innopow 80-Channel Dual UHF Wireless Microphone System

Good

I’m a sports announcer (roller derby). I wanted a mostly portable, wireless mic set that I could carry with me to any venue and be able to plug into any sound system or mixer. There are a LOT of options from one-mic systems with a little plug-in receiver to this. I opted for this and MAN has this set been great! I’ve used mine probably half a dozen times and it’s been great so far. The range hasn’t let me down - from an average skating rink to a larger college campus basketball arena. The 1/4” audio cable makes it basically universal. I like the ability to change radio frequency if there is interference. Battery life has been impressive too - I’ve probably done half a dozen two-hour games and both mics show full battery power (I do remove the batteries before storing them). The only thing I wish I could do is get a seperate body pack mic that I can learn into this. The kits are either two mics or two body packs and as a coach, it would be able to talk without having to hold a mic. The Innopow body packs that are for other systems don’t seem to use a frequency that this can hear. Maybe in the future a seperate body pack will be available. Until then, I, my other announcer and our fans are super happy with this. If it lasts me, I’ll stay loyal to this brand. Update about 5 months in: After a few months of regular use, the original batteries FINALLY wore out. I can’t ask for better battery life. This set is still performing. The mics have been dropped but they feel pretty solid and haven’t been harmed. The other night, the whole receiver fell off a mezzanine railing about 12 feet to a concrete floor and wasn’t harmed. I recently had a situation in one venue where one of the mics worked great, and the other didn’t work at all from where I was. Once I scanned that mic into a new frequency channel, it worked perfectly. This has also outperformed more expensive, name brand wireless mic sets that places have had. So, if you’re finding that a mic isn’t working or doesn’t have great sound, try putting it on another frequency channel. It’s a little tricky to do it if you don’t change channels often but it’s been successful. Update after two years: Still working great. Battery life is still impressive. I purchased two separate body packs and headsets. I keep the whole set: receiver, mics, body packs, headsets and cables in a suitcase sized padded case with a customizable foam insert. They’ve been used every few weekends for two years and they still perform well after wear and tear of being at many games and tournaments. This mic set has done the announcing at a number of large tournaments. Still, the biggest key is each time it’s taken somewhere, scanning for an open channel and learning the mics in. It takes seconds. After two year update: man, these keep performing. Both mics have been dropped and had hard blows. I thought one was broken but once I played with the power button, it’s fine. I messed up one of the headset cables and the power cord by closing my Pelican-style case on it but that’s my fault. These get used every few weeks and they never fail. It does seem like the headset mics have a higher gain than the handhelds but that’s no issue at all. These have been used at small events and national tournaments. For the price, I couldn’t ask for a better product. Again, having a clear frequency is important. Learn how to do the auto scan so the receiver can find a clear channel, and then learn the mic or body pack in. I do this each time I use them. One of the first times I used these at a rink, one mic worked well and the other didn’t work past 10-15 feet and changing channels absolutely fixed it.

I recently returned a brand name mic because it had problems connecting and had loud distortion from something other than the mic itself. That package came with one mic, and it was more expensive. THIS system had two mics, so I was leery of the price. Plus I had never heard of the company. I read the reviews and decided to take a chance on it, and so far I have been blown away with it. It worked right out of the box and had no problems connecting. We have three other cordless mics all on different frequencies and from different makers. Still this connected by itself, and had no issues with itself or the other mics in the environment. This was a deal breaker as we could not afford to replace all the mics we had previously. The mic handles have a solid good feel to them as they are made with metal instead of plastic. They feel like if you dropped it, (by mistake or on purpose), they wouldn't break up or crack inside or out. They buttons feel like the system should be more expensive also. The receiver also looks and feels well made. They have multiple channels which is really needed today with all the stuff in the atmosphere competing for dominance. The sound of the mics are what you would expect, and maybe a little better for the price. We use a mixer so all of our mics are fined tuned. Still these sound good with no mixing at all. I will update this review after we have used them for a while but everyone is very pleased with them so far. So far there is no downside to this system after using it for three weeks. Will update after longer use. I would say go ahead and buy this if you are wondering. So far so good.

UPDATE: I'm lowering the rating from 5 to 4 stars because in the last few years our church has had 5 of these microphones (two of these sets and one replacement mic) and 2 have stopped working. I'm the sound guy for a church in Chicago. We purchased one of these sets, and liked it so much we purchased a second set when we started holding additional services on the south side. We eventually had one mic start to cut out (which was understandable since our rowdy pastor was rough on it), so we bought a single replacement mic. When we recently started in-person services back up after the pandemic, we found that another mic was no longer sending a signal no matter what frequency or side of the receiver it was set to. It's still a good product for the price though. In fact I'm going to buy another single replacement mic right now. ORIGINAL REVIEW: Great sound and reliability. Better for talking than singing, but I've never been satisfied with the wireless mics I've tried for singing (even the gold-standard Shure brand ones). The only problem was heavy whooshing and thud sounds depending on how close a speaker held the mic and how they pronounced their 'p' and other windy consonants. The mics have a foam screen under the metal cage, but it apparently isn't enough. We slipped a less than $2 wind filter over each mic and they are perfect now. Even the little details are great, like they don't make any popping noise as you turn a mic on and off, and they don't even go through batteries quickly.

This may be one of the best sets of wireless mics you could possibly buy for the money... First, let me point out the downsides: 1. Yes the frequency range of one mic will be out of spec - so you could not use that one, and buy a second set and only use one of the others too, and still have a heck of a deal. 2. I can find no way to have them power on when power is applied - which means you will have to power on your rack and then power on each of these receivers manually (unless I am missing something) 3. They are not rack mountable without placing them on a rack shelf and using double side tape 4. The antennas are not meant to fold flat for easy storage in a gig bag, you would be best to take them off when transporting 5. The antennas are on the back, so if you do put them in a rack, they will be behind a bunch of metal that will reduce their range 6. On a dark stage, you cannot see the polarity, so you might have someone put the batteries in and not have power and have to do it all over again - also, some battery brands are a little too snug, like Kirkland (Costco) so they are hard to pull out once you put them in. Okay okay - so what makes them great then? 1. They are built very well. As others have noted, they are heavy in your hand, they feel about as good as our Sennheisers, like a real piece of pro equipment. While we have not dropped one, I feel like if we did, it would not shatter into pieces like other budget mics. 2. They are good looking and when mixed with our pro-level gear on stage, people cannot tell we didn't spend a grand. 3. The range is more than adequate. We have not found a stage that is larger than the coverage - however, our receivers are in a rack ON THE STAGE, not at the back of a sanctuary or something. 4. The infrared frequency setup is instantaneous and accurate - it's never failed to work correctly, unlike some other brands, even higher end gear. 5. The audio quality exceeds all expectations. I record every show, and that means I have isolated audio from each mic and member and can easily compare a Sennheiser wired to a Sennheiser wireless to an SM57 to the Innopow. And guess what? In almost all cases, the Innopow sounds superb! I'm not yanking your chain here, on quiet to loud songs, they are pretty amazing. And their pattern is pretty good, so they don't pick up too much noise like drums, and they are not bad about feedback. Like most mics, if you move up on it tight, bass response can be amazing. The only weak point is that if you have someone who belts AND cups the mic, it will distort a lot easier than a 57. 6. The price is a big point for us because while we have 3 higher end Sennheisers systems that were bought for key members of our band, other members have come and gone and others have made no investment - these are perfect for them and for guest mics. It's hard to justify buying everyone else's gear, so they get what they get right? At least they get a very decent mic that they are not embarrassed to be behind! There you go, 6 pros and my 6 cons.... The pros far outweigh the cons for sure. And I have a follow-up after purchasing my first system in February, I bought a second system after one of the two mics died.... Not sure what happened, it wasn't dropped, but the batteries would heat up red hot as soon as you would turn it on. Why isn't this a "con"? Because everything has troubles - my expensive bass amp is dead, died at the same show! Rather than cry about it, I ordered another set of mics. I mean, that price, right? But wait - there's more... On a whim, I contacted the seller and told them what happened, early on a sunday morning after our gig... and by Monday morning, they had replied to me and said it was probably a solder ball on the circuit board - and they sent out a replacement.... I had a replacement from them in time for rehearsal on Wednesday.... Used it at Friday and Saturday night's shows and sound as good as ever. Meanwhile, my expensive bass amp is in the shop until the middle of next week before they can even look at it...... So, it's not Shure or AT or Sennheiser, but I would not (and did not) hesitate to buy again or recommend to my friends.