Ear vibration mic review

[Rifle]

I picked up one of these a couple of weeks ago.



They're reasonably priced and the shipping was cheap and very quick, 8 days from China. There are a few ebay stores offering these at a price range from $30 to $49. These works on the same principals as a throat mic. It picks up the vibrations in your ear and converts it to sound. Using this method it reduces the ambiant noice. The big factor in buying for me over a throat mic was that the mic and ear phone are one and would be under my mask. The finger ptt was also a plus.

I have Cobra radios with the Icom standard two pin mic/ear jack. After testing, I was disapointed. While it did reduce any ambiant noise, the sound transmition quality wasn't very good. I had to talk loudly to be heard and even then the sound was muffled. I tried this with a friend on his radios (more powerful than mine but still Cobra) and had the same result.

I have since sent it back for an exchange. This is what I'll be trying next. I plan on using a twist tie or something to keep the mic in place at the front of the mask. It has the same finger ptt so I'm hoping this will work out better for me.

[Rifle]

The second style mic system came and works great. Excellent sound with the acoustic tube and the mic works great. There's just one problem. The picture is a little inaccurate. The length of wire from the jack to where it splits into the ptt and ear phone is too short. The ptt wire will run the length of your arm but after that there are only 7 or 8 inches left till the jack. I guess what this means is that you'd have to have a vest with a shoulder pouch for the radio. You wouldn't be able to use this if you planned on putting your radio on you belt or somewhere else unless you splice it and add some wire yourself.

[kill]

I whole heartedly agree with this review. The Earbone mic that can be purchased from ixradio.com (singapore) or on ebay is an excellent and cheap mic for your radios.

I tried many kinds of communication accessories for my motorolla talkabout's, and had many problems until I came across the earbone mic.

Throat mics: Anyone whos tried one of these has already come to the conclusion that you have to spend about $400 to find one that works. Even the iasus throat mics that are in the $100 range have problems with successfully picking up throat vibrations after running, jumping, and sweating.

Boom mics: While these do work, I just found the boom mic's to be more bulky than what I wanted.

Lapel mics: While these do work, you get a lot of background noise, and its hard to find a mic that has a separate ptt button that can be placed away from the lapel.

Earbone Mic: This thing is simply cool. It sits inside your ear comfortably, and can be worn for an entire scenario without ear fatigue. (Wrap the wire over your ear if you find you have problems keeping it in.) It has a large ptt button with enough wire to reach from your radio (chest mounted) along your arm to your finger where the ptt button can be velcroed how you like. The acoustics are great. A persons voice speaking low with the earbone mic comes through clear and recognizable to other players radios. Background or ambient noise is almost completely eliminated. The mic continues to work even if you ear is all sweaty. (I found neck sweat had an impact on my throat mics ability to pick up vibration.)

All in all, for $30, this is a great buy. Its simply a small profile, non intrusive, out of the way mic, that allows you to run around all day communicating with your team mates at a push of the button, no matter where your ptt hand is.