Rode Blimp Suspension Windshield System

Very sturdy and reliable for field sound. Just worried a little about the wombat(deadcat) losing a lot of fur.

Excellent device. It is a must-have for any Recordist to work on location. Very good build quality, perfect design.

amount wil be extra above market

This is of course better than the 'Indian' style cinecity/proaim blimps, but the price is 2x too. I will focus on the negatives first:1. The thing is overly long for most mid sized shotgun mics. Apart from the pain of handling, if wind is not blowing along the axis, this extra length only means extra lf noise. If you are brave enough, follow Watson Wu's advice on shortening the blimp.2. I don't expect it too last very long. Maybe this is why few professionals use it. It is a glued construction and the outer hexagonal plastic mesh came broken at several places on shipping. Not a big deal, but if enough of them break, the strechy fabric glued inside will also fall apart / sag. It is a 'made in china' product.3. The deadwombat, while more transparent and long-haired than cinecity's short haired fur cover (which kills anything above 14kHz), is still as not transparent as Cinela high wind cover (I don't own any Rycote blimp). Audio degradation is pretty noticeable after putting on the deadwombat. Spectrum analysis in Audacity confirmed what I heard. EQ in post can fix it only to some extent. Because, the blimp itself has a boxy sound after putting on the wombat. The cylindrical structure produces pretty bad standing wave reflections inside the blimp. As a result comb filtering occurs degrading audio presence. In case of DPA4060 I tested, this resulted a strong dip (more than 6dB) in response around 5-6kHz before recovering at 8kHz and again around 9kHz before recovering at 10kHz. Highs above 14kHz are muffled mainly due to absorption of fur, and they can be boosted without problem.4. I don't like the drawstring mechanism of the deadwombat. Even after putting it on, I still feel wind can hit the blimp body through the somewhat open bottom. Cinela windcover has pushbuttons that do a better job.5. This generated more wind noise than my cinela pianissimo when wind speed was 80kmph (granted this was an impractical scenario of gale force wind, blimp was held from train door). This means a 50Hz 18dB/octave cut filter may still retain some of the wind noise. At lower speeds, there was no practically wind noise (with deadwombat on in both cases).Now the positives:1. Supplied rycote lyres provide good isolation and versatility for 19-22mm dia mics. DPA4060 mics can be easily attached to the lyres for AB type stereo, although maximum distance between lyres will be 16mm. (Note: you will need the hex wrench supplied to remove or reposition the lyre mounts) If you buy 30mm lyres from rycote, you can fit fatter mics like Rode NT4 into it after some DIY work.2. Connbox provides protection from cable borne noise. But this is only for mono mics used through the supplied cable.3. The blimp is very easy to disassemble / reassemble. Endcaps are super smooth to put on. Adjustable pistol grip is excellent for hand-booming.4. Product is still very lightweight considering the length (this review is the new version of Rode blimp)5. Much cheaper than rycote or cinela products.

I got this from an off line store before it was available on Amazon. It is the best investment one could make if eliminating wind noise for on field shooting is a priority. I have used the blimp with the Dead Wombat screen in extreme wind condition and they have come out with flying colours. I do hobby bird call recordings by going to the fields where one has to deal with windy conditions all the time. This is perhaps the best investment one can make in his recording set up. If you don't do this investment, no matter how expensive your recorder or microphone is, all you will record is wind noise.

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Yes, it keeps out wind noise, but at the end of the day, it's a plastic perforated tube with a plastic suspension system andf a few cable clipsSo why is it so expensive?

Use this with a Rode NTG3 and a Rode carbon fibre boom pole, single shooting with the boom attached to a Boom Buddy. Indoors I dispense with the blimp and just use the pistol grip with a foam cover to get the weight down a bit. Outdoors this really does come into it's own, with perfect wind reduction using the supplied dead wombat.An adjustment tool is included along with a folding brush to touch the dead wombat up a bit - you need it to have the hairs standing up, which is a bit counter intuitive to brushing your hair. Well, for me at least :)

Early days but impressed so far. I'm a bit late to adopt the Blimp Windshield, Have had too much video ruined with audio messed up on exterior shots thinking I could protect mics with furry wind covers. It just doesn't work, even on what looks like a fine day a sudden breeze will spoil a recording. No one wants the hassle of carting extra gear around, but the truth is, to capture good audio in the field you cant avoid a blimp. Sad to say you need someone else to carry it which will compromise the mobility of the run and gun inconspicuous video shooter. This product seems well thought out and is lightweight. To maximise its efficiency the included dead cat needs to be employed and for more versatility, you will need a boom pole. The Neewer version at £25 is fine. Not forgetting some headphones and a recorder.

This is a great blimp for the price. Well made, well thought out. It is BIG but does the job it’s supposed to do. I don’t regret buying it but if I could turn the clock back knowing what I now know about how my workflow would change I’d have invested in the Rycote. Much more expensive but I think it presents more options.

Purchased this to replace a similar system that had broken. This one is very well designed, with a much sturdier mounting mechanism and a clever connector that facilitates fast cable substitution. The kit even includes a bespoke tool to make adjustments and comb to maintain the dead wombat.