3 Legged Thing STR3AMCASE Triple Mic System review

If you’re filming interviews or just filming yourself out on location, a wireless mic is the perfect solution. It clips to your clothing and records your voice at source, transmitting it wirelessly to a receiver plugged into your camera or smartphone.

That’s a basic setup, but the Str3amcase Triple Mic System goes a lot further. You get two transmitters not one, and there’s also a mic built into the receiver which can be enabled as required. This way, you can film and hear two people at once and add your own ‘narrator’ voice if you want to. This is a feature often found only in the best wireless microphones.

3 Legged Thing calls its transmitters ‘lavalier’ mics as that’s the technology they use, but you can also plug in a regular lav mic (not supplied), i.e. a tiny mic on a cable for fixing to a collar or a lapel, and just the transmitters as just that – transmitters.

Otherwise, you use the transmitters just as you would a regular clip-in mic like those in the RODE Wireless Pro kit or the many alternatives currently on the market. They are already paired with the receiver straight out of the box, so they should be ready to plug in and go. Check out our guide to the best microphones for more on mic types in general.

You also get all the cables you need for connecting to a smartphone (either USB-C for Android or Lightning for iPhone) plus a TRS jack for camera mic sockets (as found in all the best video cameras and best hybrid cameras) and a TRRS version for devices with combined mic/headphone sockets. You also get a charging cable for the supplied charge case.

This is perhaps the most impressive thing about the Str3amcase kit – the fact that a charge case is included in the already very competitive price. The case has charging slots for both transmitters and the receiver and also acts as a neat carrying solution for the three units. Mic kits like these inevitably come with a whole bunch of cables, but these can be stored in the neat, zip-up pouch that’s also included. You really do get a lot for your money.

What you don’t get is more advanced recording features such as 32-bit float, onboard recording or multi-channel recording, but only more advanced filmmakers and vloggers will need these things anyway. For easy, in-the-field ad-hoc recording, the Str3amcase kit is just fine.

3 Legged Thing STR3AMCASE: Specifications

3 Legged Thing STR3AMCASE: Price

Recently reduced in price, the Str3amcase kit costs £89.99 in the UK. That translates to around $113, though at the time of writing we’ve yet to see actual Str3amcase prices at US retailers. There are wireless mic kits at similar prices from budget brands like Movo, Godox and Boya, but it’s hard to find an equivalent 3-mic system with charge case and cables at this price, where the receiver also has its own mic.

3 Legged Thing STR3AMCASE: Build and handling

The Streamcase kit is both nicely made and very practical. A single zip-up semi-rigid pouch hold both the Str3amcase charge case and all the cables, magnetic panels and wind muffs. The charge case is compact and well made and opens to reveal 3 Legged Thing’s signature orange/copper trim inside.

The transmitters and the receiver are identical in size and appearance, though they are clearly labelled so you don’t mix them up.

They are also unusually small and light. This, and the matt black finish makes them very unobtrusive to wear, and so light that they don’t drag down on your collar or neckline like some do. If you can’t find any convenient place to clip them, you can use one of the two magnetic panels included with the kit. You hold the clip against the inside of your clothing and the transmitter should just snap on to it magnetically.

These magnetic panels are around 1cm square, though, and will be extremely easy to drop or lose. A magnetic lanyard would be more secure.

That’s a minor annoyance compared to the fluffy windshields. They look like they should just wangle over the tip of the transmitter and stay in place, but despite multiple attempts I couldn’t even get them to go over the end. I dare say there’s a knack, but I couldn’t find it.

Oh, and there’s one more thing. The clip on the back grips a camera hotshoe well enough, but there’s too much of a gap between the clip and the mic body for it to fit securely on my SmartRig cold shoe mounts, so I couldn’t test it with my smartphone rig and hand to leave the receiver dangling by its cable.

But there are plenty of positives. These mics are super-easy to use. You simply power them up, wait just a couple of seconds for the lamp to show a solid blue to show they are paired, and you’re ready to go. If you use the receiver on a camera, don’t forget to plug it into the mic socket too (yeah, obvious, I know) and if you’re using it with a smartphone then you’ll just need to leave the receiver dangling from its cable.

Best of all, thanks to the included charge case, you’re not only putting them out of the way but charging them too.

3 Legged Thing STR3AMCASE: Performance

3 Legged Thing quotes a relatively modest line-of-sight range of 50m for the Str3amcase transmitters/receiver, and while there are devices with a much longer range than this, the question is when would you ever need it? It’s going to be a weird kind of video where your speaker is more than 50m away.

What’s potentially more important is how a mic kit handles obstructions. It’s not unusual to turn to one side or turn your back as you’re speaking, and if you’re also moving away, that’s when the trouble starts and you start to get audio drop-out.

So I tested the Str3amcase kit in my back garden, which is perhaps 20m square and arranged on three different levels. I walked along my top patio level both facing and turned away from the camera as I talked, and then did the same on the lower two levels, also narrating out of sight of the camera, to see when the audio would drop out.

It didn’t. Not at any stage. Not even when my back was turned in the farthest corner of the garden. This may have been helped by the reflective surfaces around me – the garden fencing, house wall – and radio signals can be unpredictable, but I thought that was very impressive.

I wouldn’t say it’s the best audio quality I’ve heard from a wireless mic, but it’s perfectly adequate and way better than recording with an on-camera mic, even a directional one. The point is that with a wireless mic you’re recording the audio at its source, not trying to capture it from far away.

3 Legged Thing STR3AMCASE: Verdict

For the money, I think the 3 Legged Thing Str3amcase Kit is pretty exceptional. The wind shields need to fit better (or fit, basically) and the mic clamps don’t work on a cold shoe, but the mics themselves work perfectly, they’re unusually light and unobtrusive, and the charge case is the perfect carrying solution – every wireless mic kit needs a charge case. With the included pouch and five different cables, it’s hard to see, frankly, how they do it for the money.

Alternatives

RODE Wireless Pro: It's much more expensive, but the RODE Wireless Pro kit is beautifully designed, powerful and offers on-board recording and a host of other professional features. We did get some audio dropout out in the open without line of sight, however.

Saramonic BlinkMe: This powerful twin-transmitter kit combines an unusual disc-shaped transmitter design with touchscreen control and on-board recording – though its strong wireless performance means you might never need it. The hardware is fairly bulky, though.