"I've never used one, but keep in mind that Bluetooth has a rather limited range"

That is my concern also.
I'm certain that these devices have their place in the grand scheme of things. I've noticed they're becoming common for audio installations in place like boardrooms. For that they'd be quite appropriate.
On the other hand the much more expensive kit from the likes of Sennheiser and Audio Technica is designed to work in our battlefields and you get what you pay for. Our Senny G2 500 kit works to 100s of metres, the guy with the transmitter simple got bored with walking and talking before we lost contact when we were testing the actual range of these units. The 5200 series adds even more power, range and dual diversity. This is more expensive than many good cameras though.

Bob.

They sound terrible. The companders are junk.
AT's Pro88W is much better for about the same cost, and has no companders.

OK Thanks everyone I was wondering just how good or bad they would be. We are always looking into making our audio better in our Vids, but after reading what Spot and the rest of you are saying I will stay away from these. I appreciate very much you feedback.
Daryl

Farss we are looking at the Sennheiser group as well right now those I know will work, but I was not sure on those bluetooth gadgets

The Audio Technica Pro88W system is a great "entry level" VHF-band wireless microphone system. No frills, but it sounds really good, particularly considering its very reasonable cost.

Quite a step from that would be the UHF-band Sennheiser G2, Sony UWP or Audio Technica 1800 systems. One practical advantage to these system is that they run on AA batteries and will work fine on NiMH rechargeable batteries which are available pretty much everywhere. The Pro88W system runs on 9V batteries and the cost of these batteries can add up pretty quickly, although rechargable 9V batteries and chargers do exist for a price. Decent quality 9.6v batteries are about $14 each and a 4-bank 2-hour charger is about $35.

Can I just add something about the Sennheisers from what John Cline has said.

We have six kits in regular use so rechargeable batteries (NiMH) are the go. They work fine off these and for many hours EXCEPT the battery 'telemetry' is messed up as NiMH cells are a different voltage to alkaline cells. The Battery indicator on the LCD screen will have you thinking the NiMH batteries are almost flat when they're hours away from being flat. Sennhesier admitted this is an issue to me at NAB and I'm not too happy that this is not addressed in the new G3 series.

On the other hand Senny do have a NiMH battery pack and charger system. Neither of those are cheap and the cells in the battery pack are only 800mAH The battery pack has an additional terminal that makes contact with a terminal in the units that tells the battery monitoring system to use a discharge profile for NiMH. It would not take much coding to make the battery type configurable in the setup menu.

Sorry to rave on about what seems like a minor issue however we go through 50+ AA batteries a week. The amount of kit that'll only work using disposable batteries is appalling. You use a set of batteries on a shoot and even if they've still got 75% of their life left you would always put a fresh set in for the next job. What a waste and for decades I've used gear that would work off rechargeable batteries. They used to be NiCd, now we've all switched to NiMH or Li Ion but still we're creating too much landfill because of lazy engineering.

Anyways, on a practical note. If you do buy the Senny kits and will only use NiMH batteries solder a wire between the terminals and the battery metering will be correct, just remember if you do pop in alkaline cells it'll be wrong.

Bob.

solder a wire between the terminals and the battery metering will be correct - Eh? Have you told Senny you are doing this? - Anyway, which terminals? Isn't that called a "short"?

Educate me . . .

Grazie

For what it's worth, the Maha Energy "PowerEx" 2700 mAh AA batteries are the best I have ever used. Very high capacity and ultra reliable. Their 9.6v batteries are equally as good. I get my chargers from Maha as well.

I just started using some of their new "Imedion" batteries which retain up to 85% of their charge after one year of storage. These batteries are "only" 2100 mAh, but they stay charged until I need them.

www.mahaenergy.com

Agree John, I've bought heaps of them and I have their WizardOne charger / conditioner. I also bought a couple of their 8 battery charging stations for where I work.

Bob.

The Senny wireless mic transmitters and receivers have an extra contact. Put two ordinary batteries in the unit and nothing contacts that contact.
The Senny battery pack is two slightly smaller cells in a plastic box / carrier. It has an extra contact that connects one of the battery terminals to the contact in the unit. This doesn't supply power as such, it's just a 'sensing' terminal. When the processor in the unit sense voltage (or no voltage) on that terminal it knows you've put a NiMH battery pack in.

If anyone wants to know the specifics I can check it out with a multimeter.

Bob.

Cool thanks for all the info this really helps we are wanting a better sound set up than what we got. I have Azden right now and to say the least I do not like the way this wireless mic performs. I get a lot of noise out of it with any kind of distance, and I have a lot of work in post when I get the audio on the computer.
Thank a millon guys.
Daryl