Three months to fix a cheap mic boom arm that kept sagging

I grabbed a $20 mic arm off Amazon last January thinking it would save me from desk clutter in my tiny music studio. Worked fine for maybe a week before it started slowly dropping every time I adjusted it. I tightened screws, added tape, even tried wrapping rubber bands around the joints but nothing held. Finally broke down and bought a $45 arm from Monoprice and it's been solid for two months now. I wasted about 12 hours of headaches trying to rig that cheap thing into something usable. Should have just returned it day one instead of fighting it. Anyone else have a piece of budget gear that cost you way more time than it was worth?

2 comments

2 Comments

bethcarr8d ago

I did the exact same thing with a $15 arm from some brand called "InnoGear" last year. Wasted like two weekends messing with it before I tossed it out of frustration and grabbed a Rode PSA1. That thing you said about tightening screws is a classic symptom of cheap metal threads stripping out from the weight of even a lightweight mic. My rule now is if a budget piece of gear needs more than one hack to work properly, it's just not worth the stress. You saved yourself way more headache by upgrading to that Monoprice arm than you realize.

the_julia8d ago

Bethcarr, sometimes a $15 hack saves you $50 if you've got the patience for it.