I tried out the facotry mic just for fun and although it's not bad for factory handheld, I stuck with my Heil that I used with my Icom 775 for two reasons. The Heil is more convenient and the Heil 4 cartridge has a lot more snap. I use the INRADS and am very happy with the 2.1 for SSB and the 400 for CW. I might mention that I use the rig mostly for contesting. Bill K4XS