If you are using a laptop, the differences are best heard using ear buds, headphones or amplified external speakers.
Zoom H1 Digital Recorder with a Redhead windscreen from James Brown on Vimeo.
In other direct tests comparing a fuzzy windscreen, such as the Redhead against a foam windscreen, the fuzzy windscreen comes out the clear winner.
Let’s say you took my advice and bought a fuzzy windscreen and lost it, something that could easily happen to me. What can you do in an emergency? You can try anything that prevents the wind from directly blowing over the microphone of your recorder. Can you go into a quiet room in a building away from the outside wind? This might work for an interview but if you are after natural sound, you need to be outdoors. Is there a natural windbreak such as a big rock or other structure? Can you hold up some object between the wind and your microphone? Sometimes even a hat can work if it is held close enough to the microphone to block the wind.
Work as hard as you can to get clean audio. Bad audio turns viewers away from your story quickly.
Thanks go to my daughter, Dr. Jennifer Brown, for serving as model for this video.