Today Gus commented courteously on the subject at hand

I have a 430EX for my Rebel XT and simply love it. It is, to
me, an excellent compromise of price, performance, compact
size, and moderate weight, all of which I why didn't buy it's
bigger brother Canon 580EX.

I don't now need a slave, although I could certainly use one
someday when I might get more serious about doing a better job
of shooting my primary subject - cars in dark museums, but
it's 25-30' range is adequate for my current needs, it's eTTL
is excellent (once I figured out I needed to use the FEL
button on the back of the camera), and to put it simply, it
delivers the good for me.

Expensive is a relative term, I think. I spent $2,150 on just
two Canon L-glass zooms and $400 on a Sigma which I view as
money well-spent as I can probably use them when I upgrade to
a better Canon DSLR next time.

Can you give us some insights as to the subject(s) you intend
to use, distances involved, expectations, lens(es), etc.?

The built-in flash is useless beyond about 10 feet at ISO 100,
but I do use it for snapshots because I don't need to lug the
430EX around. For casual shooting, I might also use my Sigma
zoom, but usually use the Rebel's XT, again for minimum size,
weight, and obtrusiveness in social surroundings.

But, if you need or think you want power, then don't quibble
about price. Or, buy an lower priced brand. In any event,
whatever you buy, I strongly recommend you get it from a store
that will give you a 10-day you-questions-asked money back
guarantee because no amount of research and asking opinions
really gets it. You simply must take it on some typical
shoots, learn quickly how to use it, and evaluate the results
at home to see if it's fitness of purpose suits your pistol or
not.

Hi Gus.
I felt the same way about the 300TL gun which was made to go with the
CanonT90 back in the 1980s.
I eventually paid the big bucks to get the 300TL and quickly found it was
money very well worth spending.

When I recently bought an EOS350d I didn't wait long before getting a 430EX.
This was partly because the 350d is not backwards compatible with earlier
Canon guns (despite what is written in the handbook for the 350d) and partly
because of my earlier findings with the 300TL.

I don't expect to need slave/master (although I do have two Minolta
slave/master guns for use with a Minolta SLR) but I do find the 430EX works
well with the 350d. I am finding that I experiment more with flash,
developing new techniques, using the 430EX.

Regards,  Ian

I'll suggest a good generic "auto" flash such as the Sunpak 383 Super.
It'll cost you between $70-90 brand new (compared to the $280 or so
for a Speedlite 430EX).  For most purposes, "auto" mode provides more
reliable control over exposure than E-TTL II.

For much more detail, and some background on buying flash for
Canon DSLRs, please visit: http://hannemyr.com/photo/flash.html .

Thanks Ian and ATM for the comments and observations, which are helpful.

Will have a look at the 430EX again, although with all the aftermarket
equipment around for Canon, I'm surprised there's nothing out there that's
seen as a cheaper run-for-the-money to the Speedlites.

Gus

If you want bright flash, non-TTL auto flash is OK. Sunpak 383.

If you want fill flash, E-TTL is better. Sigma EF 500 DG.

http://digitcamera.tripod.com/#flash