Spy Review

If you want to spy on people from a distance, there’s a tried and tested piece of kit that will do the job. A parabolic dish uses a specially angled disc that focuses all sounds hitting the dish towards a highly amplified microphone. This allows you to hear far-away sounds and conversations, without you being visible to the target you are trying to listen to. This Professional Parabolic Dish Kit features a dish 20 inches (about 50 cm) in diameter and allows you to hear from up to 275 metres away.

What makes this a practical kit is that the dish comes with a mount for a tripod. If you’re being precise with where you are aiming the dish, you don’t want to be holding the dish for hours! The kit also comes in a hard-sided case to protect it all. Powered from 2xAAA batteries and good for up to 100 hours, its not going to cost you a lot in battery replacement. Compare that with a wireless camera that will drain a 9V PP3 battery in 1 hour!

In terms of cost, its not far from other audio surveillance kit. I expect that this particular device is pretty damn good, especially due to the simplicity of the physics and electronics involved (its difficult to get it wrong). Although you can get a much cheaper and toy version of the parabolic dish, the Professional Parabolic Dish Kit is getting close to being military grade.

Just a warning though, you will pick up noises from absolutely everywhere! Including the birds in the trees, and the grannies chatting on the park bench!