I am up to my arms in boom arms, and this whole experience did not go the way
that I expected, but in a very good way.
I'm trying to figure out, can you get a decent low profile mic arm at a low price?
Because I have all these options here, but the Elgato low profile mic arm,
this one over here, is pretty awesome.
And I've made a few videos about it, and I think that the 99 MSRP
for the Elgato arm is super fair.
But in my most recent video about it, I got a lot of comments
that were saying I should check out some cheaper alternatives.
So that is exactly what I did.
And let me tell you, this video ended up being very different than I expected.
Because a while back, I made a video about cheap versus expensive
traditional boom arms, like tall, you know, scissor style boom arms.
And the conclusion I came to in that video was that the cheap ones I tried out were
Were just awful, like they were so bad.
I was up in arms at the terrible quality.
Of those arms.
But in this case, while every arm does have its own set of pros and cons,
none of them are objectively terrible.
And it actually turns out, when it comes to these cheaper ones, there
are some pretty awesome options out there at every price point.
So when I say this video didn't turn out the way I expected it
to, actually that is a good thing.
The results were so much better than I expected.
And I did, for this video, specifically want to focus on sub 100 arms
because I think that's where things can get super confusing, especially
if you are just starting out.
There's just so many different options out there.
So anyway, let's get started because there's, there's no
harm in checking out some arms.
All right, so let's start off by talking about the Elgato low profile arm.
I have a couple of videos about this arm already, but just to refresh your
memory, The Elgato low profile arm has a 99 MSRP and it is a super solid arm.
The materials are really great.
There's plenty of cable routing options as you can see.
There's a really versatile ball mount up here on the side and it's
been recently updated with really strong magnets on these covers.
So that way when you run your XLR cable, You can hear how it snaps in.
When you run your XLR cable through this, it doesn't just pop off like it did on the
very first versions of a low profile arm.
So I think that was an update they did like way over a year ago, but they've
essentially made the arm even better than it was when it was first released.
And it is available in a couple of different colors.
You can get white like I have here or a traditional black arm.
So this, when it comes to low profile mic arms is my baseline reference.
It's a fair price.
good materials, lots of versatility, and you can still move it up or down.
So even though it is a low profile mic arm, it doesn't mean that it
can't reach up, you know, a little bit higher than you might expect.
So with all of that in mind, let's look at what some of the
less expensive options are like.
So the first one we're going to look at is the Innogear low profile mic arm set.
And this has an MSRP of 29.
And as we go throughout this video, you'll notice I have the same mic set.
I have the same microphone mounted on each arm.
It's a Rode NT1 in a Rode shock mount, just because I
happen to have four of these.
It's a good microphone.
And it's also not the lightest microphone, especially with the shock mount, so trying
to see the weight that these can support.
But I wanted you to see the Innogear arm fully set up first.
This little top part is part of the arm, and then this is the shock mount here.
But what I think is really cool, especially for a 29 arm, the mount is
specifically really nice and it has pads on both sides, this part and this part.
And it has this extra hook here, which acts as a headphone hanger.
So when it's hanging on your desk and mounted on your desk, you can
also mount your headphones there.
That is a really cool little quality of life feature.
Now, like I said, this is a 29 boom arm.
So it's important to keep your expectations realistic.
But it's made out of really nice materials.
It's like high quality metal that actually feels pretty sturdy.
You know, all things considered.
It's a very small, very compact boom arm.
And it actually comes with two different mic mounts.
That's a lot for, for 29.
It comes with this one, which is sort of like a generic shock mount
for small condenser microphones.
And then it comes with this one, which is a holder for.
more traditional like handheld microphone something like an sm58 or whatever it
might be so pretty much right out of the box especially if you're a beginner
again you get everything you need to attach your mic and be set you just need
a cable there is no cable management on this unfortunately but it does come
with five of these little velcro ties so you can find ways to you know run
your cable around here a little bit.
There's no clips, clamps or anything like that.
Now, as you can kind of see here, it is a little bit wobbly.
You know, if I move this here, it, it moves around a little bit,
but once you have it set where you want it, it can hang out.
It's not going to move around or do anything crazy.
One thing you notice is it does not have any vertical lift.
It is just horizontal.
This is its profile at all times.
So if you need to be able to lift it up and raise your bike.
You're not going to be able to do that with this arm.
So there is a lot that this arm can't do, but if you don't need those
things and you're aware of those limitations, it could be a great arm,
especially again, for anyone on a budget or anyone who's a beginner.
So I kind of think that the InnoGear should be called the InYesGear.
Cause it's a pretty sweet boom arm for the price.
Now the thing about mic arms is that even if they're not the most expensive
ones in the world, when you buy a lot of them, the cost adds up pretty quickly.
So with that in mind, thank you to Artlist for sponsoring this video
and making it possible for me to get all of these arms to compare.
I've said this before, but my Artlist subscription was literally the first
money I invested into my channel when I started it back in 2017.
It's always held a really special place in my.
You might say, Artlist is in my Heartlist.
And Artlist has grown a lot over the years since then, now offering not just
music, but also sound effects, footage, templates, plugins, and even software.
One of my favorite things to do is go through and bookmark artists I like,
so that I can go back and basically just raid their entire catalogs
whenever I need new music for videos.
I even have a folder on my computer's desktop of downloaded, uh, unused
tracks so that they're always there and always ready if I need them.
And some of them, I feel bad because some of these songs have been in this
folder for a really long time because I like the song so much that I feel like
I need to come up with something that includes visuals good enough to use it.
I have the Pro Plan which not only gives me access to their entire library
of music and sound effects, but also covers all social platforms along with
podcasts, broadcasts, and client work.
But whether you work with clients or you just need music for yourself, Artlist has
so many different plans to suit creators and teams of all sizes, so whatever
your needs are, they've got you covered.
If this sounds like a good fit for you, use the link in the description for
two extra months on your subscription, and thank you again to Artlist for
sponsoring this video and for helping to support my channel over the years.
It It genuinely means a lot to me, and I hope you're able to find some
good stuff through Artlist as well.
But, now, let's move on from Artlist to the rest of the Armlist.
This is the Fifine low profile mic arm, and I just wanted, again, you to see the
whole thing before I clamp it to the desk.
Same microphone right here.
Now, the Fifine arm does have an MSRP of 56.
It's got a lot of similarities to the Elgato low profile.
It's just sort of like a little bit smaller and a little more compact.
One huge thing though, which is pretty crazy, is the mount right here is pretty
much identical to Elgato's own mounts.
You can kind of see the size and the shape.
Really the only thing that's different is the part that
clamps on the bottom of the desk.
The Elgato has like, It's, it's sort of bigger and then padded.
Oops.
And the Fafine one is just this circle and it's padded.
But otherwise, they look like pretty much the exact same thing.
Their shape, their profile is exactly the same.
The bottom handle is even a ratcheting handle like the Elgato.
And to show you just how similar they are, an Elgato arm can
fit easily in the Fifine one.
As if it was made for it, because again, it's the exact same size.
So in terms of quality for a, you know, a more budget
friendly arm, that's pretty cool.
So in addition to this bass being very similar to Elgato, the arm
itself is very clearly inspired by the Elgato low profile.
It very much seems like that's, you know, the direction they want
it to go when making this arm.
There is internal cable management, but instead of being on the sort of the top
like the Elgato is, it's on the bottom and instead of having slick magnets it's
sort of just got these plastic, whoa, sort of just got these plastic clips.
This is weird though because there's an arrow here and in the instructions
I couldn't figure out how to get this off because I was trying to like slide
this in the direction of the arrow.
The instructions specifically say to slide in the direction opposite of the
arrow to open the Why would you put an arrow and the direction is opposite?
It makes no sense if you slide this back and it actually hurts
every time I have done that.
I have almost cut my finger on these things here.
But anyway, then this clips out and you can route your cable.
And when your cable is in there, then you clip it in.
It can be lifted vertically.
Oh Not that far.
It can be lifted vertically as I just showed you and it needs to be
tightened with an Allen key, but this boom arm comes with no tools.
Now, when it comes to Allen keys, you know, if you've ever put together a
piece of Ikea furniture, chances are you have one or two sitting around,
but if you don't, then you're not gonna have any way to adjust this boom arm.
And that's kind of important because this joint right here really does
need to be adjusted and tightened.
When I took it out of the box, it was so loose I need to tighten this down.
This isn't a fault of the boom arm.
My little lock nut is not tight there.
When I took this out of the box, it started sagging just with the shock
mount and not the microphone on it.
And so I had to get my allen key and tighten this up.
And once I did that, it can hold the mic no problem.
But again, you need an allen key to be able to do that.
So to really get the full advantage of this, you are going to have to make
some adjustments, and they don't give you the things to make the adjustments.
Another thing here which is interesting, but also makes me think they're really
coming after Elgato, is the nubbin.
Right here.
So you get this ball mount, which is similar in design to Elgato's,
but a little bit lower quality.
And the arm does have this interesting looking nub in here, which is
also different than the Elgato, but the Elgato ball mount does
fit on this one and vice versa.
So even though they look a little different, they
actually do function the same.
So overall, even though this is a decent arm, It is the only one
of the bunch that I have today that I don't think I'd recommend.
And it's not because it's a bad arm.
Like, if you get this and you know what it's designed to do, I think
it'll work just fine for you.
But, looking at all these other options, and these are just a few
that I picked, there's like so many more out there, looking at these other
options, you can get arms with fewer frustrations at lower prices, or You
could spend a little bit more and get something a lot more interesting.
Not just the Elgato Low Profile, which is, you know, just a better version of this.
But for even less than that, just a little bit more than this, you
can get something pretty weird.
So if you're looking for a newer boom arm, this is the newer, I don't know
if that joke worked or not, low profile arm, which is has an MSRP of 72.
So it's almost as expensive as the Elgato, but as you can see, it, it
definitely does its own thing over here.
It is not trying to be the Elgato low profile arm.
It's very big, it's very heavy, and it has some really interesting features.
So I'm going to first show you this clamp right here.
The only big, whoa, where are you going?
The only big complaint I have about the arm is that this bottom part
of the clamp It's just raw metal.
The top part is padded, so it's not gonna scratch your desk.
But the bottom part is just metal, so on a wood desk like this, it's
just gonna bite in to the bottom and definitely leave a mark.
This arm seems less like it's trying to duplicate the Elgato,
how the Fifine arm was really like just a cheaper version of this.
This seems like it's doing its own thing.
And maybe like it's also taking some cues from more expensive low profile
arms like the OC white ones and the yellow tech arms Which are all really
nice boom arms, but they can go for like over 300 Basically what this is
is it's a traditional low profile arm.
So this part here looks like a small, you know, Elgato low profile arm, but
then it has like this pneumatic part here, which is more similar to like
a computer display arm, and it just sort of smashed them, Frankensteined
them together, which is pretty cool because it gives it super long reach.
Like, this is a, this has the longest reach of any of the boom arms that I have.
It is very sturdy and very heavy duty.
There is cable management.
On the bottom down here, there's just little clips.
So there's no covers, but there's just little plastic clips
that you can run your cable.
And then the bottom of the pneumatic part has another little clip, too, that
you can just run your cables through.
Cool thing with the pneumatic part, if you've ever played with things like this,
you know they can be a little frustrating.
This one really does.
stay put, you know, whatever level you keep it at, it stays put there.
This also includes so many different allen keys and adapters, so whatever
you need to adjust, whatever you need to mount on the end here, you can do
that straight out of the box, which is interesting because this mount, let's
see, I'm going to take the mic off.
This part of the arm is really fascinating to me, and this is
where it does stuff that I don't see a lot of other arms doing.
So if I take off this adapter and this locking nut, What we end up
with is just a quarter 20 thread.
So you could put a light or a camera or whatever, but you also
end up with this piece, which looks a lot like a light stand.
In fact, I could take a light and would be delighted if this fits
in here, and I tighten this down.
Now, without needing any other adapters, this essentially works as a light stand.
And now I have my little light right here, which is, it's kind of cool.
So there's.
A little bit of added versatility with this arm if you want to use
it for things beyond microphones.
But to use it with a microphone it comes with this locking nut and then it does
come with an adapter which you'll probably need, a quarter twenty to five eighths.
And then this will go on pretty much any standard microphone mount.
But as I kind of hinted at just a second ago, this mount right here, this end
part of this arm, is really one of the most interesting parts about it.
Not only does it go up or down, but it does what virtually no other mic
arms do, and it goes side to side.
This is something I've wanted so bad on mic arms.
They go up and down and side to side, panning and tilting in a mic head,
because depending on what microphone you're using and where your arm is
positioned, usually it's not going to be right in front of you like this.
It would be over here.
And if I'm using a microphone like this, I can just easily
turn it in its shock mount.
So if I'm on the side of the microphone, I can still talk into
the side, but some other microphones, they have shock mounts that force
them to be facing one direction.
And if the microphone boom arm is coming in from the side, then you can't
talk into the front of the microphone.
But on this one, you could just turn the top of the head right there.
And now your microphone could face you.
So there's just every, every boom arm should have that functionality.
And I'm so impressed and really happy that this one does.
The only thing I would say about this is you are able to adjust things.
There's big Allen key slots kind of all over, and you can adjust the tension
and the, the friction of everything.
But the one thing I've always wanted to see even more is in addition to
panning and tilting, you might've seen me talk about this in other videos.
I want to see teeth.
This is an iFootage articulating arm, and there are such big teeth
in here that when you lock it down, this arm cannot come out of place.
It can't slip and slide.
It doesn't matter how much weight you put on it, it's not going to go anywhere.
You unlock those big teeth, move it around, and lock the teeth back down.
I really wish that, considering especially how heavy and how awkward
the center of gravity can be on some microphones, that not only did every
microphone Boom arm have a panning and tilting head, but instead of this sort
of tension thing, which is kind of hard to dial in exactly how I want it.
If it had teeth and a big knob like this that I can just unscrew, position
where I want, and then lock it down, like essentially permanently, unless
I remove it, that would be like the perfect, the perfect mic mount.
This is in the right direction though.
I've been talking about wanting something like this for a long time, and
this is going in the right direction.
It's just not 100 percent there.
The more I've used this arm, the more I've appreciated the versatility that it has.
And if you have the space for it, it could be a really good option.
really cool thing.
Also, with the rising popularity of podcasts that have people like sitting
in chairs or sitting on couches and like boom arms are kind of like coming
around them, this is one that would be a lot easier to mount on the side
of someone or even behind someone and have it have the reach and versatility
to come around them in position.
So it could be a good arm to get if you're trying to set up, you know, a more non
traditional podcast studio that's not just a table that somebody is sitting at.
But now that we've looked at the pros and cons to all the arms,
we can go to the conclusion.
Like I said back at the start of this video, I was expecting these cheaper
arms to prove how good the Elgato is.
And the Elgato is still super good.
But instead, what these proved is basically just that there are a
lot of decent options out there.
And I I don't know why, when it comes to low profile mic arms,
they're just, they're better.
There are better options out there than regular scissor style arms.
I don't know why it seems to be difficult to manufacture
a good, inexpensive mic arm.
high, tall profile mic arm.
I do still think though, that the Elgato is a super solid choice.
And as a complete package, it does feel like the best overall quality
with the most versatility, while also staying sleek and compact.
There are other high quality arms out there, but then they can get a little,
a little crazy and a little big.
There are some that maybe the quality is not quite there.
But again, when it comes to that 99 price point, what you get here is
something that is reliable, durable.
Has a lot of versatility and a lot of cool features built right in so if you
have that in your budget It's definitely worth it, but if you don't You don't
need to stress because there are pretty awesome options at every price point.
As long as you're aware of some of the potential limitations or constraints
that you might have to deal with.
But speaking of things that deserve no constraints is no constraining my
appreciation for everybody who helps support my channel through Patreon
and YouTube channel memberships.
And if you do want to check out some more of my boom arm videos, those because
there's a shocking number of them.
I've got a couple of them for you right here.