A good 20$ mic?

[RTHolmes]

I had a cheap logitech - was great for the money. now have a sennheisser PC161 headset (also good value) and squaddies report mic is very clear, they sound great too

avoid USB.

[Max]

You could always check out Best Buy online. Just a thought 

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp;jsessionid=0D89B277EDA254D378E6C4DE33048EF9.bbolsp-app01-32?_dyncharset=ISO-8859-1&_dynSessConf=8484445192770770492&id=pcat17071&type=page&st=computer+mic&sc=Global&cp=1&nrp=15&sp=&qp=&list=n&iht=y&usc=All+Categories&ks=960

[curry1]

Turtle Beach mics are great

[BoilerDown]

A lot of people just spoke out against USB mics, and Chalenge (naturally) suggested a very expensive mic.  So I want to relate a counter example, since my experience with my USB mic has been flawless.

I just checked my Newegg history and I bought this mic on July 18th 2006 from Newegg for $18.99, and the exact same item is still available from Newegg for $1 more, and I'm sure you can find it elsewhere, including retail stores, if you want.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16836111601

That's nearly 5 years, and its been flawless that entire time.  The only time I've had any trouble was when I was an idiot and plugged in the USB cable loosely, or I didn't have the game or Windows configured to use the mic instead of the mic jack on my sound card.

Its not a headset mic though.  If you don't want or can't use a desktop mic, don't buy this.  Otherwise I highly recommend it.  Its not going to fail on you in less than a year if your experience is remotely similar to mine, as I've had mine for 4.5 years now, and its showing no signs of being anything other than just as good as the day I took it out of the box.

[kilo2]

NoX audio has a great selection of headsets http://www.nox-audio.com/

I bought mine and they work great and very comfortable.

[Brooke]

I really like the Koss CS-100.  Excellent sound and voice quality in my opinion -- and costs about $15.  I've used these for many years.

http://www.amazon.com/Koss-Speech-Recognition-Computer-Headset/dp/B00005ML7Q/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1298339363&sr=8-1

[Chalenge]

A lot of people just spoke out against USB mics, and Chalenge (naturally) suggested a very expensive mic.  So I want to relate a counter example, since my experience with my USB mic has been flawless.

Sorry. I have one of these mics. The sound quality is terrible to poor at best. If you want a mic that will irritate friends and foe alike those will fill that slot. Directivity is less than the traverse area of a trackir... much less... which means if you move relative to the mic you will be muffled and your distance from the mic can never be great. Sound quality is an issue that is not easily overcome and sure you only want the range of your voice to be picked up (I guess) if all you do is use vox in AH.

This is not an issue of dollars spent for me. To me I want quality for my money and I want a mic (when I buy a mic) that will fulfill every need I have for a mic. Logitech isnt going to do it. In fact I will go further and say that I just dont like it when cheap mics get used in the game because it degrades the experience for everyone. When you hear (on vox) "I see mumph drfh deriph meriph..." and you have to ask for three repeats... well the purpose of vox isnt to use up extra time but to beat the time required to use the text buffer instead. You dont have to have a mic that can pick up the sound of hair being combed or cheese being sliced (like the PR-40) but if you do want an excellent voice mic for something else and AH too at least you know what works and what will not.

[BoilerDown]

Sorry. I have one of these mics. The sound quality is terrible to poor at best. If you want a mic that will irritate friends and foe alike those will fill that slot. Directivity is less than the traverse area of a trackir... much less... which means if you move relative to the mic you will be muffled and your distance from the mic can never be great.

Then you got a dud, or I'm spectacularly lucky.  The mic I linked is perfectly fine for game-com use.  I bought two of these for my friends for when I was playing DDO with them (they hooked me up with in-game currency, so I returned the favor with a RL mic), and I got annoyed that they didn't have mics, and they were fine on their computers as well.  In fact I think they're much better than what most people use.



Edit:  Here... I recorded something for you guys to make up your own mind.  http://www.mediafire.com/file/e47w6f77azqa5fo/Boildown-Chalenge-Challenge.wav

[Chalenge]

Mediafire... security issues... Get 4shared.

[BoilerDown]

Imaginary security issues as far as I can tell.  If there ever were issues, they are ancient history and no longer a concern.

[Chalenge]

Failure of imagination. Either put it on 4shared or forget it.

http://bbs.hitechcreations.com/smf/index.php/topic,307102.msg3959054.html#msg3959054

[BoilerDown]

Failure of imagination. Either put it on 4shared or forget it.

http://bbs.hitechcreations.com/smf/index.php/topic,307102.msg3959054.html#msg3959054

I'm well aware of Skuzzy's opinion, from a time I posted my DXDiag when I made a thread about being unable to view one of my films in the film viewer (apparently it was a cloud bug), I had to email it to him.  While I respect Skuzzy's opinion and knowledge in general, he regularly seems to have irrational bias against certain things that I find and use just fine.  I certainly will never take his every opinion as the bottom line answer on everything. 

Besides, its everyone else that should listen to it, I already know your opinion.

[Chalenge]

No its not irrational opinions by Skuzzy. That website tends to load malware on visitors unawares which is why it is banned on all of my systems.

Having said what you just did anyone that takes your advice on anything is pretty much taking a risk. My opinion... not Skuzzys.

[BoilerDown]

No its not irrational opinions by Skuzzy. That website tends to load malware on visitors unawares which is why it is banned on all of my systems.

Having said what you just did anyone that takes your advice on anything is pretty much taking a risk. My opinion... not Skuzzys.

Whatever man.  I don't make blanket statements about you when we have a difference of opinion.  And I can't find any evidence that Mediafire loads malware on people, more likely that someone uploaded something with malware on it, which isn't Mediafire's fault, and is just as likely to happen with any other file storage site on the internet.

[Chalenge]

Really? Thats why my security alerts go nuts whenever I (used to) try to download anything. ALERT! Your system has been compromised! Click here to scan for problems now!

Perhaps your right. Now that I dont trust you (for instance) I wont download anything you post no matter what site you use.