Finally I can reach over the drumset with medium weight ribbon mics and trust that the stand doesn't fall over and kill the mic, drummer and drums! The reach is great, both horizontal and vertical, and with the counterweight, you can go as far as the boom goes without trouble. The downside is that this is of course heavy and cumbersome to move around, I don't see myself carrying this to any gigs. But for studio use, it's great. I also ended up floating a EV RE-20 in front of my face for podcast use, and the mic stand is far away without cluttering the space right around my desk. Quite expensive, but worth it.