Thanks for doing this comparison Tom, and for standing out in the cold so that we could hear the difference of the two systems at various distances. :)
@@TomAntos Excellent review absolutely excellent. I own the Comica Mine does not have the internal built-in battery. I seriously don't think I can get anywhere near 300 feet or even 200. But I like the unit especially for the price. Keith
Great video Tom. Interesting product. I have been using Sennheiser avx pair with great success. 1 in UMP and 1 in Tascam HD-P2 - Super fast and easy to setup. I think I also prefer to have 2 separate audio files. Just a personal quirk :)
I wanted to buy a similar setup. I researched it a bit and it seem liked these wireless systems that copied Sony were not as reliable as the Sony version. So I paid more money and invested on the Sony equivalent (Sony URX-P03D for the receiver and you have to get the transmitter or buy a kit). Sony has a dual receiver and each channel has it's own individual out or it can be mixed in all sort of way. I recommend people look into the Sony. But keep in mind the rules changes by FCC so buy the 14-25 channels since they're not in the 600Mhz range that is no longer available for wireless microphones. The Comica has another set that uses AA batteries Comica CVM-WM200 that is probably a better comparison. I would like to see a long-term review on these, to see how they hold up. I like the little furry thing, I wish my sony came with that. But I can order it from the Comica lav that comes with and it's rather cheap.
Great review. Comical has cleaner reception when you were 200 feet and more away and behind buildings and trees. By chance do you know how long battery will last assuming batteries are 100% charged.? I m not familiar with Comica brand. Where are they manufactured and how is their technical/after sales support here in the USA ?
Sorry but Ive only been using it on and off for a month so I never ran out of batteries on my use. The longest I used them was 4 hours of actual use. The battery was still good. Never had a problem with them so I did not have to deal with their tech/sales support. They're a Chinese company I think so you never know if they're established enough in USA.
Hi Tom. You have a global audience and you have missed a very important point. In some jurisdictions they may be licence free, in others they would needi a licence and in some they may well be illegal. It depends on frequency and or power output, neither of which you mentioned. Mis use of these could potentially disrupt other services, some of which may be important. In the UK getting caught using illegal wireless gear can result in a fine AND your equipment being confiscated. That could cost you your camera. Even within individual bands there can be subtle differences around the world about which frequencies are and are not allowed. For example within the 1.9 GHz licence free band in the US & Canada/UK/ Europe. Bob.
Sorry for not mentioning that. I am aware of it as I've talked about in my last wireless mic review but at the same time there are so many different places with different laws that I won't pretend like I know them all. Like I said in my last video I suggest each person finds out if they are not breaking any laws when they're using wireless electronics or flying drones, etc.
Good review. I have the Saramonics and noticed a few things: Range is only 50'. You put both mics on your body so they worked as a make-shift dual diversity system but normally you'll have one mic on each person and unobstructed drop-outs occur at around 60'. If you're trying to use the mics in a normal, mixer/recorder system, not directly into a camera, then you'll need to buy a Mini 3.5 splitter. Both audio tracks are combined on to the Mini to XLR cord. Sound quality is not great...technically speaking. If you try to utilize a better Lav Mic, you can't. The polarity is reverse on the Saramonic system. Battery caddy is difficult to remove and the batteries are even more difficult to remove from the battery caddy. And be very careful not to reverse the polarity. The Saramonics don't have an auto shut off and start to smoke. But it's much nicer to be able to switch out AA batteries than to rely on internal batteries. Mute button should be a physical switch so you can be sure of where you are at. One of my antennas on a transmitter cracked at the base where it meets the body pack on the first day of use. A little hot glue fixed it. Volume output on the receiver is weird. Once you go over level 25 (of 30), the audio bleeds into the other channel. If you want to input something other than a Saramonic mic into a transmitter, such as an aux out of your mixer to hop onto to a camera, remember that the mic input polarity is reversed.
hey! Thank you so much for the review! I decided that I'm going to get Comica. One question to clarify, you don't need to sync audio in post using these right? AGain, Thank you so much for the review :)
Both mic kits sound really good. My question is: Why does the Sennheiser mics cost soooo much more than this? Is it just the components quality? Are this cheaper mics worth buying or you should save a little more and buy the expensive ones? Thanks a lot for your work Tom.
What do you mean of 'bad' ? I bought their new 3.0.2 version and works very well and they guys also told me then can customize any language... English, Portugese, Spanish..etc. And the background noise seems good comparing with Senhienser.
A better test would be to use two different people talking to each other so we can determine if any microphone bleed causes any pre- echo sound issues since this is a dual system designed for two people.
Great reviews as always. Although I do own the Saramonics, hands down for me, being able to change out the batteries is paramount if you are doing and all day shoot and need to replace batteries (and purchase a set of rechargeables, they last longer, and are much cheaper over time). The Saramonics can be a drag because of their weight (especially if you are micing the pack outside the attire because of talent having no pockets or wearing a dress), also, my sets came with the gold screw down plugs, reverse of your review (ordered two sets on different occasions) so seems they are reducing their quality parts but I got lucky :( For sure I can at least say you can't go wrong with the Saramonics, they are an incredible value for the money with good sounds, transmit well, battle tested and are solid built.
Good review. Couple of points thought. *THE XLR CABLE IS MONO* The is fact that the 3-pin XLR cable is a mono connection. That means that both channels will be mixed into one audio channel which is not what would be required by a production using a professional camera. They would nead to split the output from the receiver to two 3-pin XLR connections, letting each mic be recorded on a separate audio channel in the camera or the mixing board. *CARRYING CASES* It seems like nobody supplies a useful carrying case with their products. I bought a Zoom H6 which came with such a case. The fit is so tight I can't even fit the additional Zoom attachments I bought at the same time. In my opinion, same goes for the Comica case. When you pack the two body packs and the receiver up, as soon as you get home, you're going to have to pull them back out and plug them in to recharge. Wouldn't it have been nice if they had left room at least for the charging cables to be plugged in while they where still in the case? Better that than that would have been to leave room in the case for a single 3-port charger that could be plugged into the three devices and a single mains cord to plug into the wall? Well, in my experience, nobody does that. But I wouldn't pay extra for a case that isn't all that useful to me. *AA BATTERIES OVER BUILT-IN RECHARGEABLE* Built-in rechargeable batteries just don't have a long enough life for me. My Sennheiser wirelesses all use AAs as does my Zoom H6. What I like about this is, at the end of the day, I pack up and go home. I put my gear away and don't have to pull it all back out again and plug it in for recharging. That is, except for the camera batteries. Much easier, at least for me. The micro-B USB connectors are also difficult to plug in and are prone to getting bent and can easily became unusable. If the socket gets ruined, the whole device is now useless. *CONCLUSION* So I guess I'd be more favorably disposed to the Saramonic system. Thanks for the review.
Re: XLR Cable. Yup, this was pretty much my only issue when I got the Saramonic UwMic9 kit. I wanted to be able to record each mic on a separate channel. But, a 3.5mm to stereo XLR cable is fairly inexpensive on eBay or Amazon. Definitely worth picking one up. AA vs LiIon... My Tascam DR-100 has both a proprietary LiIon battery as well as slots for a pair of AA batteries. The LiIon battery lasts MUCH longer (especially if I'm using phantom power). So, I'll reserve judgement on that one for now. Being able to charge off USB and being able to have them plugged in while using them does sound *very* handy. Would be nicer if they were Type-C USB, though. Everything's going that way now, and it's a much more reliable connection than microUSB.
Hi Tom. Great video as usual. I just made a video about how we record sound on location and referred to this video (as a reference for more detail on the Comica system, I also gave a link to your NTG4 and Rode Blimp video)) and gave a link to it in my description. Thanks again for producing this video, it certainly helped me when making choices. Cheers Michael
Thank you for a great comparison. I must admit, I’m now interested in a radio mic!! It’s quite odd though, to see you a long way away with the audio being so close so I guess post production adjustments might help a bit....
Hey Tom, I ordered a Saramonic UwMIC 9 Kit dual lav kit recently but unfortunately I had to return it because the battery caddy system seems to be faulty. The caddy would close and the latches would become stuck with the batteries inside the unit. Also I inadvertently reversed the AA batteries on one unit and after inserting the caddy it immediately gave off an odor and began to emit smoke *yIkEs!* I tried to remove the batteries but the caddy latch was stuck so I had to pry it open with a small screwdriver to get it open and found that the caddy itself was beginning to melt :/ Totally my fault inverting the batteries but it should not burst into flames... I really like the audio and the features of the saramonic kit but the battery caddy system is extremely low quality and potentially dangerous so I returned the system. I'm willing to purchase another if they UPGRADE THE BATTERY CADDY.
Had those issues with my set too. How was it for drop outs with you? I have many! But like you I still liked the set. But can't take a chance of the drop out at weddings!
I need lava mic for my filmmaking. I am not sure between comica boomx u2 and saramonic uwmic9 kit 2 . Any advice ? Becouse i saw video that say saramonic have technical problems
Thank you for making this video Tom! I definitely hear a strong difference between the Seramonic an Comica in terms of quality. Focusing on the leave rustling noise in the background, on the Comica the noise sounds 'stuttery' and 'bouncy'. Like a noisefloor or noisegate is constantly affecting it, or the throughput of the signal is just not good enough. This can not be heared on the Seramonic. Also the lavalier of the Seramonic has a far better response curve than the Comica. The latter seems heavily base biased. Having heard this, I would never buy the Comica set.
It is always funny to me the reviewers that go out 200 or 300 feet to test the range. The purpose of a wireless system is not to get out 2-300 feet it is to replace cabling in the 12-30 feet range.
The biggest consideration after sound quality is battery. What are you going to do with a unit that has a built in battery when the unit runs out of juice and you are out and in the middle of shoot? One unit you can just replace the batteries. Takes a few seconds and you just go on. The other unit, you are done.
If you try to follow Comica FACEBOOK, you'll find a surprise that COMICA also manufacturer another Dual wireless microphone with AA batteries built-in called WM200. Furthermore, WM200 has A/B quick switch button to make you switch two TX to 1 TX quickly ...and then the screen show from 2 TX info. to 1 TX info... very versatile and great design. WOOOW... Comica is really deserved.
Yeah I just recently got the Terra 6K so been looking up alternatives for less expensive lavs since i spent most of my audio budget on the Senn 416 another mic you recommended. Quality sound those Saramonics though thanks for the test comparison man!
open them up, is the board actually different inside? or is the case the only real difference? I mean these 2 and the Sony all look identical except price of course.
Excellent video and great comparison, thank you! The only question I would have is... battery life. Did you happen to use a good set of rechargeables in one, charge up the other and compare how long they ran until the power went out?
Comica May provide a few extras but you also pay for those extras. My Saramonic set came with the threaded gold plated 3.5mm cables not the black plastic ones.
We bought a set, got problems with the input bus of the receiver (bad contact). The connection cable (XLR - minijack) is way to fragile/low quality and breaks down to easy. Comica is not willing to take care of the problem. Meaning no after sale sevice! Advice not to buy the comica set.
Hi Tom I watch a lot of your videos. You have been very helpful to me. Over the past couple of years. I went from a small Nikon DSLR camera to 3 canon mark II a green screen studio and ton of other stuff. Sooooo big thank you to you. My question is, if I purchase one of these products, can I run two sets (four mics) and have them all on independent channels. I plan on running these into an F8n multitrack recorder. My concern is interference between the channels if each unit only has two frequencies or channels. If this makes sense. Thank you
I wish you would have just switched between the two mics as you were changing distances. That way we could get a more direct comparison. But overall, great Video man. I'm actually in the market for a dual lav setup. Right now I'm using a zoom h1, and a Pixel 2 to record dual lav audio.
these two and some other lavs, systems seems like were made under the same factory and just changed the name, there are some that are exactly same looking and specs on different brands. (saramonic, synco, comica)
I got the older UwMic10 set. Sounds good to me considering the price. They look and feel more expensive than they are. In terms of sound quality there's enough meat that eq can easily fix it.
Nice review, very complete, but I hear a huge difference in sound quality, It is like the Comica is missing a lot in the high frquencies. I would have like to see more testing on that. to find out if it is the mic. or the electronics causing that.
I think it's the same company the two is identical in everything specially in sounds quality I had saramonic uwmic9 the only difference between the two is frequency range Sara has wider than comic range
A few notes: You don't mention the frequency range of the Comica. The Saramonic 9 series are in the 500 MHz band, which is important as the 600 MHz band has been sold off in the US and other services will be using it. I'd not be interested in buying anything in the 600 MHz band or higher, no matter the cost. You mention 2.4 GHz and your cell phone during the test. Neither should interfere with a UHF mic in the 500 MHz band. The case and dead mouse covers are nice bonuses with the Comica, but I thought the audio was more muffled from the Comica. You never went far enough away to really test the range limit of these systems, but then, they reached plenty far for most uses. :) When I held the Comica lithium beltpacks, they were heavier than the AA beltpacks. Probably because of the additional charging circuitry needed inside. Comica has an identical AA model, and that might have been a better comparison to the Saramonic AA model. It looked like screw threads on the inside of the Saramonic are metal, but they just have a dark plastic cover? A downside with all these systems is that the antennas are not positionable. Over time, they can bet bent out of whack, especially if you don't use the case for storage- like they go in the camera bag. Also, the mics should technically do better if the antennas are the same orientation on the transmitter & receiver, vertical to vertical, but clearly, they went some 300 feet through/around houses without issue they way you had it set up so that point may be moot.
Hi, Cheers for the review. If I end up buying I'll get it from your affiliate link. Im still investigating to see if there are any dual channel digital units with encryption. I recommend you strive to make your vids shorter. though, all points could have been covered in 7 minutes. Point out features once, no need to say things 3 times. Thanks again.
Thanks for your video. I bought Comica mic, I think it's great to me. Although I didn't buy Saramonic, I don't know if it's great, but I prefer Comica. It makes me more comfortable when I'm recording video.
Thanks for great video.... Could you do similar video but including the Sony URX-P03D... In spite of price differance. Since it connects directly into the multi-interface shoe
Was just looking at a review on the saramonic system & saw the Comica on Amazon... Was wondering if there was a side by side comparison & who has it?? Tom Antos! Great review & comparison. This one is definitely a "pick'em". Seeing that both are exactly identical, it all boils down to details.. What you get for price point. And Comica has it, I'll be looking forward to acquiring this.
The Comicas Sound Way Better than the Saramonics. They sound much warmer in tone. Higher quality. BUT WHY WOULDN'T COMICA MAKE IT WITHout CHANGABLE BATTERIES. THAT'S A KILLER.
Thanks so much Tom, great review as always. For me I would purchase the Comica for the added features and I like the usb charging system. I thought the Comica had a more natural sound as well. Once again my wife thanks you for increasing my gear count, she may have expressed it a bit different....:} Cheers, Pete
One other potential down side of built in rechargeable batteries is that they have a limited life and replacing them will likely void your warranty (assuming you can even locate an appropriate replacement pack). There’s also a much greater need to insure that you don’t forget about your Wireless mic kit for 6 months. Lithium Ion batteries can permanently harm themselves if their charge “bottoms out” due to the small amount of current these things likely draw even while they are off.
I have always feared that LiPO batteries can be harmed when drain too low low levels I have never heard that Lithium-ion batteries can be damaged by draining too low.
Thanks for the review Anton. Is it true that the saramonic has a reverse mic input polarity that prevent the use of another mic on this system? Is there any adapter to fix that?
i got a galaxy note 4 and get stuck with because sansum went Apple style , you can not change you baterie , well i have to buy one for my note 4 and good to go,, so whenyou you baterie died in the Comica, buy a new one unit .
Please define quarter twenty for those of us who are beginners. Also please tell us beginners the function of an IR port. Have you had the opportunity to use both of these microphones over a period of 1 or 2 years to test their reliability? The Comica lists for $479. The Saramonic lists for $400. Is there difference in price due to the cost of the case, the 3 connectors, and the USB connector, or is it due to construction materials and reliability over years? Other than these questions you provide an excellent presentation.
1/4 20 is a screw size that is very common for video gear. It is 1/4 inch diameter and 20 threads per inch: www.wikihow.com/Read-a-Screw-Thread-Callout Here's an example with a bunch of 1/4 20 products: www.amazon.com/dp/B007LTVO4Y/ref=sspa_dk_detail_1?psc=1
IR is infrared signals, the same technology used in remote controls for TV. It's used here to set the settings to the same channel/frequency so you dont have manually enter the same settings on the transmitter and receiver. Which you can also do manually.
Such a great review, still good as always. eh,That is really a little hard choice, For me,I'd like to choose the COMICA, It looks more beautiful and professional than the Saramonic, because I like black and I think It should be black for the professional Audio or video equipment. For the quality, Comica is also good than Saramonic, because the COMICA had a more clear and natural sound,and the added features are also the things I want.
There is not one but two elephants in the room here: These look so similar, that I would be willing to bet your right arm that they come from the same factory, secondly they are trying to rip off the Sony UWP-D dual channel, right down to the cold shoe bracket. Of course there are significant differences, but seriously, they are a poor man's copy.
Hm, sorry to say but you have a bad ground or signal somewhere in your voiceover/camera audio pipeline, a very low humming sound. Other than that, very nice review!
