Insta360 has unveiled the Mic Pro, a new lapel mic with a customisable E-Ink display. It seems that while other companies have been shrinking their transmitters, Insta360 is making its mics' size a feature instead.
Lapel mics have become ubiquitous among content creators, frequently appearing in videos as they're difficult to conceal while in use. DJI recently announced swappable magnetic covers for its own Mic Mini 2 transmitters, allowing users to at least customise their transmitter with a variety of colours. However, these covers still retain the company's branding, and have a limited number of hues to choose from.
Credit: Mashable edit: Insta360
The Insta360 Mic Pro's E-Ink display takes such customisation several steps further, giving users massive control over their lapel mic's look. Its customisable display enables you to completely remove the Insta360 logo and replace it with any image, from words and symbols to complex photographs. The Mic Pro does have outward-facing icons marking its power and record buttons, which seem unnecessary and disrupt users' chosen design. Fortunately, the vast majority of the transmitter's visible surface is still subject to your creative whims.
In terms of build, the Mic Pro transmitter is slightly larger than its predecessor the Mic Air, and over double the weight at 19.7 grams without its attachment clip. The clip can be slipped off in favour of a magnet, though Mashable found that it took a surprising amount of effort to do so in our first look. Even so, users will likely prefer the magnet, as the transmitter's weight noticeably drags down shirt collars when using the clip. Both Insta360 mics offer up to 10 hours of battery life on a single charge, however the Mic Pro's new fast-charging storage case makes it easier to top up on the go.
Credit: Insta360
Like the DJI Mic 3, the Insta360 Mic Pro has 32GB of onboard memory and can range from standard 24-bit audio files to 32-bit float internal recording. Insta360 states that the Mic Pro can record up to 22.2 hours of 32-bit stereo audio or 60 hours of 24-bit mono, with a 48kHz sampling frequency. It also has USB-C ports on the transmitters themselves, a feature we missed on the Mic 3.
Mashable Light Speed
Still, the Insta360 Mic Pro's biggest appeal is by far its E-Ink display.
How to change the Insta360 Mic Pro's E-Ink display
Credit: Mashable
Changing the Mic Pro's E-Ink display is very straightforward and easy. Simply connect the transmitter to the Insta360 mobile app, and you'll be presented with a screen showing its current display, as well as information such as its current battery percentage and storage capacity. From here, you can tap "Custom Wallpaper" to either select from a variety of preloaded images or upload your own.
After uploading your image, you can reposition and zoom in on it to ensure the Mic Pro frames it exactly as you'd like. You must also choose between using a detailed, lightly pixelated rendition of your chosen image, or to apply a filter which simplifies it into blocks of colour, intended for images such as simple logos. Mashable's testing found the former option looked better, as the simplifying filter tended to apply colour palettes that didn't reflect the uploaded image.
Once you finalise your choices, you can apply the custom display to the Mic Pro's E-Ink display. It will briefly flash yellow and black to refresh the screen as it does so in order to get rid of any ghosting, and then you're set. The image will remain in the Mic Pro's display until you change it, even after you've turned the transmitter off.
Credit: Insta360
Your customised wallpaper will also be saved in the Insta360 app, so you can easily swap it in and out or apply it to other Mic Pro transmitters. The app allows you to give your wallpapers a text label for easy organisation as well, which you can choose to show on the Mic Pro's E-Ink display.
The Insta360 Mic Pro is available now at $99.99 for a single transmitter, $199.99 to add a receiver, and $329.99 for two transmitters and a receiver in a charging case.