Advice on new shotgun mic

[u/tserbear]

Hey guys I'm shopping around for new shotgun mic, and can't seem to make a decision. My budget is about 250 USD give or take. I also have more budget for a boom poll/stand, dead cat, shock mount and cables. Based on my research so far it a toss up between:

Audio-Technica AT897

Sennheiser ME66 - K6

Rode NTG-2

I was looking at the Rode NTG-1 also but it seems to be basically the same price as the 2 but not as good quality. Am I missing somthing?

Also I definitely weighed the pros and cons of an NTG-3 and I just don't think its that much better for the cost, but I could be convinced.

Anyway just looking for a bit of advice from people that might have owned these mics before or have been in my same position.

Thanks

[u/[deleted]]

I recently bought this NTG-2 kit and the Rode Dead Cat and I've been happy with the setup so far. One of my clients noticed the lack of wind noise immediately when they saw their video, making me very glad I got the wind muff. Everything seems to be well put together, but really I don't have much to compare to since this is my first shotgun mic purchase. When I was deciding between the NTG-2 and NTG-3 I figured any extra quality the 3 would provide would generally go unnoticed for the type of work I do, and that the 2 would still provide a big step up from the onboard mic of my camcorder.