OT - Indian zeppelin windscreen knockoffs

[Starcrash]

Has anyone bought one of these things? It looks like a dead knock-off of the discontinued Sennheiser MZS/MZW zeppelins. The price seems too good to be true. Are these things just crap or what? I've always thought that the Rycote et al windscreens are not really rocket science and are only priced (very high) to meet the demand of our tiny niche market.

eBay-Windkorb (made in India)

[philper]

Looks like a knockoff of the older Lightwave system.

Philip Perkins

[Frank Kruse]

it really looks almost exactly like the Sennheiser-system. Haven´t used it.


frank.

[CLee]

So, did you pick one up?
Looks tempting, but the price does seem to good to be true

[Starcrash]

Yeah. I figured "what the heck" and went for it. If it's a POS, then I'm only out a few bucks or I can use it as a backup. I bought one for $99.00 + $38.00 shipping. I haven't recieved it yet, but I'll post results when it comes and I get a chance to test it with my MKH416.

Turns out, the company that sells these is a manufacturer of video camera parts and accessories out of India. They seem fairly legit and they have an online store: http://www.camerashop.in. We'll see how it goes.

[Starcrash]

It arrived in the mail today and I must say that I am pretty impressed! The thing is solid and pretty decent quality. The pistol grip/shockmount is made of heavy-duty plastic and is identical to the Sennheiser one which is like $300. It looks and feels exactly the same! The cage is sturdy and lightweight. The endcap screws off nicely and the shockmount slides in place nice and snug. It came with several different sized clips for different mics, extra rubber bands, boom-pole mount, and the fuzzy dead cat (windjammer).

The parts that they cheaped out on are the mesh fabric, which is like cotton T-shirt material, and the "dead cat" which is like short -haired "fun fur" instead of the proper "Tina Turner wig" like the Rycote. I plan to leave the cat on just to protect the cotton fabric which will likely tear at some point. The fabric is nowhere near as durable as the real thing.

I haven't had a chance to test the sound with my 416 yet, but I'm pretty optimistic. I just started a new film project so I'm pretty slammed, but when I have time I'll AB it with my friend's Rycote and post the results.

Overall, it's a great deal for $140 USD. The Rycote and the Sennheiser are both well over $600 retail. If the link in the original post is broken, search eBay for "Shockmount Zeppelin". I'll be curious if anyone else decides to go for it and buy one.