Belkin F8Z818eb iPhone Directional Microphone

• Shock mount protects against bumps
• Case-compatible
• 1 AAA battery included
• Safe and secure

The Belkin LiveAction Directional Microphone may seem like a good idea but in my experience with it, the microphone does not provide a compelling reason to use it instead of the built-in iPhone microphone. You must also consider that with the microphone extending outward from the iPhone or iPod Touch about 4 inches, you need to figure out a way to have the microphone pointing towards the sound source and stay pointing in that direction while you take notes or whatever you may be doing. How are you going to do that? With a tripod attachment of some kind? Propping the iPhone against a book or something else? Or just holding it the entire time?

A directional microphone in the purest sense should pick up sound in the direction the microphone is pointed while attenuating the sound from the sides and behind the microphone. In my tests I did not perceive much attenuation of sound from the sides or from behind the microphone. The Belkin microphone did however affect the tonal quality of the recorded sound, more so in the super directional mode. In both modes, the recorded sound had a more trebly quality and that was extremely noticeable in the Super Directional mode. When compared to just the built-in mic of my iPhone, you could hear the difference in tone easily. Was it better or easier to understand? That's debatable.

The battery cover did not seem very secure to me as it only requires a very slight twist to release it. The battery inserts into the compartment with the plus end towards the cap.

The microphone is quite light in weight. The "shock mount" at first gives you the impression that the microphone shaft is simply going to twist right off the mounting clamp. It does not feel like a quality piece of gear. The thumbwheel adjustment does allow you some leeway in attaching the microphone to an iPhone with a case, although if your case is too thick, it may not fit. You do not want to overtighten the thumbwheel as it is not very robust.

Overall I did not find this to be a good value. It is an ungainly addition to your iPhone and cumbersome to deal with. Recording quality was not all that great and the tonal quality, especially in the super directional mode was very harsh and trebly sounding.

For the cost of this add-on to your iPhone, you'd be better off considering the purchase of a dedicated digital audio recorder such as the Zoom H1 Handy Portable Digital Recorder which will give you substantially better recording capabilities.

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*****

First, this is for the iPhone 4, not the Betamax SL-8200 as has been suggested, which is a videcassete playback device, which cannot record anything. The deal with this product is that you hook it up to your 4th generation iPhone and it records sounds better than the microphone built into your phone. It sticks out and presumably points towards the sources of the sounds you want to record to go along with the video you're recording.

Second, it is an extra piece of equipment you have to tote around if you plan to use it. If you're all the time stalking presidential candidates hoping to use your iPhone to catch them doing something newsworthy on video, you might well want to use this product to capture the sounds better.

Third, it does indeed make better audio. When I used my friend's iPhone to record her playing "Home" (from "Beauty and the Beast," music by Alan Menken) on piano using its native mic and played it back, it sounded OK. When I repeated the experiment using the Belkin F8Z818eb iPhone Directional Microphone and played it back and compared it to the original, the Belkin version sounded discernably better.

For piano it's better to use the wider setting, and for a voice it's better to use the narrower.

It does not stand up to water well. For example, if you try to use your iPhone with this product attached in as few as four feet of water in a swimming pool hoping to learn what your child is saying as she swims along underwater, not only does the accessory mic fail to operate, the phone does too. As usual, I plan to sue somebody for this.

You also cannot successfully bake this product and expect anything along the lines of any sort of edible food. After 350 degrees Fahrenheit for a mere 20 minutes, this particular microphone started to melt, at which time I removed it instantly and doused in a cold-water bath, at which time after I plugged it into the iPhone it consistely failed to work at all. I admit I can't say whether it failed to work because of the melting or the water, but either way it's a disappointment, but the original point of this paragraph is that the baked version of this product tasted terrible.

Because it does what it says it will I start with five stars. Because I cannot find any obvious flaw beyond the fact you have to remember to carry it with you, I award five stars.

*****

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If there was a "0" star I would give that. Total waste of money.

Reasons explained below.

1> The Belkin directional mic gives ZERO advantage over the built in mic of iPhone 5. If you use it on Wide mode the mic is infact worst then built in mic of iphone. if you use it on tele mode its about the same as iphone built in mic, but it also records the sound coming from behind, thus its not at all directional.

2> You must download the belkin live action app (Free of charge ) from iTunes store. this app is as worst as the mic. 1> if you using iPhone 4s or 4 its fine. but in case if you using the iphone 5 then video format is still that of iphone 4s so you have a black empty space around. ( I dont understand what has the video format to do with the mic and why did the company did not update the app for the iphone 5 ) 2> Also when you have plugged the mic in the phone, you can not play back video with sound, one must remove the mic only then one can hear the sound from the built in speakers. Even if you switch off the mic, still you cant hear the sound. there is no option of selecting internal speakers for play back when the mic is attached.

3> inspite of the foam filling inside the directional mic one gets lot of hiss while recording.

4> After you have attached the mike the belkin app does not give you the option to switch between internal mic and external mic.

5> the mechanical mounting of the mic is so flimsy that, you will feel it will break in the very first attempt while mounting. I really doubt it will last even 10 recording performances.

6> The Battery compartment has a microscopic "+" symbol, I mean its impossible for a person with reading glass to even see it. One has to look really hard under a bright light to find which way the battery goes in. And unlike the standard position the "+" is on the top. Seriously how much can it cost to make a + marking on the lid. Its also no where mentioned in the instruction manual which comes along.

7> the original battery supplied with the mike, once you put it in, is rather impossible to take it out, one has to really make an effort and jerk the mic in taking the battery out.

8> there is no battery check or battery indicator, so in case if the battery goes weak, and if you are not paying attention to recording level or if you have kept the recording level off, You will come home with a mute video.

9> the mechanical mounting screw is meant for iphone 4 or 4s. As the iphone 5 is thinner even after tightening the screw full it does not secure the mic to the phone. I had to put a additional packing material to fill the gap only then I could secure it on my iphone 5. I mean all company has to do is to provide a small pcs of packing material with tape.

10> no visual indication on mic if it is on or off ( no LED ), or even the simple mechanical switch does not have red colour showing when you switch it on. so in case if you are in a auditorium or bit of a darker venue or a studio, you cant figure out if the mic is on or off.

Its unfortunate that I ordered it and got it shipped to Mumbai India, and cost of returning it back will cost me more then the mic so Im stuck with useless product for which I paid heavily, + international freight charges + custom duty, I guess in this much money I could have bought a rode mike.

Any one even thinking of buying this product, please Dont buy, you will only get regret and remorse after buying it. the built in mic of iphone is far better or use a bluetooth mic or simple wired mic.

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This mic is better than the built in, but aside from looking kind of professional, it hardly good enough quality for any serious recording. It has adjustments for 'directional' and 'super-directional' but it's not a big difference. Also the mounting is an awkward, semi-flexible plastic.

To me, it's neither worth the purchase price nor the hassle to use this for recordings.

EIther skip it, or kick it up a notch with the Olympus ME-51S Stereo Microphone, or the Blue Microphones Mikey 2.0 iPod Recording Microphone.

Regardless, a mic at a distance will always pick up ambient noise, so look also into a small lavaliere mic on a long cable, or use a real XLR mic with Hosa XVM-110M Right Angle 3.5mm TRS to XLR3M 10 Ft

I wanted to love this Belkin Mic. I really did. But the video sound is only marginally better than the sound my iPhone 4 records without the mic when used outside with a light breeze and inside, I can tell the difference. So, because of the marginally better sound outside, three stars.