Rode SmartLav+

After doing days and nights of research for a good quality and affordable lavalier for light interviews and freelancer work, I finally decided to go with the Rode SmartLav+ as it seemed the best investment for long-term use and a good balance between price-quality-features.

This lavalier is designed primarily to use in conjunction with smartphones to record the audio off-camera in situations where it's not possible or feasible. And it does this brilliantly. The audio quality is on-par with more expensive Shure or Sennheiser lavaliers if placed and used correctly. I recommend using RecForgeII for recording your audio, it's available on both Android and iOS.

The lavalier comes with a pouch, velcro cable strap, foam pop shield and a clip. I am not a big fan of the clip design because it's difficult to loop the cable due to the narrow cable slot. I much prefer the Sennheiser free loop system. Also a bit disappointed that the Rode lav is not compatible with other clip systems due to its small size. I have a few other clips mainly from Sennheiser and none of them work. This means you have to get creative when it comes to placing the lav in certain conditions.

Also I think the cable is a bit short, if it was 150cm it would have been perfect. I tried to use it on a laptop during a video call and it pretty awkward to have it routed under my shirt and into the laptop sitting on the desk.

Overall I'm happy with the purchase and can recommend this to anyone looking for a great lav at a decent price.

Oh and make sure to check out the windshield and cable adapter if you plan to shoot outside or use it with a non-smartphone device.

I bought this mic almost as an aside and have been incredibly glad that I did. Having the ability to connect a good lav mic to your smartphone phone in a pinch has saved me on several occasions. Like they say about cameras, the best one is the one you have with you.
If you get this mic, be sure to get the minifur as well for use outdoors.

One thing to be mindful of, if you want to use it with trs devices you'll need to get an adapter cable (rode SC-3).
The only downsides are the clip, which can be fiddly. Also the cable could've been a bit longer, but you can easily buy an extension if needed.

By no means perfect but it is excellent value, and for that one time you need it in an emergency, it's priceless.