My Boom Mic's Best Friend: The Bubblebee Windshield

I recently had a commercial shoot that involved a LOT of exterior dialogue on a blustery day near the coast. My usual Rycote Baby Ball Gag just wasn't cutting it against the relentless wind. I remembered seeing a lot of buzz about Bubblebee windshields on forums, so I decided to invest in their Spacer Bubble for my Schoeps CMIT 5U.

What worked amazingly was the sheer effectiveness of the Spacer Bubble. It has internal baffling that creates a 'dead air' space around the microphone, and the faux fur is incredibly dense. I could point the boom almost directly into a stiff breeze and get perfectly usable dialogue, where before I was getting unusable wind rumble. My post-production team actually commented on how clean the tracks were, which is high praise.

What didn't quite work, or rather, was an adjustment, was the size and weight. It's noticeably larger than a standard foam or basket, and in prolonged booming situations, that extra bulk and weight on the end of a long pole was felt. It also picks up a bit more handling noise if you're not super careful with your technique, due to the larger surface area. Despite that, the audio quality gain was well worth the minor physical discomfort. Do others find themselves making similar compromises for critical clean audio in challenging conditions?