Up next in 10
The Budget Maono Lavalier Microphone - REVIEWED
154 views
May 29, 2025
Looking for a wired lavalier microphone that can work with your smartphone - iPhone or Android - or your computer? How about one that also works for video cameras, camcorders and DSLR systems too? Tech expert Dave Taylor of https://www.AskDaveTaylor.com/ checks out, tests, and reviews the MAONO Lavalier Microphone and likes what he finds! Learn why... Update: The red unit is no longer available, but the black one is! You can pick one up at Amazon: https://amzn.to/3esudaP #maono #microphone #lavalier #askdavetaylor
View Video Transcript
0:00
A budget lavalier mic that plugs into everything? Let's have a look
0:11
Dave Taylor here and I'm looking at lavalier microphones. Specifically, I'm looking at this
0:16
This is the mono lavalier mic and it's actually really quite cool. It has a power component to it
0:23
So you can use it as a dynamic or condenser mic. What this means is that I could plug this into my video camera, which I'm using right now
0:32
or I could plug it into my smartphone or DSLR or camera or computer
0:38
I've tried it on all of these. So with my phone, for example, this is an iPhone 10
0:43
So I need a little dongle because there is no actual headphone jack, but 3.5 millimeter connection
0:50
I make sure that it is in the off position and I can go into video and I will actually let you hear
0:57
this, but let's do this first. This is an example of me speaking directly into the microphone and
1:03
I'm probably a little too close, but as you can see, you're getting great dynamic range here on
1:08
this microphone. Now, let me just stop the recording on the phone. Okay, cool. So now that
1:16
That worked great. I can also hook it up to my video camera, in which case I would have to actually engage
1:23
the internal power system. Some microphones they call that phantom power, but phantom power is actually a more technical
1:29
thing with microphones so I would refer to that more as dynamic versus condenser or something But the long and short of it is that in this little canister part there is a tiny little button mic sorry a tiny little button battery
1:44
And that's what you're actually using. If you need power to amplify it, it's a little teeny
1:49
tiny amp. And so then you actually get more power and more signal. Now, some things actually can't
1:55
handle that. So if I turn on the amp and then I go onto my phone and actually plug it in
2:01
it literally can't handle it. It's just like, I don't know what this is. This is too much power
2:05
I'm not listening. Turn that off and boom, your phone works great. So the little battery, actually
2:11
it comes with two batteries, which is great because a battery in my experience lasts you
2:16
six months to a year, depending on how much you're using it. But where this gets really great is it's
2:21
just a little clip on lavalier mic comes with the clip. It comes with the little windscreen and you
2:26
can plug this in and then put it on your computer, for example, and next time you're on a Skype call
2:32
you're going to sound a hundred times better than the microphone that's actually on the laptop and
2:37
picking up all the ambient noise and everything. So, huge improvement. Now, let's talk about what
2:42
else is here. So, it's a 3.5 millimeter jack, but they have this nifty little adapter that actually
2:48
gets you up to 6.5 millimeters. So, if you're plugging it into, say, an amplifier, you can use
2:55
this as a mic. Let's say you're a guitar player and you want to do a performance, but you want
2:59
people to hear your singing and you don't want to go and spend a ton of money on a mic. This would
3:04
do the trick because you can use this adapter to plug it into your standard guitar amp Pretty cool So it comes with that Comes like I said with the clip to clip it onto your lapel like I have here or whatever else windshield and then the real win is this cable I am not
3:22
untying it because it's super long. It's a 20 foot cable and you're thinking oh what about wireless
3:29
and let's be honest a wired cable tends to work better if you can handle the wire and 20 feet
3:36
means that you can have lots and lots of space. So even here, I'm probably 10 feet from my camera
3:43
And so the microphone that I use that looks remarkably like this, actually, though it's from
3:48
a different company, the microphone I use has a similar length cable. So you have lots of freedom
3:53
to move it around and position it wherever you want. So I really love this as a nice long cable
3:59
It is ridiculous overkill. If you're going to be this far from your computer and you're going to be
4:04
talking like right here, but I would rather have a wire that's too long for some situations than a
4:11
wire that's not long enough for other situations. So I'm a big fan of this, and as you heard from
4:17
both the sample from being on the phone, and let me actually, I forgot actually, let me actually
4:22
play that back now so you can hear what the phone recorded. This is an example of me speaking
4:28
directly into the microphone, and I'm probably a little too close, but as you can see, you're
4:33
getting great dynamic range here on this microphone. So, really nice, and I can use this really anywhere
4:40
I can plug this into a DSLR a camcorder a camera a computer a smartphone a tablet however you have whatever you working with this thing probably will be able to power and work with it and work just fine Thank goodness for standards Now the only thing
4:57
left to talk about is color and price. But before we get there, let me ask if you can click on that
5:02
subscribe button. Really appreciate if you can do that. And useful video, thumbs up. Thank you
5:08
Cool. Now, the Mono Lavalier Microphone, you can pick one up at Amazon. It will cost you $21.99
5:16
I did not say that incorrectly. $21.99 for a microphone with all of these powers and capabilities
5:23
Super handy. And it comes in red and pink and silver and black. I like the red. It's nice and
5:31
bright and cheery. You might choose something a little more modest, like black that goes with all
5:35
the black wires. Totally up to you. I say check this out if you're looking for a mic or even a
5:41
backup microphone, just in case your standard one doesn't work. This is inexpensive enough. You can
5:46
keep it, you buy it, put it in its little pouch that it comes with, and then just stick it in your
5:51
camera bag and forget about it. And then when a crisis occurs, you are ready to go with your
5:56
backup and people say, you're good. I'm impressed. You have backup gear. Well played. So this is the
6:02
I'm Mike, I'm Dave Taylor, and I'll catch you in my next video