The Nikon controller I believe is infrared which is line of sight and in a lot of cases won't work when hidden and such or at distance. It's just a more limiting setup reason I like radios is I can be far away , outside easier syncing and many times I hide flashes behind items like plant pots and such. So in effect radio is a more reliable system in a lot of diverse shooting but obviously this adds a lot of costs as well. For simple interior shots like weddings and such the Nikon controller will work pretty well, but if you get outside there box than you can run into issues. . Also I may add a whole Profoto setup as well on certain shoots and optical slaves again don't work great outside, so I just bite the bullet and went radio all the way. Of course this will depend on your situation but one needs to know those limitations before heading out the door to tackle a shoot.