Rode Blimp MkII

The quality is very good, but as with any blimp, you don't want to sit on it! This isn't one of those hard blimps from years ago, it's a squishy modern beast.

Compared to the competition it is a bit on the girthy side, which can be annoying when packing the thing away, especially when you're also traveling with heavy grip equipment, you don't want a C-stand rolling over onto this large rodent of a blimp! But as long as you know this thing isn't indestructible like a piece of grip account, you'll be absolutely fine. Blimps used day in day out, will inevitably have to be replaced, but this Rode sells for such a great price, that this isn't a real pain in the wallet.

Performance? Well it's pretty much stunning, I always use it with the wind muff, so keep that in mind. You can put this thing through gale force winds and you'll get clean audio, no distortion, the high frequencies don't sound muffled! It's a very transparent "sounding" blimp, unlike some others.

When booming, the support - Rycote's Lyre system, along with the microphone cable shows it's excellence, there is no problem when booming this mic.

The only thing I would prefer, would be for it to be narrower. It would be easier to pack, better for ENG work (Electronic News Gathering) as a narrower blimp makes for an easier to maneuver blimp on a pole.

You can't really go wrong with this blimp, it's not Rycote expensive and just as good!

After struggling to get nice field recordings with my Mixpre 3 II because of the wind, I finally decided to buy this product. It’s much cheaper than some competitors but it’s really great quality.
You will get the blimp but also the dead cat fur and mogami cable already installed.
Now my recordings are night and day, bye bye the handling noises, the wind isn’t an issue anymore, I feel stupid to not have invest in this before...
On the down side this isn’t a compact item, so it’s a bit big to carry around, but it is worth it because some of my previous recordings were just impossible to use because of the handling noise and wind.
Thomann delivered the product very quickly as usual ;)
Highly recommended.

I have both Blimp mk1 and now mk2 too. Their differences are noticable, especially when it comes to comfort. Mk1 had several mic adapters included which needed to be replaced when switching microphones with different diameter and they were plastic. Once they wore out mics started to become slippery inside. Mk2 has universal microphone mounts which are rubber coated and seem to be able to handle mics with different diameters. Handle is also better than on mk1, which now is lighter - so is the short microphone cable extension which comes with it. Otherwise it's all the same - same exterior and also comes with same fur cover.
There's only one downside - it doesn't come with Rode Universal Blimp Mount, because handle is not always needed.

Simply the best wind jamming equipment you can buy for the price. It feels very sturdy and it is easy to operate. Even in high winds the "dead wombat" fur isn't required. Only when dealing with strong gusts of wind does it become necessary.

The only piece of equipment on it that looks flimsy is the thin XLR connector cable that sits inside the blimp. It's so thin I'm afraid it will break just by looking at it which hasn't happened... but needless to say handle with care.

Oh, and you'll probably need an Allen key to fix the XLR connector in the grip otherwise it will become wobbly.

I've been using it in field recording with a Sennheiser ME66/K6 shotgun mic and it works really well. I'm sure it will last me a long time.

I use this blimp together with the Senheiser ME66 boom microphone, it is a really nice set together with the deadwombat included. The set comes together with the deadwombat, a screwdriver, some spare parts and a comb for the wombat to keep the fur nice and fluffy. It does a great job cancelling out wind noise and providing nice and clean sound for the Sen. The overall quality of the product is nice, it's made of plastic, but doesn't feel cheap in hand and in use. Another great aspect is that it is really light, which is good as weight is an issue on those long recording days. Compared to the more expensive Rycote blimps it feels just as solid and nice. One nice feature that the Rode has over the Rycote is the small release screw on the handle under blimp which releases the handle so it can be shifted in a slide movement forward and backward in relation to the blimp. The Rode has many pros and as in this point I really can't point out any cons related to it. I would recommend the Rode Blimp for boom operators on a budget as well as for professionals looking for a great quality product. Overall I'm really pleased with it.