Review on 🎙️ Enhanced RODE PSA 1 Studio Microphone Boom Arm with Swivel Mount by Bernardino Suazo

I bought this to replace a cheap $15 mic boom I've been using for a while. Replacing it with this one was like night and day. The RODE PSA1 is an amazing microphone arm, it's (mostly) quiet, durable and has a fantastic range of motion. But not without flaws. For starters, after about 6 months, there was a creaking when the arm was moved forward/backward. This was solved by applying a few drops of oil to the spring bore. Now I do this every few months as needed. The next issue I noticed was that despite the rather heavy microphone, the arm sometimes went up when struck. The arm is fully loaded by the weight of the microphone. It was annoying until I found a solution online to tighten a few bolts that would increase the tension. Unfortunately, RODE does not provide you with this information. In fact, RODE offers little to no information on how to use the hand. I think they think that after you buy it, you should understand how to use it (like a pro would). While I understand that mic arms aren't exactly complex products, the fact that there are videos on YouTube of common solutions that people want suggests that it would probably be wise for RODE to include documentation with the PSA1. The cable routing channel is also a bit flimsy - while it's there, you have to disassemble the XLR cable to thread it through. I'm not sure what the best solution would be. I'm too lazy for that, so I attached mine with velcro at the top. The last issue I encountered was mounting the mic itself on the arm. There's a mounting plate to which you can attach the mic and rotate it a full 360 degrees (if your cable allows it). The problem arises when you want to "lock" the microphone by tightening this plate. If you "lock" it and then hit/move it slightly, it will completely disengage. While this may not seem so bad, it can be annoying after moving the mic/arm around a few times and constantly tightening the plate over and over again. Since it's really just a big puck, I wish they found a better way to do it.