IEMs with ambience mics

[phased]

Anybody use IEMs with the fancy mics attached for ambience? What are your experiences? Are there cheaper, semi-do-it-yourself solutions? Here's some pro solutions I found:

Westone / Gennum / In-Ear Sound Design SD1
http://www.in-earmonitor.com/input.html

Sensaphonics 3D Active Ambient
http://www.sensaphonics.com/prod_3d_ambient.html

Also I thought I heard Starkey might be making something similar...

The SD1 looks great, but expensive, $1300! I'm not sure how much the Sensa's are, anybody? I like how with the SD1, the mics are on the cable where it plugs into the IEM. You can use whatever IEM you want. It would be cool to be able to just get the cable with the built in mics. Or...

Shure AP200k & AP201k
http://www.shure.com/ProAudio/Products/Accessories/us_pro_AP 200k_content

There are a bunch of places to get lavalier mics, though. Of course you wouldn't have the neat, all-in-one cable. And you still wouldn't have the custom SD1 bodypack, so somehow you have to mix in the mics along with your monitor feed.

I'm interested in how well the built-in ambience mics sound... maybe compared to stage mics for ambience. In between songs, do they sound close to what you'd actually hear, if you weren't wearing IEMs? Is it easy to communicate with other band members, hear the audience, etc?

And how do you handle the mics when the music starts up again. Some of the bodypacks that come with these systems use compression to minimize the ambience while you're actually playing songs.

I like the fact the SD1 system has the mics on the cable, not built in to the actual IEM (see link I posted earlier for pictures). Is there a noticeable difference, in sound, between that system and one where the mics are built-in to the IEM?

Do you feel they're worth the money? etc...

[Spock]

I've been using a Shure PSM200 system in a same cover band for the last 2 years. I'm not using custom ear molds so between the leakage, and the little amount of spill in the vocal mics I can hear the rest of the band and the people in the bar just fine.

[Johnny]

I couldn't care less about ambience, myself.

[ggunn]

I used IEM's for several years with a loud cover band. Mine were the custom earmolds, which were necessary to keep the SPL down in my ears. I used a small mixer to feed the transmitter, blending my vocal mic, my acoustic guitar, my electric guitar, and a general monitor mix. I felt disconnected from the band, however, and more than once bandmates got irritated at me when they tried to tell me something and I couldn't hear them. I added an ambient mic to my mix; problem solved.