Audio-Technica ATW-T1002 Pro System 10 Handheld Unidirectional Microphone/Transmitter, 2.4GHz ISM Band Operating Frequency

2020-11-09T19:00:00

I've been using Audio-Technica's ATW-series microphones for the better part of 5 years at the college I work for. We have a couple ATW-T341b units that have been marvelous and these were the suggested upgrade. After using them in an auditorium, a classroom, and for various outdoor and indoor events, I can say that - while the sound quality and range are superb - there are two factors that severely limit their usefulness. The first is that the microphones do not have a battery charge indicator on the units; the battery level is instead displayed on the receiver. This would be fine (even preferred in some scenarios), if not for the second issue: the microphones DRAIN THE BATTERIES EVEN WHEN TURNED OFF. I apologize for the caps, but, in my opinion, this is such an egregious design flaw that they are warranted. This means that for the quick audio set-ups, they're great. When the gospel choir was asked to sing for a football game, these mics worked flawlessly from the center of the field to the receivers in the press box. And I was able to make sure the batteries were fresh and then were removed before I put them in their case. However, in the auditorium and the classroom, where the mics are used frequently throughout the day and week, they are terrible. The users are diligent in turning the mics off, since our old ATW-T341b units would conserve the batteries while turned off, allowing us to use the same AA batteries for a week or more. We are now going through boxes of AA batteries like water. Additionally, since we installed the receivers outside the view of the user, they have no way of knowing if the batteries are dead or the mic. TL;DR: Good quality, but not worth the battery drain.

Lam C.

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