Buddy Flamingo Microphone, A Quick Review

Today’s microphone, for review, is called the Buddy Flamingo microphone. It is another model from InSync Speech Technologies. This is a very different style of microphone than the stylus microphone we have previously shown although it is from the same manufacturer.

I found the Flamingo to be very accurate over all with approximately 97-98% accuracy. The microphone has a very unique concept that allows it to be moved by flexible tubing. The microphone is 24 inches long and it connects via an USB port.

The flexibility of the microphone is what makes it appealing for me. It holds many positions fairly well. I did find that it would tend to droop when I placed it in a side USB port and tried to have it stand upwards on an angle.

I also found the microphone seemed to add additional words when the fan on my laptop computer was running on high. What is interesting is that this did not occur with the air conditioner in the car. My testing in the car with the air conditioner running found that this microphone worked at least as well and possibly slightly better than the stylus microphone. I can only think that the noise from the laptop fan did decrease the noise canceling properties.

Some of you may remember that I am always interested in how well a microphone picks up the small words. Overall, this microphone did well with that. It did seem to occasionally miss some small words such as a, an, and. I cannot explain the inconsistency with this other than I have had a cold for several days.

I have found that when I do have a cold that my accuracy can decrease. Perhaps I do not speak as crisply or it may be that I am just hacking and the computer wants me to quit because it cannot stand the sound of my coughing. Most likely, it is a result of my not using the audio setup wizard so the program can adjust to the differences in voice tonal qualities. Please remember, background noise such as radios or voices will obviously detract from any microphone’s accuracy.

This microphone would be excellent for both laptops and tablet computers. In my office setting I found it to be accurate right out of the box. It does not require a sound card.

The manufacturer suggests that you can be as far away as 6 inches from the microphone.  I found that the closer you are to the microphone element the better the accuracy remains.

This is another microphone I would highly suggest for road warriors. Obviously, from the pictures you can see it is not as portable as the stylus microphone. But I do think the accuracy is maybe 1% greater than the stylus microphone.

Reasonably priced at the InSync Speech Technologies site for $99; it can also be found at emicrophones.com for several dollars less.