Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

For the modest cost of this Hotec wireless mic, I'm really impressed with the build quality and ease of use. It's great to have a built-in battery, and to be able to charge both the transmitter and receiver with a standard cellphone charger. (The unit comes with a dual charging cable that lets you charge both pieces at the same time.) For just $40, the freedom that you get from a wireless mic is intoxicating, and that's what I like about this Hotec mic for video people who are looking to step up from using only the camera's built-in mic. This Hotec is MUCH better than using a camera's built-in mic. That's not to say that the Hotec mic is perfect. It has a fair amount of background noise that can be easily heard. I used software to delete most of the background noise from my video review, but pay careful attention to the sound before and after I used the hiss reduction. If you are accustomed to getting good sound (with wired mics, for example), you may be disappointed with the background hiss this Hotec mic makes. I would suggest that Hotec develop a quieter model and sell it for $20 more -- that would be a steal if the background noise was, say, 10 dB quieter. I'd buy three of those! Also note the distance test that I did. If you expect to use a wireless microphone consistently at distances of 50 feet or greater (16+ meters) from the receiver, the Hotec is not your microphone. If you are within 20 feet, you should have no problem. This mic is a nice value for its low price, and really impressed me with its build quality, features and ease of use. It falls down a bit in sound quality only because of the background hiss. If you're starting out with video and want to step up to something better than the camera's built-in mic, this Hotec kit is a good choice.