I've got
the beta 87C - it's got a cardioid instead of hyper-cardioid(?) pattern. I got mine used, and it has a tad of of self noise (not sure why - maybe some prior mishandling slightly loosened a connection or something) that I need to fix, but other than that it's pretty good.
But I don't use it much, since most of the applications where I might use it (vocals, acoustic instruments) seem to be better served by other mics (e.g., Oktavamod MK-319, C-414, SM81, MK-012, AT4033, ACM-310, GB ribbons, etc.). Once, I did use it for female vocals in a situation where I needed a tighter pickup pattern than I could get from the LDCs due to a lot of background noise. The results were good, and probably the best I could have obtained in that situation. If you record at home, like me, then you may find yourself in a similar situation from time to time.
I think it's a great mic for live applications where a vocalist doesn't have a booming-strong voice -- the "A" model is probably better for this than the "C" that I have, due to its tighter pattern. I personally don't [yet?] get into that sound reinforcement scenario much.
PS - if you watch TV and see political rallies, you'll frequently see this mic being used by a certain candidate. I can't tell the "A" from the "C" visually, but it looks like it must be the "C", due to the mic technique.
