- Are you looking for the best wireless microphone
to use with your iPhone, your android, your DSLR
or pretty much any other camera with a 3.5 millimeter input?
Well, here's everything you need to know
about how current top wireless microphone recommendation
that works across them all, the Rode Wireless GO.
Now just before we get into it,
I do wanna say that this is not a sponsored video.
Rode have not paid us any money,
they did send us out a unit to test and to try
for this video, I'm not 100% sure if I have to send
it back yet, but these are my thoughts,
my opinions on the Rode Wireless GO to help you decide
if this is the best one for you.
Hey it's Justin Brown here from Primal Video,
where we help you amplify your business
and brand with video.
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that subscribe button and all the links to everything
I mention in this video, you can find linked
in the description box below.
So let's jump into it.
Now when it comes to wireless microphone systems,
traditionally, the good options have always been
on the more expensive end of the spectrum.
And many of those have still had their fair share
of issues as well.
The Rode Wireless Filmmaker Kit was previously
our top recommendation as all round best bang-for-buck
wireless microphone solution.
But Rode has just released a brand new
and far more portable option, the Rode Wireless GO.
This thing is super tiny, it's more affordable,
and it packs in some impressive specs.
It works with a broad range of devices, so you can use it
if you're looking for a wireless microphone for your iPhone,
your android, your DLSR or pretty much
any other camera out there.
But you just might need a cheap adapter as well
to make it work.
So after putting it through its paces
there is definitely a lot to like
and a few things that anyone that's considering buying
should be aware of before they buy.
But we're going to look at all of that in this video
to help you decide whether this is
the best wireless microphone for you.
Now, if you're not familiar with wireless microphones,
there are two parts;
there is a transmitter and a receiver.
One to transmit the wireless audio,
one to receive the wireless audio.
But in this case, instead of these being bulky units,
these things are tiny.
I mean crazy tiny.
These things way just 31 grams each.
And they measure in around 44 millimeters by 46 millimeters,
and around 18.5 millimeters thickness.
And for those of you looking for the conversion,
it's on screen.
These things have a seven hour battery life,
which again, considering the size is just insane,
you charge them up just using a USB-C cable,
and you can actually charge the microphone
while it's plugged in and while you're using it.
So if you're on a longer shoot
or you want to record for a long period of time,
so you don't want the battery to go flat at all
while you're recording, then you can have it plugged in
and charging or connected to power while you're recording.
These things have a range of up to 70 meters line of sight,
but it is definitely more optimized
to work in closer distances,
so there's less chance of interference
and those sorts of things affecting the signal.
You can also have up to eight of these running
in one location without any interference.
Now I do want to quickly follow that up and say
that if you do want to run multiple microphones,
you will need multiple kits.
These things running in pairs.
So you will need a pair or a set for each person
that you want to put a microphone on.
Now these microphones compared up
ready to use out of the box, but they also include
super fast pairing, meaning if you do need to change
up the pairing with some of your kits,
it takes around three seconds, which is pretty damn fast.
There's actually two different ways
that you can use this microphone.
This thing has a 3.5 millimeter TRS microphone plug
so that you can connect up a Lavalier microphone
or a lapel microphone to make it
like a traditional wireless microphone setup.
Or the other option is it's also got its own built-in
microphone into the transmitter,
which is surprisingly really good.
The unit's themselves have a built in bell clip,
which also doubles as a cold shoe mount
so that you can mount it on top of a camera
or you can pretty much clip it anyway.
There's a display on the receiver
that show you the volume levels,
the audio bars for the audio that you're transmitting,
and it even shows you the battery levels
of both the transmitter and the receiver.
There's three volume level adjustments,
you've got minus 12 minus six or zero decibel settings,
which gives you the flexibility to use this
across a wide range of cameras or devices,
allowing you to set the volume accordingly for each device.
And these units are also firmware upgradeable,
meaning that if there's any additional features or patches
or anything from Rode that need to be applied,
you can easily update the firmware to access them.
Now in regards to cost, this is where it gets really crazy.
The Rode Wireless GO is selling for under $200.
It's currently selling for $199,
which really blows my mind given how compact
and powerful this microphone kit is.
Now in the box, obviously,
you get both the transmitter and the receiver.
You also get a TRS to TRS or an SC2 cable,
which is the cable that you use
to connect up to DSLRs or cameras.
It also comes with two fur windshields like a dead cat
to help reduce the wind noise from the built in microphone
and there's also two USB-C two USB-A charging cables
and a carry pouch.
I really think it's awesome that they've included
two charging cables just makes it easier to be able
to charge both at the same time.
Now as I said right out of the box,
you'll have no issue connecting this up
with a DSLR or any camera that takes a 3.5 millimeter
headphone jack TRS plug.
You can also use this with your smartphone as well.
If you purchase a TRS to TRRS adapter.
Now Rode do make one, they call it the SC7
and it sells for around $15.
Now if you've got one of those phones
that doesn't have a headphone jack,
then you will need to use either
the lightning to headphone jack plug
or USB-C to headphone jack plug
along with that adapter SC7 to make this work.
So in regards to my first impressions,
when I first opened the box, the look and feel, the quality,
everything, I was really blown away first
and foremost by the size.
I'm going to keep saying that because this thing
is just insane with how small and light it is.
But also the build quality.
This is something that I would have thought
that given the size and given the price
that this thing would feel cheap and not work very well.
And I really didn't have the highest of expectations for it.
Yet on the other hand, this is a Rode microphone,
which is typically our go-to recommendations
for best bang-for-buck microphones
because that's exactly what they are.
A mix of audio quality and quality build
but also quality product overall.
And this is no different.
But what I was really taken away with is the thought process
between two main things, the mounting mechanism,
the belt clip that also doubles as the hot shoe
or cold shoe mount.
And also the fact that they have a microphone
built into the transmitter.
so that you don't need to use a lapel
or a Lavalier microphone, you can just use the unit itself
just as the microphone.
Now personally, I do think that most times
I'll be using this I will be connecting a microphone
to it and treating it as if it was a traditional
wireless microphone setup.
But just knowing that it has the built in microphone,
I'm sure there's going to be use cases where is it going
to be easier to clip that on, and run with that instead.
Now in regards to what this thing actually sounds like
you've been listening to it for the length of this video,
I am recording this video using the Rode Wireless GO.
But I do have it connected up with the Rode Smartlav
plus lavalier microphone,
which is just clipped onto my jacket here.
But what I'm gonna do now is unclip the Rode Smartlav plus
and just show you what the built-in microphone sounds like.
So we'll just run with it, you don't normally
want to do this by the way.
Okay, so this is the Rode Wireless GO,
you can see just how small it is.
And you're actually hearing the microphone
that is in the top of it right now.
So you can clip it onto your shirt or on to your jacket,
it's probably going to clip on a bit better
if I'm not wearing a jacket like this.
But you can hear now that this is sounding
pretty damn amazing for what it is.
So no additional microphone, just the built-in microphone
in the transmitter on this Rode Wireless GO.
So you can see just how powerful this thing is
and how good it sounds just with the built-in microphone.
I've reconnected the Rode Smartlav plus lavalier
microphone back to the unit now.
So that's what you're hearing.
But just be aware, if you are going to use
that Rode Smartlav Plus, you will also need to purchase
the adapter so that you can use that microphone,
because it has a TRRS connector.
So you will need to get the adapter from TRRS back to TRS.
So that it works in the unit.
You can see that's it there.
So to get this thing set up and running, all you need to do
is obviously make sure that both the transmitter
and the receiver a charged.
Connect the receiver to your camera or to your smartphone.
And this is where using that belt clip slash
hot shoe adapter mount is awesome, you can just slide it
right onto the top of your camera.
Or if you're going to connect it up to use it
with your smartphone, you could use a rig something like
the iOgrapher and mount it on to that.
Or you can purchase a hot shoe extension bar,
which will give you extra mounting options
for maybe putting your phone on one side
and the wireless receiver on the other side.
You then want to mount the transmitter
on the person whose audio you want to capture.
So you'll either want to clip it onto their shirt,
on to their jacket and use the built in microphone,
or you want to connect it to their belt
and then connect and clip on a lavalier microphone
as I'm doing here.
The last thing you want to do before you press record
is to check your volume levels and adjust them
on the unit if you need to.
If it's too loud or too quiet, and obviously,
you've got your volume levels inside of your camera,
you can adjust as well.
And if you're looking for advanced control
on your smartphone, if you use an app like Filmic Pro,
that will give you the ability to manually adjust
your volume levels if it's too loud or too quiet.
And we have done a full walkthrough tutorial
on using Filmic Pro.
And I'll put a link to that up in the cards
if you're going to be creating videos with your smartphones.
And you're after the most amount of features and control
and quality that you can get out of your smartphone.
So wrapping this up the strengths or the advantages
with this, the size and the weight are an absolute given.
It's amazing what they've packaged into something
so small and something so light.
It has amazing battery life, I love that it's USB-C,
I'm a USB-C all the things person.
So that's a big tick.
And I also really like the flexibility of having
the built-in microphone in the transmitter,
but also the absolute genius behind the mounting options
of the belt clip slash hot shoe cold shoe mount.
Yeah, well played.
It's awesome.
Now as for the downsides, or the weaknesses,
or the things that aren't quite there,
I think it definitely would have been nice
to see a screw thread on the 3.5 millimeter plugs
so that your cables aren't going to get knocked loose,
or there's no chance of you not actually pushing them in
all the way so they're not connected properly.
But also the ability to be able to connect a TRRS microphone
like the Rode Smartlav plus
without needing to use another adapter.
Again, not a deal breaker, but it would be nice
if you can plug in both TRS and TRRS microphones
into this without the need to have an adapter.
Now there's two last things that I do want to address
because we've had a lot of questions come through
on these things.
The first one is in regards to audio dropouts,
when people turn their back.
So there's been some YouTube videos that people have put out
where when they turn around, the audio drops out,
because they're breaking that line of sight connection
between the transmitter and the receiver.
Now in all of our tests,
we have not been able to replicate this.
It's worked really well between walls.
And even at quite a distance going through walls.
We've had no issues with that,
and obviously turning around and moving around,
we had no issues with that either.
So definitely haven't experienced any of those issues
in all of our tests.
And the second thing is in regards
to microphone interference.
There's a few reports of people saying
that they've plugged in microphones into this unit
to use their own lapel or lavaliar microphone.
And they're just getting static and (mumbles).
Yeah, the audio's sounding bad.
We've tested this with the Rode Smartlav plus,
I've tested this with the BOYA BY-M1 microphones,
the iRig Lavalier, we've also tested this
with the Rode microphone that comes
with the other Rode Filmmaker Kit, the wireless kit,
and also a Sony lavalier microphone as well.
And we have not been able to replicate this,
maybe that's coming through
on a really cheap-end microphone, but the BOYA
and the iRig microphones are pretty cheap ones
and they worked fine as well.
So can't replicate that problem either.
So overall value for money.
This is definitely the best bang-for-buck
wireless microphone out there right now.
Because it's the complete package.
It's small, it's light, it's crazy cheap.
And it works really, really well.
Now in regards to the competitors, or the competition
for this product, one of them is their own
the Rode Filmmaker Kit, which sells for around $400.
And the other one is the Sennheiser XSW slash D,
which was an absolute game changer in this space
of small wireless microphones
until the Rode Wireless GO came out.
Now that's not to say that you shouldn't consider
those microphones as well in your decision making process,
there's definitely a place for them.
Like the Rode Filmmaker Kit does have
that locking mechanism, the screw thread on your microphones
and on the cables, so that they're not going to come loose.
It also runs double A batteries
so that you can just swap out the batteries
and you're good to go without needing to wait
and charge things up or power things off USB power,
you've got that extra flexibility there.
And you've also got more advanced control
and more control over the volume levels
on both the transmitter and the receiver.
So yes, this is a little bit different.
It's not as many features as the Rode Filmmaker Kit.
But really for the most part, and for most people out there,
this is going to do everything you need and more
for a fraction of the cost and a fraction of the size
and weight as well.
There's two videos linked on screen.
The first one I think is a must watch.
If you're looking to hide your lapel
or your lavalier microphone, under your shirt,
your dress, your jacket, whatever it is,
but still get great audio then that video
is an absolute must.
The second video is a suggestion from YouTube.
I have no idea what it is.
I hope it's awesome.
See you in the next one.