A couple weeks ago I acquired a new wireless microphone set, a Rode Wireless Go II set. Keeping with my minimal budget, this was purchased thru a work reward – I had saved up and earned a number of recognition points, which was then traded in for the microphones. From what I can tell from Amazon, they are retailing at about $300, which is a far higher price point than my prior wired $10 lavalier mics.
Functionally, they are basic. Each unit is about 2 inches square, and about half an inch thick. There is a receiver unit, and a pair of transmitter/microphone units that all can clip on to either a shirt or similar. Apparently, the clips also fit hot-shoe mounts on cameras, though that isn’t relevant for my setup. Each piece is powered by an internal, non-replaceable battery, charged by USB-C. When activated, they have a strong signal, plenty of distance for our recording area in the basement. In theory, there may be electrical interference from other devices, but in my use, that was not present. Battery life is listed at about 5-6 hours.
As a side benefit, each transmitter keeps a recording on the unit itself, as a backup. That helps if the receiver loses connection, or if there are other issues, and the recording happens automatically. In my case, this will be helpful, since I do occasionally forget to turn on my audio recorder.
Related to quality, I was impressed. The audio came thru clear and clean. If anything, the pickups were a bit overly sensitive, they ended up capturing much of the rest of the room (we had several visitors watching the game). But the synch of the audio was spot on, and it was simple to synch to the video taken at the same time. Our game session lasted about 4 hours, and the battery levels seemed to match the vendor documentation.
The biggest challenge I have with the device is really the size, at 2 inches, each of the clips are rather sizeable. That makes it a bit oversized for a shirt, a vest or a jacket would not be a concern. I like that they include a microphone, without requiring a separate lavalier (though that is an option as well), and the included dead-cats are effective for basic noise filtering.
