The Advantage of Many Speedlights vs. One Big Light

I've often thought about why photographers such as Dave Black choose to put four $500 Speedlights on one stick instead of just paying maybe $800 for one nice Elinchrom. Do they just like to show off? Then I realized, the reason I would do it is because four Speedlights are more versatile than one big light. You don't always need four lights on one stick. You can take them off and use them in four different places at four different times, or use them as backup. You can use one as a rim light, one as a fill, one for a second shooter. With four lights, you have more combinations of possibilities. There's another reason. Four Speedlights aren't necessarily more expensive than one big light. With one big light you have to get a battery pack that costs additional hundreds, plus you need a way to trigger that light and have remote power control, if you want to maintain the versatility of Speedlights. That costs more. Four Speedlights also gives you TTL ability, which most pack lights don't. TTL is quite amazing if you understand how it works, and that makes four Speedlights even more efficient than one big light. Just thoughts that might help you in your lighting decisions.