How I bought a $399* wireless system for $25

[newfoundmass]

My little wrestling organization is looking to do more social media related content, so we decided to get a wireless system for it. Because it's professional wrestling I didn't want to spend a ton of money on it, as it could easily get damaged. I also didn't want to waste money on a system that had internal batteries, so that limited my options a lot. In the end I set out to accomplish a couple of things:

• Spend as little money as I possibly could while still achieving decent audio quality.
• Find a system that didn't feature internal non replaceable batteries.
• Find a system that had a decent enough build quality.
• Again, spend as little money as I could!

With the focus being on small systems like the Rode Wireless Go and the dozens of knock offs, I knew that it was going to be difficult to find anything new under $200, which was my initial spending goal. Still, I looked and there were systems from Movo and Comica with so so reviews on YouTube, but as with most YouTube reviews these days I had to take them with a grain of salt because they were from smaller channels who I suspect will praise anything that is sent to them for free or channels that I feel have proven themselves to be biased. Regardless, these reviews weren't thorough and were essentially just someone testing them in their bed roo... er... "studio" and then, sometimes, going out into a field to do a range test. There isn't really much you can learn from these folks if they aren't putting the system through its paces.

I started to think about spending a little extra and getting a Sennheiser or Sony system, which I could use for my non-wrestling work, but then I remembered the old Rode Rodelink systems that were the rage back in the day. Surely they'd be under $200 by now! I had experience with them and had also watched dozens of videos about them back in the day when YouTube wasn't just the marketing arm of all these companies. So I went to eBay, and typed in "Rodelink."

Yeah, they were definitely under $200! Indeed, most of them were well under $100! There were lots of "Buy It Now" listings for $50, $75 and $100, most listed as being in "excellent condition." I scanned the listings and found one that was 5 hours away from ending. It had a "Buy It Now" price of $50 and a starting bid of $25. The pictures of the item looked like it was in pristine condition (it even still had the plastic screen protectors on the screens) and the listing said it was in "excellent condition, like new." It came with all the accessories. The seller was reputable, with 100% positive feedback and hundreds of reviews. So I said "eff it, I'll bid." What's the worst that could happen? Someone would probably come and snipe the auction at the last second anyway!

They didn't. 5 hours later, as I woke up to go to the bathroom, I looked quickly at my phone and saw I'd won the bid. The winning bid? $25, shipping included.

The Rodelink Wireless Filmmaker kit was still selling for $399 new as recently as 2022. On Monday mine arrived. I've pretty thoroughly tested it and I'm almost certain this unit was barely used. It has no scuffs on it, and like I said it still has the protective film on the screens. The sound quality is more than adequate and the included mic doesn't seem to have the RF interference that some folks used to get when using it. I could not be happier with the purchase, and short of one of the wrestlers destroying a receiver or transmitter I think this will last for years; certainly longer than any of the super small wireless systems with internal batteries will, anyway! Not bad for $25!

 

Let this be a reminder that we don't need to always get the latest and greatest. There's a lot of great old gear out there that is more than adequate and will cost you a fraction of what you'd pay for new. The latest Rode systems aren't appreciably better than the old Rodelinks, at least not when you compare the prices. Is the $219 for the Rode Wireless Go II really have that much better sound than a Rodelink system you can get for 1/4 the price? And when the batteries in the Rode Wireless Go II die in a couple years and you can't replace them, the cheaper used Rodelink will still be going strong with replaceable AA batteries. Seems like a no brainer for me!
 

[KnightsFan]

I bought the same kit earlier this year, and I think I paid about $60. Apart from replaceable batteries (I absolutely refuse internal batteries on any equipment), the advantage over 2.4Ghz sets is that it has quite low latency. I can use them to have "wireless" headphones for real time monitoring.

[Clark Nikolai]

13 hours ago, newfoundmass said:

Let this be a reminder that we don't need to always get the latest and greatest. There's a lot of great old gear out there that is more than adequate and will cost you a fraction of what you'd pay for new.

I agree totally.  There is so much good gear out there that is considered to be old models but still work very well. I have two sets of Sennheiser EW100 G3 transmitters and receivers. I got them over ten years ago on Craigslist for about CAN$800. They were considered old then but I've not had any problems with them. I've had to scrape corrosion of the terminals once (I always take the batteries out now) and put heat shrink over the antennas (where the original plastic had cracked) but otherwise they are still going strong and work very well.

I've had thoughts of getting some newer ones, such as the Sennheiser AVX EKP receivers as they'd be smaller and phantom powered but really, I don't need to.

This also fits in with my philosophy I'm doing this year, is to get creative with what I already own. (It's going great so far by the way.)

[IronFilm]

Not only is old gear cheaper, but if you go for obscure old gear you can save a tonne! 

Such as the case with those OG RodeLinks, most people have forgotten about them or never knew they existed. 

While on the topic of wireless, this is one of the reasony I like the Sony UWP-D series more than the Sennheiser Gx series, not just because they're better wireless, but also because they're more obscure (not in high demand like the very very well known Sennheiser G2/G3/G4), thus the Sonys generally sell for cheaper.