Labtec Desktop Microphone 600

I've been tinkering with computers since the 90s and back in those days, the microphone that I had came free with the Creative Labs Sound Blaster sound cards (for those of you that might remember). This was a simple beige colored plastic desk microphone similar to this Logitech product and was the only thing available at the time. That trusty microphone was awesome and lasted me until the year 2012, when it finally broke. Because it broke, I found myself actually shopping for a replacement.I've been involved with VoIP/voice chat since the original MS NetMeeting was the big thing back in the late 90s. To this day, I commonly use Skype, Ventrilo, Teamspeak and other voice-related products and without a microphone, I had to get a replacement microphone ASAP.Microphones for PCs have come a long way and it seems that most "brand name" microphones cost $15 or more (just do a search on Amazon). This includes desktop microphones and the headset+mic combos. But to tell you the truth, I hate those headset + mic combos because #1) I already have a pair of killer headphones and #2) sometimes I don't want to wear headphones all the time.A simple search on Amazon for "desktop microphone" gives you either $20+ microphones or sub-$10 microphones from no-name companies... except the one I'm reviewing (from Logitech). I chose the Logitech simply because it had at least 400 more reviews than the other one and was ranked at 4.5 stars.The microphone itself comes in one piece where the mic "speaker" can be adjusted. It sits comfortably on the desk and is non-intrusive. A bonus with the microphone is that it comes with a sticker-mount attachment that allows you to stick it onto a flat surface. I think this was meant affixing it onto a CRT monitor (which I used to do with my old microphone) but since the CRT has gone the way of the do-do bird, this bonus is probably not as useful anymore.For connection, it's a standard 3.5mm jack for sound cards. So what this means to you is that you must have a MIC port on your PC's soundcard (either PCI or motherboard provided). *THIS IS NOT USB*. I suppose this is partially why this device is so cheap (USB has the technology built into the microphone itself).As for quality, I'm not a recording artist and since I mainly use the mic for VoIP/voice chat applications, I don't need to sound like a rockstar. Simple tests to myself using test calls on Skype as well as recording myself on Windows Sound Recorder shows that it does what my old microphone used to do for under $10. It seems to have some noise cancelling capabilities because I had sound coming through my speakers while I was recording and I didn't hear much of the speaker noise in my recordings. Because of this, I can 100% recommend this product.

I bought this for my brother so that we can communicate with each other during online gaming. He had bought one similar before and said it wasn't good but I argued that maybe he just got the bad one out of the bunch. After adjusting the computer's (he runs win 7) voice/audio settings (boosting the mic gain by +10, anymore than that we get static noise, and the output strength) and then adjusting the game's (TF2) audio settings; it was still hard for everyone in game to hear him. Though the testing results after the settings were adjusted were decent, they just didn't deliver the same quality in game. He literally has to place the mic on lips for us the clearly hear him. I use an old discontinued logitech webcam as my mic and it works great, considering that it is also placed above my monitor. Overall 3 stars for the fact that it does work but just not to my expectations.But who knows, maybe his onboard sound chip might be dying and is the reason for the poor performance.

I really recommend this to casual mic users. It works great with online chatting and does decent in recording. One thing I always get comments on is my loud typing with my old mic's but this one works like a charm cancelling my typing and even my loud a/c right behind me. I tossed on a foam cushion but honestly I did plenty of tests with and without it on and there wasn't a big difference.It maybe cheap but it's a great mic while you save up for your Blue Yeti/ Snowball or some other fancy mic. Even when I get my dream mic I will still use this one on my laptop or something.The cons... not many. It takes some getting used to when I place it in front of my keyboard, it's so skinny that it's easy to forget it's there and I tend to bump it when I move around. Other than the need to bring it back and forward I found no other problems with this mic. I have the other stand with the sticky bottom attached to my desk over hang that I use when I get tired of bumping into the mic while it's on the desktop stand.

I bought this mic because I needed something to do some YouTube videos. I received it and - silly me - thought it would be as simple to install as a mouse. Wrong! I plugged it into my Dell home PC and tried to record using the built-in Sound Recorder. I could see the visual of my voice barely moving the visual display. On playback, I could not hear myself unless I cranked the volume all the way up. And even then it was faint. As a control, I tried the same thing on my laptop. (Also Dell). Nada. Started email support with Logitech which got nowhere so I called them thinking surely they'd think of something I was doing wrong in settings. Not really. "Troubleshooting" amounted to, basically, "are you sure your volume is turned all the way up" to "you may have a bad sound card." Ah, the old "blame the user" routine. I was in IT tech support for years. Know it all too well.I put in a return and replace request through Amazon. The reseller got back to me and sent me a new one, told me to keep the old one. Strange but, ok. Tried the second one. Unbelievably, same thing. In addition to Sound Recorder, tried my online software for recording this webinar that I should have recorded two weeks ago if the mic had worked in TWO SECONDS like it should have. Result? Same.Wrote an email to customer support who sent a "how's it going" note. Fine, I said. If by fine I mean, A) not at all well and B) I'm not even going to bother returning this POS and C) consider the ticket closed as I am now going to go to Staples and buy a mic that works. And it won't be Logitech.That was yesterday. Haven't even heard back from a customer service manager who might try to make it right. They've probably consigned it to that dark, dusty corner of disgruntled customers and moved on.You asked for my review and you got it. POS mic. Screw the mic. And screw Logitech.