Canon DM-50 Directional Stereo Microphone for camcorder

I was looking for a Canon camcorder microphone which would get rid of all the motor noise you normally hear from camcorders. This one is the only shotgun mic I've ever owned. It does improve the sound noticeably and picks up sound much further away.

There are 3 modes:
1) Shotgun (mono) picks up sound only in front of the camcorder and minimizes surrounding noises,
2) Shotgun Stereo number 1-picks up the sound directly in front and some of the surrounding noises.
3) Stereo 2-picks up surrounding sound in a wider range than stereo 1.

Without this mic attached, I can hear a tape moving noise along with the motor noises. The recorder sound would be more base like and not crisp.

The pros:
With the mic attached, I could still hear the motor noise, but none of the tape noises. The motor noise is noticeably quieter than without it. The sound comes across with much better clarity and is more crisp sounding. It is still not perfect, but with my Elura 65, you cannot expect television broadcast quality sound. Their equipment costs much more than consumer cameras. All in all, it improves quality drastically.

The mic hot-shoes into the camera. That is convenient! Anybody can connect it and it is always ready to use once attached since the power is from the camcorder battery.

The cons:
The mic is 6 inches long and stands 3 inches above the top of the camcorder. This gives a gaudy appearance, but you get used to it and soon accept that for the more pure/crisp sounds. Also you need to remove the mic more often when transporting camera. The mic itself is made very well and seems solid, but the hot-shoe is really thin plastic with tiny contacts. This seems like the weakest manufactured point of this product. I wonder how durable that material is. I tend to anticipate the shoe to break if anything. That would deem the microphone completely usesless.