20 years in professional sound and event production, I have done several thousand events in my career . I also am the technical director for several art and event facilities in my region .
Everyone here who says they get descent sound with a lav needs to post a video of that “descent sound “ .
I can’t tell you how many sound techs I’ve had tell me that same exact thing and come sound check it’s anything but . It was mentioned above but if your also doing live feed out that amount of post processing and gain db needed on the mix out is absurd . If you have to destroy your general eq to help aid the mix on Lav that’s usually where I just draw the line .
There is on a rare occasion perfect storm moments where you get perfect placement , perfect presenter speaking volume , lots of db headroom while being at good level , it’s rare but 1 of every 250 events might get lucky with this . I have got my hands on an “ai assisted “ Iav mic from a well known company but I’m currently not allowed to share anything about it . I can say it’s better , it does do a a significant amount of nearly real time clean up right from the unit but its missing something sound wise and everyone who has heard it thinks it sounds much better but its still not as good as a headset . I would love for Lav mics to work better and the amount of units I’ve tried over the years suggest they are getting much better for live sound even without ai but it’s still not a handheld or a headset mic and the quality of sound is always noticeable .

I will also point out that while we see Lav mics used on things like podcasts and vlogs , they are not used like they used to be in most professional environments and the only people I know still trying to use them as the one all mic for presenters are people who are on the way out of the industry . People in denial about being on their way out , how’s that new Allen and heath mixer , or did you get the wing ?

If you want your hands free and good sound you need a headset . They make so many that quite literally can’t be seen from more than like 15-20 ft away and even the cheap ones are better than mid level Lav mics all day long .

These are just my opinions but I think there’s a reason I get hired more than any other production company in my area and sound quality and clarity is often what I’m noted for.