Customer Rating: 
Summary: 1 Year Later...
Comment: The good stuff...
I've had this mic for well over a year and I've used it with 5 different camcorders(four miniDV and one hard drive based). I cannot put into words how much better the ATR35S sounds over the built-in mic on any of the DV cams. It maintains it's focus on the small area of who it's clipped to while blocking out the ambient noise in the background. I used this every time my recording is being focused on one person speaking. Speeches, toasts, or grandma just telling stories. I once clipped it to the brides bouquet to record the vows. It's amazing how crystal clear audio gives your home videos actual production value. When I show them to friends and family, I no longer have to turn the volume all the way up to hear what someone was saying.
With that said, since I've upgraded to a JVC GZHD6 I have less use for this mic. The built-in DD 5.1 mic doesn't exactly out-perform the ATR35S on all levels but the difference is negligible (something I completely expect from a camera in it's price range). Unless I'm doing interviews for documentaries the built-in mic on the JVC does a fine job.
The bad stuff...
No LED power light! Just like the ATR25, this is a gross oversight in the design of this microphone. At a glance, it's hard to tell if you've accidentally left it on or maybe bumped it on in your camera bag. The worse part is when you need to use it again you don't know if the battery is good or not (because there is no LED indicating as much). After many failed recordings and buying a ton of these expensive little batteries, I've learned to just remove the batteries after each use. I cannot stress how annoying this is. If you're camera has a headphone output to hear what you're recording, use it. I keep a small pair of earbuds in my camera bag just to make sure the batteries in the mics are good because there is no way to tell until you start recording. LEDs are like 3 cents and I would have gladly paid an extra 20 bucks for a mic with some sort of notification that the batteries are good. Shame on you Audio-Technica.
Overall, I'm very happy with this mic and I cannot recommend it enough to anyone who records a lot of video of people talking, either single or in very small groups. Just be ready to babysit the batteries.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Great Mic but poor windscreen
Comment: This mic is awesome! But the windscreen easy falls off, I guess I will need to glue or tape it next time. But so far only use it indoors but will probably start using it instead of my VHF wireless mic as the sound is so much better, and it has 20 ft cord so this can work walking with someone as well. I'm going to buy a second one to mic me, the interviewer, and I plug both monos into a RS adapter and it outputs in two channel stereo with balanced sound by both mics for $24 each, no need for mixers to adjust varying volume!
Customer Rating:
Summary: Great bang for the buck!
Comment: This little mic did a great job for me when I used it in making a video for my business. The sound quality was more than I could have hoped for, especially for the price. I probably could have spent more, but I couldn't give you a reason to. Great bang for the buck!
The only problem I had was apparently self-inflicted. I left my headphones at home and didn't monitor the sound while filming. Bad mistake. There was a 60 cycle hum that was probably the result of poor grounding of the camera or possibly of crossing the mic wire with a power cord. After some research I found a piece of software called SoundSoap2 that completely eliminated the hum without damaging rest of the audio. It is very easy to use and I highly recommend it as well. I hope this will be a help to anyone else who finds themselves in this situation.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Value Buy, definitely recommend
Comment: I recently recorded a seminar in a house of worship with this - ie lots of background noise, etc, and this mic worked beautifully. to most people there might not even be a discernible difference between this and a more expensive and higher quality mic.
for the price class its in it is AMAZING. i dont think u can do better for anything under 50 bucks.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Not a happy videographer
Comment: Watch Video Here: http://www.amazon.com/review/RG7CWDHFNLGN2 I purchased this mic back in April and didn't use it much, though I think I remember it working OK. I've had it in storage for pretty much 6 months. I recently wanted to record some video with a lavalier mic, and this is what I get. I've tried several different batteries and have attempted plugging the mic into a recorder instead of having it plugged into the camera. As you might guess, the quality doesn't get any better. I'm in the midst of scrambling to find a new mic now. Thanks for nothing Audio-Technica.
Summary: 1 Year Later...
Comment: The good stuff...
I've had this mic for well over a year and I've used it with 5 different camcorders(four miniDV and one hard drive based). I cannot put into words how much better the ATR35S sounds over the built-in mic on any of the DV cams. It maintains it's focus on the small area of who it's clipped to while blocking out the ambient noise in the background. I used this every time my recording is being focused on one person speaking. Speeches, toasts, or grandma just telling stories. I once clipped it to the brides bouquet to record the vows. It's amazing how crystal clear audio gives your home videos actual production value. When I show them to friends and family, I no longer have to turn the volume all the way up to hear what someone was saying.
With that said, since I've upgraded to a JVC GZHD6 I have less use for this mic. The built-in DD 5.1 mic doesn't exactly out-perform the ATR35S on all levels but the difference is negligible (something I completely expect from a camera in it's price range). Unless I'm doing interviews for documentaries the built-in mic on the JVC does a fine job.
The bad stuff...
No LED power light! Just like the ATR25, this is a gross oversight in the design of this microphone. At a glance, it's hard to tell if you've accidentally left it on or maybe bumped it on in your camera bag. The worse part is when you need to use it again you don't know if the battery is good or not (because there is no LED indicating as much). After many failed recordings and buying a ton of these expensive little batteries, I've learned to just remove the batteries after each use. I cannot stress how annoying this is. If you're camera has a headphone output to hear what you're recording, use it. I keep a small pair of earbuds in my camera bag just to make sure the batteries in the mics are good because there is no way to tell until you start recording. LEDs are like 3 cents and I would have gladly paid an extra 20 bucks for a mic with some sort of notification that the batteries are good. Shame on you Audio-Technica.
Overall, I'm very happy with this mic and I cannot recommend it enough to anyone who records a lot of video of people talking, either single or in very small groups. Just be ready to babysit the batteries.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Great Mic but poor windscreen
Comment: This mic is awesome! But the windscreen easy falls off, I guess I will need to glue or tape it next time. But so far only use it indoors but will probably start using it instead of my VHF wireless mic as the sound is so much better, and it has 20 ft cord so this can work walking with someone as well. I'm going to buy a second one to mic me, the interviewer, and I plug both monos into a RS adapter and it outputs in two channel stereo with balanced sound by both mics for $24 each, no need for mixers to adjust varying volume!
Customer Rating:
Summary: Great bang for the buck!
Comment: This little mic did a great job for me when I used it in making a video for my business. The sound quality was more than I could have hoped for, especially for the price. I probably could have spent more, but I couldn't give you a reason to. Great bang for the buck!
The only problem I had was apparently self-inflicted. I left my headphones at home and didn't monitor the sound while filming. Bad mistake. There was a 60 cycle hum that was probably the result of poor grounding of the camera or possibly of crossing the mic wire with a power cord. After some research I found a piece of software called SoundSoap2 that completely eliminated the hum without damaging rest of the audio. It is very easy to use and I highly recommend it as well. I hope this will be a help to anyone else who finds themselves in this situation.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Value Buy, definitely recommend
Comment: I recently recorded a seminar in a house of worship with this - ie lots of background noise, etc, and this mic worked beautifully. to most people there might not even be a discernible difference between this and a more expensive and higher quality mic.
for the price class its in it is AMAZING. i dont think u can do better for anything under 50 bucks.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Not a happy videographer
Comment: Watch Video Here: http://www.amazon.com/review/RG7CWDHFNLGN2 I purchased this mic back in April and didn't use it much, though I think I remember it working OK. I've had it in storage for pretty much 6 months. I recently wanted to record some video with a lavalier mic, and this is what I get. I've tried several different batteries and have attempted plugging the mic into a recorder instead of having it plugged into the camera. As you might guess, the quality doesn't get any better. I'm in the midst of scrambling to find a new mic now. Thanks for nothing Audio-Technica.