The Rode VideoMicro Universal Vlogger kit is an easy-to-assemble, compact set of accessories that lets you quickly improve the audio quality and lighting captured by your mobile devices without adding a lot of weight to your setup, only about 1 lb. I opted to go with the universal kit, rather than a hardware specific kit like the USB-C or iOS device kits since it offered the widest range of device compatibility, as I film both with my phone and a digital camera. The video/audio quality recorded on my phone is already pretty good, but even so, using the Rode VideoMicro mic made a positive difference in the quality of the audio capture since it has a directional polar pickup pattern.
I like that the kit included a number of accessories, including a Rycote Lyre shockmount, WS9 deadcat wind screen muff, SC7 Audio cable, smartphone grip, tripod mount, dual-accessory cold shoe mount, microLED on-camera light, and diffuser for the light with 8 colored filters: white, red, red-orange, orange, yellow, green, green-blue, and blue.
In this is a universal kit, the back of the mic features a 1/8” AUX output jack that you attach to the audio cable (TRS to TRRS type) to connect the mic to a mobile device’s headphone jack. You can also connect the mic to any recording device with a 1/8” stereo mic input jack, like a digital camera, but you’ll need a different cable (TRS to TRS) which is not included. What’s nice about this configuration is that the mic doesn’t have to plug directly into your phone’s charging port and is, instead, mounted on the shockmount and secured to a cold shoe which gives you more flexibility for placement and controlling the direction of the mic. One thing I noticed, though, about the Lyre shockmount is that the mic tends to tilt slightly off the horizontal plane; sliding its position in the shockmount can help you balance it so that it remains level.
The included phone grip is made from a durable aluminum, and the width of the spring-loaded arms is adjustable up to 3.5” using the thumbscrew on top. I found that this is just large enough to fit my phone in without a case on, which wouldn’t work anyway, since my case prevented the AUX cable’s connector from being plugged in all the way. While it takes a while to fully loosen the grip for larger phones, the grip is firm once tightened down, and you don’t have to worry about your phone slipping out. The grip can then be attached in landscape or portrait orientation, using one of the three ¼”-20 thread mounting points, to any standard tripod.
The included tabletop tripod measures about 8 inches long and is constructed mostly of a dense plastic, but manages to be fairly lightweight at 6.5 ounces. The ball head on it is detachable by simply unscrewing it from the tripod legs. This would also allow you to add an extension column if you needed more height. The tripod itself has two different height settings when open. The lower setting sits about 4.5” high, and there are rubber feet at the ends of the legs to aid stability on a flat surface. The higher setting has a sharper leg angle, giving you a height of about 6” from the surface the tripod is sitting on. Note that it’s slightly less stable at this height, so be aware of this tip-over hazard if you’re recording outside on a windy day. If you need to record in portrait mode, you can pivot the ball head into a vertical position, but this can make it side heavy and fall over, so make sure you’ve got the tripod on the lower height setting or are using the tripod handheld for stability. For better balance in portrait mode, attach the phone grip to the gimbal using one of the side mounting points. Keep in mind, in this orientation, the LED would be off the side and may not result in the best lighting.
When using the tripod handheld at arm’s length, the Rode mic zeroed in on my voice and rejected ambient sounds coming from the sides and back of the mic, which in a large empty room, cut out a ton of background noise, echo, and even compression distortion. Even from a greater distance of 6 feet outdoors, the mic performed well at picking up my voice, and the dual layered fur wind screen helped cut down on wind noise to keep it at a minimum. I did use the mic with my digital camera, as well, using a TRS-TRS AUX cable. While the sound was improved and was much more focused on the subject versus the omnidirectional on-board mic on the camera, there was still some audible background hiss, since the mic signal is boosted by the camera’s internal pre-amp, but that doesn’t always produce the cleanest audio signal.
The 1-3/8” microLED cube is also a useful addition to this kit. The LED charges via USB-C and has a 1 to 4 hours run-time depending on which of the four brightness levels is used. The colored filters slip into the front of the diffuser which clips over the LED. While the tabs on the filter sheets are short, I found that they stayed put once properly installed in the diffuser, and they can help color correct or add an interesting tint to your scene, based on your shooting conditions. The LED is really bright though and can be blinding at close proximity to a subject, so use of a filter is recommended; a white neutral diffuser filter is included.
Overall, I think the mic does a great job focusing on sounds that it is pointed towards while reducing the amount of noise entering the mic from other directions and especially wind noise when using the wind screen muff. However, I found that the dual accessory bracket wasn’t quite wide enough to accommodate both the muff and the LED, since part of the light cast by the LED was blocked by the muff, casting a shadow on that side of the video. I appreciate that the kit works with any device that has an audio jack like smartphones and cameras and could even be used with an iOS device if connected to a Lightning to audio jack adapter; so keep that in mind if you’re trying to decide whether or not to get the universal kit versus the iOS-only version. It’s compact, lightweight, and performed well with various mobile devices.
