The weight of this stand is impressive and it holds my very heavy (2lbs) Rode PodMic with ease. There’s a nice padded ring on the bottom (see my review photos) that helps manage the weight.

What I like:
– Heft of stand is impressive
– Value is unbeatable!
– Threaded rod is easy to insert and adjust for microphones
– Padding ring helps to make it less aggressive on desk
– Branded sticker is easy to remove for those of us seeking that all-black visual

What I don’t like (small things only):
– Limited to just the 5″ height with rod provided (would have loved an 8″ rod for additional $)

On Stage DS7200B Adjustable Desk Microphone Stand, Black

, which I bought for its height-extension ability, but the entire setup was front-heavy. While it wouldn’t completely fall over, a slight nudge would make it start tipping over; I didn’t feel safe using that stand. This Samson stand, while lacking the height adjustment capabilities, does not have that problem. It is simply much heavier and the base is wider.

I have to dock a star for two reasons. The first is that the vertical metal rod has a sticker on it that leaves super-sticky residue when you peel it off. The “On Stage DS7200B” had the same problem, but the case there was much worse: there were two stickers instead of one, the stickers were bigger, and the residue was even stickier, to the point that it was impossible to get off without solvents. I didn’t have to resort to solvents on the Samson stand, but despite being super careful when peeling off the sticker, I still had to spend a good 20 minutes cleaning up the leftover gunk; it is a strong residue.

The second reason is that the bottom of the base has a circular ring of rubber which only comes half installed; the strand of rubber is split in half and “derails” from the inset near both endpoints, so only about 3/4 of the strand is in the ring. The rubber strand is actually glued to the base in this way, and when I first saw the situation I thought I had gotten a defective product. You are forced to grab both ends of the strand, pry them from where they are glued, and push them into the inset. Unfortunately, this ALSO leaves behind sticky residue!

I bought two stands, and both of them came this way, so I don’t believe my experience is a freak incident.

In short, the stand itself is great, but it did give me a couple of headaches.

One draw back I had is that you have to really *force* the base onto the pole part of the stand in order to screw it in, to the point that I worried it came stripped. I’ll still rate it 5 stars since its a small complaint, but my husband had to strong arm the thing on.