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There are countless churches out there that are looking for a discrete communication system between just a few tech team members. For most, there is often a need for a video director to give direction to a camera operator up front, or maybe there’s need for communication between the audio engineer in the tech booth and a broadcast mix engineer in another room.
One option is to invest thousands of dollars into a high-end system using Clear-Com infrastructure. But for most churches, this option is overkill and a bit too expensive.
The other option is to invest in the Eartec UltraLITE, and most churches should give these headsets a serious look.
Good Stuff
Very affordable for churches
Simple to set up
Doesn’t need a base station and/or belt pack
Simultaneous communication
Bad Stuff
Build quality is “meh”
Auto-mute could be frustrating (but manual mute is available)
The Eartec wireless headsets come in various package sizes. Purchasing options include a pair of headsets, or it’s possible to purchase up to seven. These headsets use full duplex wireless communication. That means all the devices on a network can communicate with each other simultaneously unlike a traditional walkie-talkie system that allows for one person to speak at a time.
To Mute or Not to Mute
The Eartec headsets use auto-mute technology to enable or disable a user's microphone when the mic is in the down position in front of the user's mouth. Auto-mute isn’t always the best in a live music venue because operators often hear room noise through the other user's mic. It can sound like a noise gate with the threshold set too low. But move the microphone into the upward position, and it will manually mute the signal. Most church tech teams will want their camera operators to do this so noise from the PA system or the band doesn't bleed through their microphone when they're not talking. There are also two choices for either a dual-ear headset and single-ear headsets. Dual-ear headsets would make sense for camera operators on stage who need better noise isolation.
Build Quality
The build quality of these headphones is decent at best. You get what you pay for. They are mostly made of plastic (probably entirely of plastic), so a church’s team members would need to be gentle with these headsets. No throwing them around or abusing them too much.
Simple Setup
Aside from the low price, the best part about these headsets is there isn’t a need for a base station or belt packs if a church uses five headsets or less. And the system is expandable from five to seven headsets with the two-channel Eartec hub. All that’s needed to get up and running is to charge the removable batteries, put the batteries back in the headsets, fire up the headsets with the power button, and then the headsets will automatically sync to one another. The batteries last around six hours on one charge so they will last multiple Sunday mornings before needing recharging. It’s always wise to pick up some extra batteries so fresh ones are always handy in case one of the batteries dies unexpectedly.
What’s the Range?
Finally, let’s talk about the range of these systems. The Eartecs will work perfectly for the majority of worship venues. They have up to 1000 feet of line-of-sight range. Need to speak to someone in a different room? They should work fine so long as the headsets are not much farther than a couple hundred feet away.
The Verdict
A church cannot go wrong with this setup for this price. If a church has, say, a team of three production members who need wireless hands-free communication, with the UltraLITE headsets they can make that happen for less than $600. That’s a great deal for a great product that will grow your worship ministry.