Shure Spotlight C606 to the rescue yet AGAIN. Best $30 I've ever spent.

Hello hardware forum. I usually don't post here but figured this is the best spot for this.
 
So first off I should say technically this is not a "pro" mic but darned if it isn't awesome for the dough. I don't want people thinking that they can just snag one of these for their studio and have top shelf sound quality. However this thing has pulled my ass out of many fires over the years and I was quite disappointed to see the serious lack of reviews on it when doing google searches (yes... I search my gear regularly to see what people are saying because I'm dorky like that).
 
I do not work for Shure or any hardware manufacturers for that matter and I don't think these mics are even made anymore but I wanted to give people a heads up on this in case they see a used one somewhere and aren't sure whether to snag it.
 
These were mostly promoted as karoake mics and sold new for about $30 (which is about what I paid for mine). I bought it because my "good" bandroom mics were getting trashed so I wanted a back up in case they totally stopped working. I was using SM58's and Audio Technica's that were similar to the 58's. I've always found 58's to be a little muddy but were durable and good for screamer stuff which is mostly what occupied my bandspace. If I had my druthers I'd be running Beta 58's which I find much crisper and more versatile but they were quite expensive back then and are still well over $100. So I went into my favorite music shop at the time thinking I'd probably be just snagging another classic 58 but saw the Spotlight mics sitting in the display case. Obviously Shure is a good brand so I asked what the deal was with them and the guy said they were pretty good mics for the price so I asked to see it. It was sturdy like a 58 so I figured it would good for the bandroom and I wouldn't be out a lot of money if it got destroyed.
 
So I got the thing to the bandroom, hooked it up to the mixer and KAPOW... it was like night and day compared to the other mics I had, which admittedly were pretty beat up. Totally crisp and clear and LOUD. So much so I had to turn the channel fader down from its usual spot and attenuate the high end both of which had always had to be jacked on that board because it was kind of crappy itself. I had just started getting into DAW stuff so I tried recording its input compared to the other dynamic mics I had and again it kicked their arses. The tone was a little more brittle but it was a much more usable input signal and I wasn't having to eat the mic as much or cram it right into the strings of my acoustic guitar to get a good level.
 
So, selfishly, I decided that this mic was not going to be left in the band room to be destroyed. I made a mental note to buy some more of them when I had the cash figuring they would be around for a while and told some of my buddies about it. A few bought them (or other versions from the Spotlight series) and liked them as well. Sadly when I went to buy another one they were no longer available and now they don't seem to be around anywhere. I've got a working theory that they were TOO good for the price and Shure was undercutting their own higher end products (like the 57's, 58's and Beta Green's). However some of the few reviews I've found mention them "breaking up" after a certain point, which is indeed true to an extent, but I find if you anticipate the high output of the mic and its somewhat "brittle" nature it can handle super quiet signals up to complete freakout screamer vox.
 
Negatives: It lacks a bit of bottom end to my ears or at least doesn't handle it well and the mids seem to be a little over emphasized but as I said these can be anticipated and corrected with EQ. In fact in my case I'd rather have the mids high and deal with it on the board or while mixing (I do not have a decent preamp or input compressor). For true studio recordings the brittleness does become apparent and I'd opt for a condenser over this mic but it actually responds far better than my 58's and pretty much any of my mics. There is just a weird tonal quality about that is hard to get rid of in mixing. It is a bit of an interesting, if not odd, flavor but overall probably not desirable for a pro recording. I've used it in conjunction with my condensers to compensate and that seems to work well though. It has an on/off switch which... well I don't really like in a mic because it's just one more thing to go wrong but it is a decent switch like on other Shure offerings and hasn't screwed up on me yet. 
 
Really though I have been able to use this thing where all my other mics have failed or been lacking. I actually don't have the greatest mics in the world because... well mics are expensive and I'm cheap/broke. So having a good utility mic like this around has been extremely useful. I've used it on snares, amps, all kinds of vocals, acoustic guitars and now snagging room ambiance (which has led to this current gush on this mic). Basically if you just need to capture a sound this will do it very well.
 
I've been trying to find a way to set up a mic to capture the overall noise in a room. Like me talking, moving around, ambient noise, etc. None of my mics were working properly. The dynamics were not picking up signal at all or at extremely low level and the condensers were picking up air hiss and line noise thus burying the actual signal I wanted. There is something about the frequencies this mic captures that allows me to record actual noise at a good level without the signal being overtaken by low rumble or hiss.
 
So, I'm just saying that if you see one of these C606's in a bargain bin or at a yard sale somewhere, buy it. It is a good powerful beater mic built like a tank. It isn't the greatest sounding mic in the world but for a bandroom or carrying in a gig bag as a back up it is absolutely brilliant. Anything else you can do with it above that, IMO, is gravy considering the price.
 
Cheers. Now I'll let you guys get back to discussing much nicer/fancier gear that I can't afford. ;-)