There are many brands and styles of pickup available but for the mandolin family the range is smaller than that for guitars.

For a general overview of acoustic instrument pickups click here

For pickup prices click here

Headway

For customers who are regularly playing plugged in I usually recommend headway undersaddle transducers. Apart from being pretty much the only company which design with the whole mandolin family in mind, they are (for and undersaddle pickup) very dynamic, have an incredibly natural tone and are highly resistant to feedback. They also use a class A, all discreet (less components in the signal path) pre amp design with fet transistors as do L.R Baggs. There are various models and combinations I recommend depending on the type of instrument and the player. I also usually recommend these for Octave Mandolas and Bouzoukis. They now produce a budget version especially for the mandolin with a tiny pre amp mounted on the pickup cable. All come with an on board pre amp. If tone controls are required I usually recommend an off board pre amp such as the EDB1 . See price list.

Schertler

I have now tried these and when positioned correctly and with a little EQ can perform very well and are extremely feedback resistant. They are a tiny dymanic mic that adheres to the soundboard with a special putty and are designed to be temporarily installed each time you seek amplification. A few goes at the adhesion process and you get the idea. Used by Chris Thile from Nickel Creek amongst others. The drawback comes as the output is XLR female so you need an adaptor to use most guitar type pre amps which I would recommend. Schertler do their own version which goes with the DYN range of pickups. See price list.

LR Baggs

Fantastic product from Baggs with very faithful mic -like reproduction. A microphone film is mounted on a small beam within the case. Two magnets dampen the response to give a robust, feedback resistant signal with warmth and natural dynamics. Gives a friendly, high output, don't have to EQ too much signal. This small transducer can be mounted permanently or temporarily on the outside of the mandolin or permanently on the inside (soundhole models).