Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

The Audio Technica ATR-3350 Lavalier Omnidirectional Condenser Microphone appears to be a nearly identical replacement lavalier mic from the recently discontinued Audio-Technica ATR-35S Lavalier Microphone. Reading some blog advice about video podcasting and playing around a bit with making YouTube videos, "sound" in video is usually the part that makes video quality bad. So I was looking for a reasonably price lapel mic to use. The ATR-3350 is quite inexpensive considering that you can easily spend $200 for a professional model lapel mic. If you read some of the "1" (hate it) reviews from the ATR-35S, they pretty much all related to "low volume issues". You may see some similar reviews here as time goes on. Plugging the ATR-3350 directly into my Dell laptop PC mic in or camera mic in, I also thought the volume is not high enough. However, plugging it into my video camera, it sounded great. Just the right volume. Not too loud or soft. I went to the support site for ATR and asked my question on volume on my laptop PC mic in. Support on the ATR site was good. I got a quick response back on my question about volume on my laptop. The advice was "Look for MIC Boost in the Advanced Controls for microphone in the Volume Control window of Voice recording under the Voice tab of the Sounds and Audio Devices Properties of Windows to boost the level of a microphone. (Windows XP example given.)". I'm giving it "5" for the product considering value for the price and the support I got. I'm sure the quality does not get anywhere near professional mics with XLR inputs. Those mics are in a different class. Certainly not in this price range. Be careful if you have a rolling chair and use this mic near your PC. The cord is thin and probably easy to make the mic "nonfunctional" if you were to roll over the cable with all your weight pinching the thin cord under a wheel.