Tonton High Sensitive Weatherproof Preamp Microphone Audio Pickup Device Sound Voice Pickup Kit with 60 Feet Cable and Power Supply for CCTV Surveillance Camera System

I use my IP cameras with a Network Video Recorder to watch my backyard wildlife. One camera, a Sunba 405 did not have a microphone so I purchased the Tonto to be able to hear as well as watch. I installed and tested the Tonto microphone onto the Sunba 405 PTZ camera and along the way also tried 2 other microphones because I was unhappy with the quality of the audio and I thought the microphone was to blame so I tried different mics. We use the microphones is to listen to backyard sounds from the birds and other wildlife through several backyard cameras all managed through a Network Video Recorder and displayed on a TV. We can select any camera and hear the audio through the TV. We were unhappy with the quality of the audio provided by the microphone but soon found the microphone was not the problem. After much testing, we discovered the IP camera was the issue, greatly limiting the audio bandwidth of the external microphones. all 3 of the microphones were decent performers with the Tonto perhaps being the lowest performer but still good (the 3 were MicroSeven, USA Sales, and Tonton). Read on for our test results. The Good: -- EASY INSTALL: The Sunba 405 camera came audio-ready with an audio RCA connector and a power connector on a dongle to attach to the microphone. The microphone was just "plug and play" plugged right into the camera. Also, the body of the microphone has a mounting hole to attach to a surface. -- NICE KIT & GOOD VALUE: The kit with the long cables and adapters are a very good value and allows one to locate the microphone where it can provide the best audio results. -- SOUND SENSITIVE: The mic picked up quiet high-frequency sounds. For example, I have ultrasonic mole repellers stakes in the ground that give off a high-frequency chirp every 60 seconds. The chirp is very quiet to the naked ear and the mic pics those up easily. -- EASY TO HEAR NATURES SOUNDS: I could hear doves, birds chirping, hummingbirds squawking at other hummingbirds and owls at night -- MISTAKENLY BLAMED THE MIC FOR POOR FIDELITY: I measured the audio bandwidth of the Sunba camera-external mic system and after much testing using special audio analysis software and a special test microphone came to the conclusion that the IP camera was causing the poor audio fidelity, NOT THE MICROPHONE! The camera cut off audio bandwidth at about 4KHz while the microphone bandwidth extends well past 12 Mhz. See the attached plot showing the narrow camera bandwidth and the much larger microphone bandwidth. The IP camera digitizes the analog audio from the microphone and this particular Sunba 405 camera uses a low sampling rate resulting in very poor fidelity when it's recreated and you listen to the audio. The bandwidth through the camera provides an audio quality more like an old dial-up analog princess phone. The microphone performance by itself, while by no means Hi-Fidelity is very functional and provides plenty of reasonable bandwidth to 9KHz and beyond to get good quality audio....... IP Cameras don't really discuss their audio quality as they do low sampling resulting in poor audio as I discovered with the Sunba IP camera. -- THE 3rd BEST OF THREE MICS: I tried 3 different mics during my adventure to improve the IP camera's audio and all were also reasonable performers but the Tonto had the lesser performance but still plenty good to provide good audio should you have a camera that can pass on quality audio and the long cable kit makes it a good value. Conclusion: The Tonto microphone performs well on its own with bandwidth out to 20 Khz and very reasonable levels out to 9 KHz. If you feel your audio is not up to par, look at the camera first as the likely limitation.

I put the microphone outside on a small antenna tower at my house. I plugged it into my computer and streamed it so I can listen to outdoor sounds from within my house. It's almost surreal to put headphones on and listen to the frogs and insects sing at night, in the comfort of your air-conditioned and non-mosquito-harboring house! I've had it on 24 hours a day for weeks and it works great, rain or shine. It comes with a power injector of sorts that you should definitely keep out of the rain, but the microphone end is fine exposed to the weather. The wire is quite long, so you can remotely mount it somewhere and keep the electrical connections inside your house. The sound quality is excellent, but in a rain storm you can definitely hear the rain hitting the microphone directly. My solution was to put it in a sock, which muffles the direct drop impact somewhat. Ultimately I probably should put it in some sort of loose fiber mesh. For the price it's a decent product that holds up well.

I got this to add sound to my security cameras and home dvr as i only had the comaras. Really good mic and pretty sensitive. Would work better the further you place them with your cameras cause the sounds from my home are picked up much louder then most outside noise because of the proximty my cameras and the microphones are to it. But it comes with plenty of cable to get it where you need and you can get cable and connection adapters if the 60 ft it comes with isnt enough.

I bought this mike/preamp unit so my wife and I can enjoy summer sounds indoors while the house is closed up for air conditioning. Before I ordered this product I had tried to use a lapel mike as a pickup but it didn’t have enough sensitivity for anything not right up close. I bought this product as a second attempt. It works very well; we can hear birds at the birdbath, neighborhood sounds, everything we would be able to hear outdoors if we weren’t inside avoiding heatstroke. The product comes with almost everything needed in order to use it with my indoor speaker unit (which was originally for use with an MP3 player, see photo). The only extra thing I had to buy was an adapter to convert the mike’s RCA male connector to a 1/8-inch stereo plug to connect to my speaker unit. I have the mike mounted on a window outside with double-stick tape so it can be removed in winter…although I may leave it out to see how good the weather-resistant mike is in a blizzard. To sum up: we’re pleased with this item and hope it’ll last for many moons. Now that we can hear the outdoors while closed-in, I’m surprised how much it adds to our comfort and enjoyment at having to be indoors.

Be aware, I am not sure if it was a mistake, or if it was intended to send me "200pcs chip covers" when I ordered a CCTV microphone. While very easy to install with the included screws, the quality of the recordings were terrible. Sounded like nothing at all...

I have an existing camera system in my office, decided I would like audio (Texas 1 party consent state), to record audio and video of client interactions. I ran the provided cable (100ft) to the camera and mounted the mic pickup alongside the camera and plugged the audio plug into my existing DVR and the power cable uses the same multi power plugs as all my other cameras so I have multiple unused power plugs. That was it, I was able to hear very clearly in sync with the camera. Very easy to install no real configuration was involved with the MIC other than mounting it and running the cable back to the DVR. Good quality product.

This microphone is pretty simple. It’s easy to install, and it’s very straightforward. But this microphone works best in a quiet environment with low ambient noise. It’s range is very limited when there is background noise and struggles with picking up a person talking at 10 feet when installed on the ceiling (12 feet) in a retail setting.

Good

Me gustó que no genera ruido (llámese hum) y que es para exteriores.

Product was fantastic until a couple of days ago. Suddenly stopped working and unable to resolve the issue. Messeges seller, no response. Had to bin the item and look for a better one

Despite moving the microphone placing around the room I’m still getting echo/feedback on the recording, will have to buy a different Mike.