I'm pretty new here (only taped around a dozen shows so far) but while I was getting my rig together, and spending a buncha money, I had a hard time justifying spending 80+ dollars on the stand, so I picked up a regular old proline boom mic stand for around 25 bucks. After extending the boom all the way straight up, it gets up to around 9.5 feet. That being said, it was a cheap solution, and now after a month or so, I ordered a light stand. Given the fact that I decided to upgrade almost immediately, the boom stand would have been a complete waste of money if I didn't need it for other applications anyway.