The Shure SM86 is a condenser microphone that is designed for live performances.  Most microphone that look like this are dynamic microphones which don't have as much clarity as this one does.  Having the mic within this sturdy casing makes it the perfect high quality microphone to bring on the road and for gigs as it will be able to take more of a beating than other mics for live shows, not that you should be beating it up though!  The mic also has a cardioid polar pick up pattern.

OVERALL OPINION

I've used the Shure SM86 condenser microphone a number of times for live shows and it definitely has an impressive sound quality for a microphone like this.  Pretty much any condenser mic is going to have a more detailed sound than a dynamic one, but usually you don't see a condenser microphone being used for live shows because they are simply too fragile and delicate to be brought outside of the studio.  Shure's SM86 is perfect for anyone looking for a cleaner tone and overall more detail for their vocals during live shows.  I would say that I would only recommend this to those who are touring or gigging often where it is important to have a quality microphone on your voice each and every night.  This microphone will definitely provide that for you as the sound quality is crisp and quite clean overall.  The price of the mic is more expensive than most live performance microphones are, but that is to be expected since this is an entirely different type of microphone than most live performance mics.  If you are a singer who is looking for a higher quality microphone than you are getting from your traditional dynamic mics, the Shure SM86 is absolutely worth looking into.  Shure is a company you can trust to make good microphones and the SM86 definitely falls right into place.