For the last few years, the Rode VideoMic Pro has been the most popular on-camera mic. For example, you can often see it as part of camera set-ups used by vloggers. Earlier this year, Rode announced the successor to their top-seller, and now the new Rode VideoMic Pro Plus is available for purchase.

The Rode VideoMic Pro has been so popular because it records great audio. Nevertheless, the microphone does have quirks in its design that caused frustration to its users. It appears that the new Plus version has fixed all these issues, in addition to offering new functionality.

Here are the improvements in the Rode VideoMic Pro Plus model that are most important to me:
• it uses the very good Rycote Lyre shock mount (the mount on the original model used elastic bands that were prone to breaking)
• the door to the battery compartment is easy to open (the biggest peeve on the original model was the difficulty of getting to the battery)
• it uses 2 AA batteries (instead of a 9V battery), but also comes with a rechargeable lithium-ion battery!
• the microphone can be run off an external power source via micro USB, i.e. you don’t need the internal battery in the microphone
• for cameras that provide plug-in power through the microphone jack (which is a common feature in modern cameras), the microphone will turn on or off automatically as the camera turns on or off. As many users of this microphones, I’ve had situations where I did not get any audio in a clip because I forgot to turn the microphone on; or I drained the 9V battery by leaving the microphone on when packing the gear
• there is safety channel option on right channel – to make sure your audio does not clip
• the 3.5 mm TRS output cable is detachable, giving you the option of using RØDE SC cables – this allows you to connect the mic to an XLR connection, smart phone TRRS phone jack, etc.

So, overall, the Plus model seems like a very good upgrade. To find out more about the Rode VideoMic Pro Plus, or to place an order (or pre-order, as of the time of writing), please go to BH Photo Video

If you’d like to save some money and get the original model, please check out BH Photo Video, Adorama, Henry’s, eBay, Amazon, Amazon Canada, Amazon UK, Amazon Germany

Please note that the Pro model is available in the “R” version, which comes with the Rycote Lyre shock mount (the same as in the new Plus model). There were so many complaints about the elastic bands that some time ago Rode upgraded the mount (but otherwise left the microphone unchanged). If you come across the first version (which is what I own) that does not have the Rycote Lyre mount, I would steer away from it.

Finally, here are a couple of our videos about the original Rode VideoMic Pro.