VideoSecu High Sensitive Preamp Microphone Audio Pickup Device Sound Voice Pickup Kit with 100 Feet Cable and Power Supply WUH

This is great! A psychopathic neighbor has been terrorizing me for months. Before all I had was video of some guy standing in front of my house waving his arms around and giving the finger at my cameras. After I added the microphone now I have audio along with the video and I got some nice recordings of him making death threats against me and the police found these A/V recordings to be very interesting and much more useful in prosecuting him.I ended up pushing the microphone into the end of a heavy duty drinking straw then covering it in about four layers of heat shrink tubing to reinforce the straw to make it harder to crush. I make the straw about 4 inches long, I cut a piece of black packing foam from a box, I shaped it into an odd shape (to disguise it's nature) then poked a hole in it and pushed the straw into it and hot glued it so it won't come off the straw. I opened a window a tiny crack and put it under the window and closed it back down a little, I put insulation in the window track so rain and wind won't come through into the house. Now the microphone is actually inside but via the tubing the sound carries from outside to the inside where the Mic is. The foam kills the noise of the constant wind blowing and now I get a nice audio feed for my cameras.It would be nice if they would make some sort of outdoor mounting gadget for it that is rain and wind proof.Anyway, it works great and I think I'll buy a few more for my other cameras considering the problem with the terrorist neighbor is still ongoing.

I use this microphone with other professional mics for bird and wildlife audio as well as general security. Please note - LOUDNESS is determined by the gain (think volume control) of the security unit circuits - not just this microphone. More about that below if you wish to read on. For now I will say that this mic, being "powered", has a low noise level and a high sensitivity in a 60 degree cone to the the general direction it is pointing. It is very transparent but does not have (or need) outstanding fidelity. It has AGC (automatic gain control) to even out the loud and soft sounds and that is a good feature. It is ideal for security uses and the price is right! Is it loud enough to capture the elusive noise you WANT to record with your security DVR? It depends on you DVR audio circuits and how quiet of a noise you EXPECT to record. You will just have to try it but I suspect that most "powered" security mics will record at about the same loudness. In a nutshell, this one seems to be a very good value.Details - - - My microphones all go through an audio mixer before patching into the security DVR or other recorder. Yes, I have meters to monitor and adjust loudness too. Also, I listen with headphones to avoid any chance of feedback loops. If I want any mic to be louder (more sensitive to faint sounds in the lingo of an audio engineer) I turn up the mixer's gain. In theory the more you amplify a microphone signal the fainter and more distant the sound you can hear - but there are always limits in the real world, huh?Turn any mic way, way up and you may hear the rumble from your home's fridge motor, furnace, AC, cars on distant roads, etc (a general low frequency rumble). Also, the more you turn it up the more "line noise" you hear. Line noise sounds like static and can become so loud that it drowns out the distant noise you want to hear. WARNING: Opening a door or speaking anywhere near the mic with the volume cranked up will blow the headphones right off your head and probably ruin your hearing too. Please note that most security DVR systems do NOT have an audio gain control or volume knob. Audio gain in a security system might be useful to folks who complain that a certain mic only recorded things a few feet away!They do make expensive, professional microphones for videographers and film makers that are very sensitive to distant, quiet noises while keeping background static and noise to a minimum (think about recording roaring lions from 500 yards). Some use a parabolic collector (like a satellite dish) and some called shotgun mics are long, skinny things that listen to a very narrow tunnel of sound much like binoculars or a zoom lens that looks far away - but at a very small area. Search Amazon for "parabolic microphone" to see such toy and professional microphones.Back to this security mic. Actually this "powered, active electronics" mic has less noise and is better for security recording than some professional microphone costing hundreds of dollars. You see, security mics have high gain, low noise and AGC. For any audio geeks out there, this mic is much quieter with MORE gain than any dynamic mic - but with less dynamic range. I would have to use a phantom powered or active electronics professional mic to get as much sheer gain with as low a noise floor as this cheap security mic!In conclusion, for it's intended use this microphone is very good - all that you need. But, can you record a grasshopper burp in the next block? Nope! Once again, your mileage (and mic sensitivity) will vary depending on the security DVR you hook it to but I suspect that most security mics will record at about the same "loudness". Try this one and see if it doesn't fill the bill for recording sound around the area your camera covers.

I needed a seperate Mic to add on to my second security camera, it worked relatively well close up, but it wasn't designed for picking up sounds from very far out. I didn't get to use it where I needed it, but have made other plans for it. If you need an affordable mic set up that's small and easy to disguise for recording in a small area, this works well. It is a neat little Mic, I love it. I recommend it, and it's at an unbelievable price too!Mike F. in Florida