Anyone have any experience with the Hollyland Solidcom M1?

adda

Member
Looking to get into wireless comms. Clearcomm FSII of course would be nice, but $$$$$. Came across the Hollyland Solidcom M1. (https://www.hollyland.us/detail-solidcomm1), which looks to pack quite a punch at the price point. 1.9 GHz, 8 belt packs of full duplex supported, solid looking build (lots of metal), good range, etc. The whole kit for 7k. But, I've never heard of these guys. Chinese company, get good reviews for their wireless video solutions., and there are plenty of YouTube videos claiming they work great for church and production environments-- but of course who knows what kind of kickback money is changing hands. Anyone have any experience with the company or their products? I'm really tempted but need more info
 
OK I'll add that I need
to have this system in hand by the end of June for budgetary reasons. Clearcom (like so many other vendors) is quoting lead timers that won't make that window, so if no one has any experience with the Hollyland rig, any other suggestions for "next best after Clearcom"?
 
OK I'll add that I need
to have this system in hand by the end of June for budgetary reasons. Clearcom (like so many other vendors) is quoting lead timers that won't make that window, so if no one has any experience with the Hollyland rig, any other suggestions for "next best after Clearcom"?
Production Intercom now operating as Pro Intercom. Professionally, solidly, and reliably built in the USA with warrantee and FULLY ClearCom compatible.
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Ron Hebbard
 
Right, I looked at them but no wireless. We have a Clearcom wired system but it has limited stations and I wanted to extend it to our house crew, backstage and lobby. For what it's worth the Hollyland system interfaces with 2 wire systems.
 
Not an indictment of the Hollyland product, but in general if you want reliability, go wired. Seriously.

If you can make the purchase with return privileges, try it and let us know how it works. Their wireless HD camera systems get mixed reviews that lean toward positive, or "works well for the price." I'm waiting to hear from people I know about how their products perform and hold up under use.
 
Unfortunately no one's taking returns on things that get close to your mouth (like a comm headset) but at 7K for the system and replacement headsets (the main transceiver and headsets are the entire system) going for $450 I guess I'm willing to roll the dice a bit. My guess is that it will perform well out of the box and it's an open question as to durability/service options. I'll let everyone know what my experience is.
 
OK, so we're using the system for a musical now. Brief horror when it seemed two of the belt packs didn't work out of the box, but an email got me a response with a fix within 24 hours, so not bad. Here are my impressions so far:
Good:
--7 grand for 8 channels of wireless comm! Full duplex all eight channels. Pretty amazing.
--Pairing is effortless, you just turn on the transceiver and the belt packs and that's it.
--Range. I've sent people two floors up without dropout.
--Again, the built quality seems top notch. Not tank like, but this isn't touring kit being handled indifferent stage hands.
--It's truly a complete system, nothing else to buy. Comes with 8 spare batts and a charging cradle that take all 8 belt packs and the 8 spares at one go.
--Battery life. From some of the reviews I've seen I thought this might be a weak spot, but we've done 8 hours of tech and burned about half? I'll have to test to failure, but 10 hours would be more than sufficient, especially when we have charged spare batts close at hand
--Audio quality is fine. High intelligibly, which is all I need.
--Integrates with 2 wire and 4 wire installed systems, so we can still use our ClearCom booth stuff.
--Everything comes in a foam lined injection molded road case with coffin latches-- surprisingly heavy duty.
Cons:
--Not so much build quality as design. The transceiver seems very robust, and belt pack cases themselves are metal and solidly built, but they feature a couple of stubby little antennas that wouldn't survive a direct hit (although they are user replaceable, I should probably lay in a supply). Also, the belt clip puts the thing sideways, for some reason, which is no big deal and perhaps has something to do with getting those antennas out of harms way, although I can't see how, really. Just eccentric. Also, they went with a lemo connector for the headset which makes me a little nervous, just given the amount of connector cantilever to metal engaged by plug ratio.
--As reviews have noted, somewhat aggressive noise gate that can't be defeated. I believe a software update has addressed this, I'll have to look into it.
--Also as widely noted, the talk button is latching with no other option, so you toggle between talk and mute. Not that big a deal but I would have preferred a momentary option. Again, seems like an eccentric choice.
--Volume is a pair of up/down buttons, would have preferred a dial which is faster and easier to locate without looking.

At the end of the day, being able to put crew on wireless, and especially allowing myself to stay in touch with everyone as I run around from place to place is totally totally worth any little niggling complaints. I realize a wired system is always going to be more bullet proof, but since we did not have comm ports in a lot of the places I needed, and since there was no way we were going to pony up for pulling new cable, and since this cost about a third of what similar ClearCom functionality would have cost us (which is why we could get it at all), I'm pretty jazzed. Of course, time will tell how durable this stuff is, but I am encourage that Hollyland had a tech get back to me so quickly when I had an issue. I wasn't sure what the support after sale was going to be like. If anything breaks prematurely I'll report back.
 
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So, can I plug my Telex pH 88 with the a4f plug into the belt pack-you know, the only one that's compatible with my eyeglasses, which is why I spent a hundred and fifty bucks on it? :)
 
Not exactly the same, but I was sent a preview of the Hollycom C1 system before they launched it and I'm doing a sort of long term review. They're the headsets only (with the option for a hub) not the belt packs like the M1, but I've been pleasantly surprised so far. They're a knockoff of the Eartec Ultralights, but honestly the added cost... means they actually are built better and feel higher quality.
 
Thank you for your Thoughts @adda on this the Hollyland system. This recently became aware of this system and have be reading/watching reviews of the system. But I really wanted some real world thoughts on how they work in a theater building. most reviews are like look " I can still hear people other end of a football field. but sometimes 1 wall, or 2 walls is all it takes after 50 ft to kill wireless comm.

The price Point for education/Institutions is only about 5300$ for the 8 chan system.

If I had a couple concerns/ questions maybe you can answer?
From the manufacturer (whom I presume is based in china), what the practicality of purchasing replacement batteries/headsets say 1-2 years down the line? You know Highschool kids....... I'm certain we'll need at least 1 extra headsets after a year or 2 and I haven't noticed anyway to buy parts or pieces to the system. Just the ability to by the System as a whole.

Is the Push to talk/No momentary latch button just annoying, or bordering on frustrating for you people to get used to?
 
I'll have to look into replacement stuff, they've been in the US market for a while and seem committed to expanding their presence, so hopefully we'll have replacement part support in the years to come, but I share your concerns. The latching push to talk is, I would say, slighting annoying, but everyone seems to have gotten used to it pretty quickly (I'm still disgruntled but then I've been using comm systems a lot longer than them). In practice it's really not that much different than momentary, since you would keep your finger/thumb on the talk button anyway, and it's just a matter of giving it a little push when you finish speaker as opposed to just letting it go. I have't noticed a lot of inadvertent talk status chatter. I should mention that I had another belt pack drop out for no apparent reason. Connecting the belt pack to the transceiver via a provided USB to USB C cable and resetting group status clears it up, but not very practical mid-show. I think there are someone menu options around pairing that I haven't had a chance to dig into yet, I guess I could break down and read the manual at some point...... I'm reserving judgement on this till I have a better understanding of what's going on.
 
I'll have to look into replacement stuff, they've been in the US market for a while and seem committed to expanding their presence, so hopefully we'll have replacement part support in the years to come, but I share your concerns. The latching push to talk is, I would say, slighting annoying, but everyone seems to have gotten used to it pretty quickly (I'm still disgruntled but then I've been using comm systems a lot longer than them). In practice it's really not that much different than momentary, since you would keep your finger/thumb on the talk button anyway, and it's just a matter of giving it a little push when you finish speakeing as opposed to just letting it go. I have't noticed a lot of inadvertent talk status chatter. I should mention that I had another belt pack drop out for no apparent reason. Connecting the belt pack to the transceiver via a provided USB to USB C cable and resetting group status clears it up, but not very practical mid-show. I think there are someone menu options around pairing that I haven't had a chance to dig into yet, I guess I could break down and read the manual at some point...... I'm reserving judgement on this till I have a better understanding of what's going on. By "drop out" I mean the operator can't be heard or hear, but the belt pack and transceiver still show that it's linked. So maybe it's somehow spontaneously changing groups? We'll see.
 
Thank you for your Thoughts @adda on this the Hollyland system. This recently became aware of this system and have be reading/watching reviews of the system. But I really wanted some real world thoughts on how they work in a theater building. most reviews are like look " I can still hear people other end of a football field. but sometimes 1 wall, or 2 walls is all it takes after 50 ft to kill wireless comm.

The price Point for education/Institutions is only about 5300$ for the 8 chan system.

If I had a couple concerns/ questions maybe you can answer?
From the manufacturer (whom I presume is based in china), what the practicality of purchasing replacement batteries/headsets say 1-2 years down the line? You know Highschool kids....... I'm certain we'll need at least 1 extra headsets after a year or 2 and I haven't noticed anyway to buy parts or pieces to the system. Just the ability to by the System as a whole.

Is the Push to talk/No momentary latch button just annoying, or bordering on frustrating for you people to get used to?
The C1 headset system that I'm using has a range *slightly* larger than my current HME headsets. If that gives any point of comparison. So at least in my venue Hollyland's antennas seem to be a bit better than other options. I've got concrete all over and the only place I can be "in range" in my basement is when I get to the pit area, whereas the C1's cover my entire basement level and only lose signal inside the closed elevator. Again, I haven't used the M1 series but I was impressed by the range and quality of audio from the C1's so I'd expect that tracks to the belt pack version as well.

Manufacture IS in china. Batteries at the moment across the board seem to be pretty readily available. And Hollyland as a whole seems to be seeing some success and growing. At least for now I wouldn't be too concerned about replacement parts or batteries... but then again its hard to predict that for ANY company with the supply chains the way they are these days.
 
I would edit my comment above, but for some reason, I can't.

I see that not only do they *not* have A4M or A5F jacks for standard headsets, they go on about "Industry Standard 'LEMO Headsets'", just like those are a) a thing, and b) a *headset*, not a standard type of connector (not actually used by anybody on any type of com headset..

That sort of disingenuousness tends to make *me* assume the manufacturer will be impossible to deal with, and I avoid -- and recommend avoiding -- any product from such a manufacturer. Get The Glue Right is my *number 1* rule of design, and they're not only not doing that, they are (wink nudge) purposefully trying to handwave you about it.

No. Just ... no.
 
I would edit my comment above, but for some reason, I can't.

I see that not only do they *not* have A4M or A5F jacks for standard headsets, they go on about "Industry Standard 'LEMO Headsets'", just like those are a) a thing, and b) a *headset*, not a standard type of connector (not actually used by anybody on any type of com headset..

That sort of disingenuousness tends to make *me* assume the manufacturer will be impossible to deal with, and I avoid -- and recommend avoiding -- any product from such a manufacturer. Get The Glue Right is my *number 1* rule of design, and they're not only not doing that, they are (wink nudge) purposefully trying to handwave you about it.

No. Just ... no.
So far with my direct interactions with them... there's definitely a language disconnect. As a whole its a chinese knock off brand, that has taken other people's work and done it cheaper in some cases then charged more for. That being said their stuff has been built better than I'm used to for "budget" comms. So the trade off isn't terrible. The recorded lady that tells you the connections are established 100% is a chinese woman that can't say connection "succeeded", why they didnt just farm out an english speaker for a simple recording I don't get but they've been very receptive so far and are also going to NAMM this year... but they are also looking for a positive review from me, so I'm still skeptical but hopefully optimistic.
 
I had to look up LEMO.. looks like it is indeed "industry standard"... uh if you happen to be a Pilot.
That's what I seemed to find. If you want to use replacement 400$ bose avaition headsets :).

Though they do mention that they have standard 1/8th TRRS plugs too if I recall from some reviews.
 
We rented a 8 user set for our Fall Play.

We have very challenging room, and our Backstage and Preshow meeting rooms have many multiples off very think concrete/cinderblock walls between them and our Catwalk Transceiver position. The system worked very well for us.

I had all the students on Channel A
Myself and the PSM and SFX on B
and Myself , FOH managers and our Wired Com(Video/camera) on C

Worked great.

Con's:
The latch on latch off for Talk is... annoying, but learnable.
Lemo headset connector I think is still a weird choice, but the connector and headsets seem pretty robust, and were comfortable overall
Lack of a Call light, or flashing indicator, or vibration is a bummer for those moments, you have it just hanging around your neck or sitting next to you.
The noise gate, is a little to aggressive. whispering in to the system has to be done with the mic very close to your mouth.

I've proposed to our Supervisor that we pick up a set for our High School Aud, and maybe a second for the Middle school.
at B&H through the education/Gov portal the 8 user system can be had for 5400$ shipped.
 

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