• Audio

  Rode SmartLav+ vs Rode Lavalier?

  Posted by David Mohl on November 2, 2014 at 9:38 am

  Hello,

  to upgrade the quality of my recordings, I want to add a proper sound for picking up dialogue.
  I am currently recording simple off-camera segments with the zoom h2n, but am looking into something better. Since the rooms tend to have a big more reverb than I wish, I decided to go with a lavalier.

  2 jumped into my eye so far: The rode smartlav+ and the rode lavalier.
  The smartlav is at $70, while the rode lavalier is at $250. I couldn’t find direct comparisons online.

  What I think is cool about the rode lavalier, that I don’t need an XLR recorder yet, and simply buy a adapter at a later point if I need to.

  What are your opinions or recommendations? Did anyone try the smartlav and can compare it to the rode lav? Any other lavaliers I should look at?

  Cheers

  Al Bergstein replied 11 years, 7 months ago 3 Members · 2 Replies
• 2 Replies

• 

  Bruce Watson

  November 2, 2014 at 6:34 pm

  Take a look at / listen to the Oscar Sound Tech lavs (https://oscarsoundtech.com/). I bought two to replace the stock lavs from Sennheiser for my G3 wireless systems. A very significant upgrade. And they’ll also run over XLR cables with the optional XLR power supply. Highly recommended, and much less expensive than the Rode lav.

  That said, they are somewhat sensitive to handling noise. But if you follow “standard procedure” when mounting lavs, you’ll make a cable loop below the mic and stick it down with gaffers’ tape (or something) which usually takes care of cable handling noise, at least for me.
• 

  Al Bergstein

  November 3, 2014 at 1:36 pm

  As I understand it, the Smartlav is made *only* for the iPhone (or similar device that needs a three ring 3.5 adapter. It *won’t* work on a standard DSLR camera jack. That requires the standard lav, It’s just a marketing situation that forces them to price into the $70 range for the iPhone market. Look for a one ring Lav for most situations for greatest flexibility, but buy the $70 one if your budget is tight and you want to stick the iPhone (or iPad) into a pocket or mount in a belt clip. you’ll at least dual sound, and can strip out your camera sound later.

  Please correct me if I’m wrong here.

  Al

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