Thinking about buying an optical snoot – AliExpress vs Godox/brands?

Hi everyone,

I’m currently considering buying an optical snoot for product photography. I’m equally interested in using gobos to shape the light, as well as being able to create a very small circle of light to highlight only certain areas of my subject.

While browsing the different options, I got a bit confused. Some models come with lenses, others don’t. The only time I tried one was a Godox version, which allowed me to adjust the beam size, sharpness, etc.

On AliExpress, I’ve seen some snoots at a much lower price. Some of them are basically just holders where you need to mount your own lens, while others seem to include an optical lens already (though they don’t specify the focal length).

Has anyone here tried the AliExpress versions? Are they worth it?

I mostly work with flash, so heat shouldn’t really be an issue in my case.

Thanks a lot! 🙏