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Thought about upgrading your karaoke microphone, the mic plugged into your amp for your garage band or even just want a handheld microphone for interviews for your podcast or video channel? You probably never realized there's good gear out there for under $50. Under $40, even. But does it work, and how does it sound?
Tech expert and videographer Dave Taylor of https://www.AskDaveTaylor.com/ checks out the Tonor UHF Wireless Handheld Microphone and finds that while the packaging and features are a bit confusing, the core functionality works remarkably well...
Check it out on Amazon: https://amzn.to/2LhjMnU
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0:00
A wireless microphone with 80 foot range? Let's check this out
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Dave Taylor here and I'm trying out this microphone and as you can tell
0:15
it works from a long way away. So let's walk a little closer. Obviously it is wireless
0:21
If this was a wired microphone, this would be a really long wire. Anyway, let me get a little
0:27
closer. Let's sit down and let's talk about what this thing can do and how it works
0:31
Okay, I made it back to my house and what we're looking at, by the way, is the Toner UHF wireless
0:37
handheld microphone. Now, I can't actually demonstrate the microphone and show you the
0:42
receiver at the same time, so I'm going to switch again and this time I'm going to use my regular
0:47
lavalier mic and then we can go through both parts of this microphone. So give me just another second
0:54
Okay, we're back. Now, this is the Toner UHF wireless handheld microphone and receiver unit
1:01
Oh, hang on. I actually, there's a story behind this. The company is trying to figure out exactly
1:08
what features to include. So this is actually the second generation of microphone I've received from
1:14
them. The first generation had a quarter inch to 3.5 millimeter adapter, which is fantastically
1:21
useful because anything that you can plug in a little microphone plug to, you can then plug in a
1:25
big microphone plug to. Now, as is, this works perfectly fine if you want to plug it into a
1:31
guitar amp or a karaoke machine or something and then you have this great wireless microphone that
1:36
you can sing and dance and do all sorts of stuff. So that's really fun. Add this little adapter
1:42
however, and it gives you a lot more flexibility. But this version of the microphone doesn't
1:48
actually include that. So here's the good news. You can pick up a quarter inch to 3.5 millimeter
1:54
adapter for four bucks on Amazon. $3.99. So you can get that and then get this whole setup and you are
2:01
in really great shape and it's super flexible. So I'm going to just leave this on here, even though
2:06
you now know that this actually has a quarter inch connector and this is a separate adapter
2:11
Now, let's talk about this because this actually works on UHF and it's a 10 channel system. So if
2:19
the channel is giving you a little interference or you want to have two microphones on the unit
2:23
or something, you can pick different channels. It has a display that includes battery and it
2:28
runs off of two double A's, which you will have to supply. And you can change channels with the
2:34
push of a button. So you push and boom, you're changing the channel and that's as easy as it
2:39
could possibly get. That's pretty much everything you have here. So that's nice and easy and it works
2:44
fine. The little rubber thing so that it doesn't roll is included. You can install it or not. I like
2:53
it because then if I put my microphone down, it doesn't roll off of a chair or table. And then the
2:59
receiver unit, this is actually an interesting piece of technology. So this is a UHF receiver
3:05
and Bluetooth transmitter. So it gives you an operating range of 80 feet as you saw in my
3:11
initial demo. It works from a long way away and it's clean and there's no interference and there's
3:16
no dropouts. That's really nice. Now, I have to be entirely candid with you. I didn't get the Bluetooth
3:24
to work, but my intention from the beginning was to have this as something I would plug into devices
3:29
so that I would be able to use it. I think that having UHF and Bluetooth just seems like you're
3:34
adding a lot of possible problems there. So having this plugged directly into whatever it is you're
3:40
recording with seems like a better solution. Add this little tiny adapter and as I said, you've
3:46
got a lot of flexibility. You can plug this into a Mac or PC. You could plug it into a smartphone
3:51
or a tablet. So, you know, this gives you lots and lots of flexibility. Now, the microphone itself
3:58
has a cardioid polar pickup pattern. So it's going to do a nice job of picking up audio regardless
4:04
of where you are relative to the microphone and that's exactly what you want. And let's see. So on
4:11
the microphone, like I said, it has two double A's. There are exactly two buttons and there's the little
4:17
display that shows you battery power and signal power and what channel you're on. Really, that's
4:24
all you need. And on the receiver, the receiver unit has a couple of little LEDs. So there's a
4:30
flashing one showing me it's ready to pair Bluetooth. There is a solid one that shows me
4:35
that it's paired with the microphone which happens basically instantly. When I turn both units on
4:41
boom, it's ready to go. And then there's a little red one that you don't see that would show you the
4:45
battery's getting low on this and this uses a custom battery that is included. And one of the
4:52
issues is the previous generation of this microphone didn't include the battery which
4:57
sort of left customers, I think, scratching their heads and saying, what do I put in here because
5:02
this is not a double A or triple A or any battery I've ever seen. So now they include the battery
5:08
Really, really good upgrade. And let's see. You charge it. It's a rechargeable battery. So there's a
5:14
micro USB connector or a plug on the side that lets you charge it. And then there's a sliding
5:20
on-off switch. Both of these, when you turn them off, if you put them into your bag with all your gear
5:25
they're not going to turn on accidentally. And that's really important. You don't want to
5:29
get to your gig and find out that your microphone's dead. And let's see. On the front, there's also
5:33
one button that's a pairing button for the Bluetooth feature. Again, I didn't really test that
5:39
very much so I can't speak to that. You can go and look and find other reviews or look on Amazon or
5:45
something. Now I will say, every review I saw on Amazon was talking about plugging it in and using
5:50
it wired, not via Bluetooth. So there is that. Oh, and it comes with a little handy handle if you want
5:57
to carry it. And that's pretty much it. The only other stuff that it comes with is it comes with
6:02
a cable, micro USB for charging, and it comes with instructions. And here's what's funny. The
6:09
instructions are not for this unit. So they are 90% the same, but this is for some sort of car
6:16
microphone that has an FM transmitter rather than one with a Bluetooth transmitter, but it has the
6:21
same model number. So you got to pay a little bit of attention when you get one of these. But here's
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the thing, is it's really, really affordable and I'm very impressed with the audio quality and the
6:32
range. So, you know, there's your trade-offs. It gives you a really nice set of features and it
6:37
works really well, but you do have to possibly monkey around a tiny bit or pick up a separate
6:44
adapter or something to get it to work with your setup. So there's that. Now, before I tell you
6:49
that price and tell you where you can pick up one, let me go ahead and ask if you don't mind, click
6:54
on that subscribe button. Really appreciate when you subscribe. Cool. Now, this, sorry, this is the
7:02
Toner UHF wireless handheld microphone system or kit and it will cost you $34.99 at amazon.com
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I say it's a pretty darn good deal. I would probably pick up the adapter at the same time
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unless you know for sure you're going to be plugging this into amps or karaoke machines or
7:21
other things with that quarter inch plug. If you have any other uses for it, then just pick this up
7:26
It's a couple of bucks and now you have lots of capabilities. So this is Dave Taylor and I'll catch
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you in my next video
#Consumer Electronics
#Audio Equipment
#Radio Equipment
#Gadgets & Portable Electronics