Rode Wireless Go II Audio System Review

The Rode Wireless Go II is discreet yet delivers high-quality audio. This NEW audio system makes it easy to film on the go. There have not been many new products or new developments in wireless audio capturing in recent years. This is especially true with wireless lavalier microphones. Most systems leave a bit to be desired, or they are insanely expensive. Enter the Rode Wireless Go II.

The original Wireless Go has been out for a while, and while that system worked very well, it had it's own issues. The new Wireless Go II builds on the strengths of the original audio system but also adds some much needed improvement.

As mentioned, the Rode Wireless Go II solves many of the issues the original system suffered from. The most significant upgrade is the dual-channel system. You are now able to record two people with one system! This is great if you have two people on screen such as during an interview. Or multiple people running in and out of a scene. This can be very handy for solo shooters with numerous subjects. You can set all of the audio inputs to go to the primary camera instead of having multiple cameras with lavalier mics for each speaker. With dual-channel recording, you have more options. You can send them to a single stereo source, you can split the channels to the left and right, or you can record both to one track and set a safety channel at -20dB.

The battery life on these things is impressive. I used them on a wedding and had them running for hours and never even had to worry about the battery. The fact that you can see the battery life from the receiver is also a huge plus.   With this device, you get a significant boost in range as well. Rode claims that the new system has a line of sight range of up to 656 feet instead of the 230 feet of the previous model. I'm not sure how much I believe that - I did have some dropping issues in the same room, but more on that later.

Now, Probably my favorite feature is the onboard recording. These tiny little body packs have so many features in them it's ridiculous. Not only can you use them as a mic, as they have one built-in, but you can also add a lavalier. And they save up to 7 hours of uncompressed 24-bit/48Khz audio. This has come in handy on my first shoot with this audio system. I had a wedding with the officiant and the groom mic'd with lavaliers. I got a perfect signal from the officiant, but the groom's mic cut out for basically the whole ceremony. Unfortunately, I came to find out later he had his phone in the same pocket as the audio device. Fortunately, I still had perfectly clean audio right in the body pack. So I didn't even have to worry about it.

If you don't want the mic to be seen, it may be slightly more difficult to hide than just a plain lav mic. Keep in mind that the exchange is a wireless mic set with excellent audio system quality that takes seconds to set up. This section is called the "Not-So-Good" section because these aren't necessarily bad things, but things I wish Rode would improve on. The first thing is the audio system adjustments. There are only three buttons on the receiver, all of which do multiple functions and have to be pressed in a certain way. They aren't labeled clearly either. It would be nice to have some Bluetooth app options to control audio settings. The Rode Central App is completely intuitive. However, when you plug the audio transmitter into the computer to pull your files off, you can only do one file at a time. I understand that this is a backup feature. If you're like me, I try to have everything organized and in the proper folders. I do this even if it is a backup before even opening my project. It would be nice to have a batch export feature in the app.

I've been thrilled with the Rode Wireless Go II. The audio device is small, lightweight, and mostly easy to use. The start-up time is excellent too. You turn them on, and you're ready to go. The form factor is impressive as well. It makes hiding body packs easy. I've used the Rode link system for years, and the size difference is incredible. I'm curious to hear what your thoughts are. If you have the Rode Wireless Go II, what are your thoughts on the system? Let us know down in those comments down below! Also, check out our other mic reviews such as the Comica CVM-VM20.