more control.

Lighting can drive sales . . . depending on your target just as some people gravitate towards nice pretty things vs plain looking things. Many people can't even articulate why something looks more attractive so they won't note the lighting but lighting gives incredible control over the viewer's emotions.

Since you have soft boxes on your list so you surely appreciate what they can do. Perhaps consider what you're using umbrellas for and explore those options ranging from china balls for a broadly spread soft source or controllable lights with focusable beams and diffusion and ND gels or, if lighting a green screen fluorescents or LED panels . . . or Tota with Umbrella if you don't mind the limited control. I've used umbrellas but as my lighting skills advance, I'm finding them a tool of last resort.