I don't know about you, but when I'm trying to impart my fifteen-years-worth of real estate sales knowledge to an attentive audience at the LaGuardia Westin's Conference Room C, I gotta use my hands. Maybe it's my Italian-German-Irish upbringing, but I'm not sure I'm getting my point across unless I'm punctuating every "dividend" and "forfeiture" with a violent gesticulation, and having to lead a presentation while holding a mic in one hand is like giving an oratorio about 20 minutes after undergoing maxillofacial dental surgery. That's why I'm super-psyched about the new RE97-2Tx headset mic from ElectroVoice.

ElectroVoice has always made some of the highest-quality stage mics around, so I expect great things from the RE97-2Tx. The specs alone sell me on the mic. A super-thin headband makes for a lightweight design, and ensures that I won't look like Madonna circa-1985 singing about lucky stars (or like I'm wearing my childhood babysitter's nightmarish orthodontia). The headset folds flat for storage, and the two ear hooks ensure that I won't fling the thing skyward during a particularly rapturous rap-session.

The mic itself is an omnidirectional, back-electret condenser mic. Condenser means it picks up my every grunt and snarl in immaculate detail, and electret means I won't have to worry about access to phantom power (which I don't believe in anyway -- I'm a Reaganite Pragmatist). Finally, the RE97-2Tx ships with a removable windscreen for the mic element, which, in my case, will be acting more as a spit guard (my best deliveries are often paired with explosive salivation, but hey, that's my cross to bear).

So, really, do what you will with what I've said here today. I can tell you to buy an ElectroVoice RE97-2Tx, but I can't make you buy one. You're the captain of the S.S. You.