Rode VideoMic Camera-Mountable Microphone

Fantastic Mic

It's hard to find a good shotgun mic on a budget, and the Rode VideoMic is perfect. The VideoMic has a few features that I absolutely love about it, and you won't find a better deal at 150 bucks. First of all, the sound quality is superb. It sounds great. It has a few small settings, but unlike other mics I've used, I never found myself needing to adjust, the basic setting is perfect. Now what I really love about this mic that most mics do not come with is the shockmount. Now it's a cheap shockmount to say the least, but at this price range it's nice that it is there. It is a soft shockmount where you use 8 of the supplied special rubber bands to suspend the mic in the middle. Now the bands that were on my mic when I unpacked it where extremely squeaky, so I swapped them out with the extra 8 that came with it. I'm sure with the 10 year Rode warranty it isn't hard to get more if they break. Now since the shockmount suspends your mic via the rubber bands, it tends to be a bit wobbly. Now this is not an issue, and you can't hear the wobble at all. The only time I foresee an issue with this is if you try to make Cloverfield 2 with it. That being said, as long as you aren't thrashing it around, it won't affect the quality whatsoever. The windscreen it comes with is good, and supplies decent protection filming outside. If your serious, I'd suggest investing in the Rode Deadcat screen. It doesn't look very appealing but it's very good. The mic was easy to mount to my rig (I use an Opteka X-Grip) and is very sturdy. It takes a 9v battery, which is pretty hefty and I expect a very long life of that battery. (The manual predicts about 100 hours). Either way, play it safe and pack an extra battery for a long day of shooting. Anyway this mic sounds great for the price and is a fantastic step up from the onboard mic, or any cheaper mic you may be using. It's great for indy film making and was worth the investment. On a side note Walmart lets me attach a video to display the mic's power. I am currently filming a film with the mic, I'll come back to the review later this month and attach that video so you can get an idea of how it sounds!

beatlesfan1225 . Review provider: walmart.com

This is a great mic for the price. It serves my needs as a videographer. The sound is great. Often times I video weddings and when I have someone do make a comment I use the mic. I can hear the person very well even though there is loud music all around. The down side is the mic doesn't have an automatic shutoff. Other than that it is great.

Yrrehc . Review provider: walmart.com