Review on Nolan LiveMIC Bluetooth Remote Microphone for Bluetooth Audio Devices, iPhone, iPad, Android, MacBook Air, Laptop, Mac, PC, and Speakers by Stephanie Martel

Surprisingly small! (I was imagining something about the size of a pack of cigarettes, but a standard pack might hold three.) I bought this mic for use in a meeting where some participants were only on Skype. The people in the room pass the microphone on to whoever is speaking. The Nolan LiveMIC is so small that we taped it to a piece of wood so the user could hold something larger. According to our friends on the other end of the Skype connection, Nolan's audio quality was acceptable, but not great. We get better sound using a Nolan feature that I didn't realize when I bought it. In addition to the built-in microphone, there is a 3.5mm port where you can connect an alternative microphone. Connecting an external microphone disables the built-in Nolan and replaces it with the signal from the connected microphone. We got noticeably better sound by hooking up a cheap leftover external microphone that was designed for the old Macintosh, before they all had built-in modules. Initially, we had significant trouble getting the Nolan to stay paired with the Mac's Bluetooth port. This issue appears to have arisen from a disagreement between the Skype software and Mac OS 10.6 over who controls communications. The problem went away after we downloaded a newer version of Skype. The documentation is illegible in the delivery state. I emailed Nolan support and immediately received a PDF version that I could enlarge on screen or print out to human readable size. Verdict: Bluetooth is fine (although initial pairing requires careful button presses and LED indicators). The sound is ok but is improved by plugging in a spare microphone. Don't forget to charge your battery (there doesn't seem to be any way of knowing how much is left). Overall: Offers exactly the features we need for little money and moderate initial setup effort.