****** - Verified Buyer
4.5
The Blink500 PRO B1 is a wireless winner. The unit includes all the necessary connections needed for wide versatility. The contents include one transmitter (TX) and one receiver (RX) housed in a USB-C rechargeable case and all the necessary cabling to get you up and running. The transmitter is the audio source and the receiver receives the audio from the source into a device like a camera, phone or audio recorder. The transmitter includes a built in microphone making it easy to get clean wireless audio right away without the need for an external microphone. Saramonic took their quality to the next level by including a lav mic as to take the value up a notch - simply plug it in to the mic port on the unit and the onboard microphone is disabled in favor of the microphone that is plugged in. On a full charge these units have plenty of battery power to go around making a great addition to the camera kit. Small enough to throw in a backpack for mobile productions but strong enough to be a workhouse in larger shoots with convenient charging. Two small but standout features are the included mute switch and included headphone monitor port on the receiver. All this to say you will find a wireless winner in the Blink500 PRO B1.I have the original version of the Saramonic lavalier system with the same basic functions, but when this one came along I had to get it. These are top-notch 2.4GHz wireless lavaliers. These have a nice little LCD screen on them. The transmitter shows the current sound (a little line that jumps when noise is heard), battery level, gain of the microphone, and even the transmitter signal quality. The receiver shows both signal qualities of the transmitters, battery levels of both, gain level of both, and battery level of the receiver itself.These come with all sorts of cables to hook up to a camera or even a sound board (not advised, but sometimes you have no choice). The receiver can output either a combined mono signal, or they can split it and your Left/Right signal path is Transmitter "A" and "B". That way you can mix it down later to help balance the sound. The receiver also has a monitor port on it so you can listen on the fly and make sure everything is right on the fly.The transmitters (which are identical), have both a Mic In/Line In port and also have built-in microphones. While the internal microphones are adequate, the ability to connect a lavalier really make these units sound so much better. You can also use a Line In, so if you had remote music or were needing to patch this into a sound mixer auxiliary output, you could.These microphones are essential for any type of event that requires a photographer/videographer to capture audio. If you were a sound person you would be using a different style as these are meant for mounting to cameras and the like since their clips are also cold shoe compatible.Now, on to the cases. I have a bit of a concern as the charging/pairing case. It comes in a soft case as well, but with all the cables and lavaliers, you need to put them in that, so the hard case has to be removed. Not a huge deal, but now you have two cases instead of one. The second, which kind of concerns me is that without the charging case, you cannot re-pair these transmitters and receivers to each other. Thankfully, you can charge them with the included Micro-USB cables, but still, not being able to pair them without the case kinda sucks. But you should have the case anyway, so it isn't something I would deduct a star for.The sound on these are great, the internal mics are decent, but not something I would use for anything important. ALWAYS USE THE WIRED LAVALIER... I am a sound person, its what I do. I help out videographers and such with their sound and when I do a wedding I always give them a feed, etc... So, when I say do not use the internal mic, I MEAN IT. The external wired lavalier can be put nice and close up (within 8" of the mouth) and not be seen. Using the internal mic means you have a matchbox sized "thing" on the person. It doesn't look nice AND does not sound the same. Spend the time, put it on right... You'll appreciate it later in post when you are not having to clean up a bunch of noise and junk.These are definitely not the cheapest, but they are the most affordable with the functions they come with and the quality they are. You will definitely want to familiarize yourself with the manual and make sure you can operate these efficiently when you are at an event as the learning curve isn't difficult, but you do not want to be fumbling around with it right before an event. Fumbling does not invoke confidence in your client.Anyway, get them, you will not be dissappointed.Saramonic has stepped up their game with the sound quality on this wireless mic set as well as functionality with the charging case and the whole setup.My biggest issue is that in monitoring the microphone through my Sony a7iii, there is a clear delay in what I hear from the person speaking and what I hear from the mic. I don't have this issue with my Rode Wireless GO or the Sony UWP & Sennheiser G3 systems I've used. This makes me think that the audio will be out of sync with my video, though it's my first time using them and I haven't gotten into post-production yet. It's hard to gauge the audio quality on-set when there is an echo/delay impacting everything.The other issue is that reception is not great at times. Sometimes I've had the talent just 4-6ft away and with the mic in their back pocket, I've had a few audio drop outs. Other times, I could hear the talent when they were 30ft away, but consistency is key with audio in video production.I recognize that these issues may be because I got a defective unit, so if the seller/manufacturer is willing to replace it and the issues go away, I would update my review.
