I'm shopping to replace my 20 year old DC headset with and ANR headset. I don't think that DC can compete with some of the newer headsets on the market (not to mention having my head in a vise for 20 years). Any success stories out there? I'm sort of leaning toward the DRE-6000 or the Flightcom Denali.
All Comments
I use the LightSpeed 20XL. I don't think you can beat it for value and the ANR. There is not enough difference in noise reduction to go up to the 25XL considering the jump in price.
You can buy the 20XL for $399 from Avionics West or J.A. Air center. That is the cheapest I have found them. How does the price compare to the ones you are looking at?
I have both a Sigronic S-AR and a LightSpeed 20XL. I boughtthe LightSpeed 20XL from the factory as a factory reconditioned, at a substantial savings. Both are comprable as to the ANR feature but the LightSpeed is the more comfortable of the two. On the other hand, the mike on the LightSpeed is far more position critical to get a good pickup.
I use a LightSpeed 20XL. They work great and are very comfortable. For the price ($400) I don't think you can beat them. I'm thinking of getting a conector for my rotorywing. I've heard that the ANR isn't as effective due to the different frequency range but maybe I'll give it a try. Any thoughts?
You simply can't go past the David Clarks, H10-13.4. The best in the business. Don't bother getting the ANR model, buy an ANR kit for about 150 bucks and have any decent electronics guru to install it for you and youve got a cheap ANR headset.
Ozgrade3
Bankstown Airport
Sydney Australia
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On 4/25/2002 3:54:00 PM Montana Flyer wrote:
In terms of value($/quality) Lightspeed twenty 3G is the best option in my mind. Comfortable, practical, good looking, and comes with a good baseline of extra functions like auto-shut-off and audio interface for cell/CD. Not sure it'll last you another 20 years but you'll get a good return out of your investment. They offer refurnished options too in their website. If you are going to Oshkosh this year, or know someone who does, vendors offer great show-especials there. Goood luck!
Sir you said you have been wearing the same Dave Clarks for 20 years? Doesn't that say volumes for reliabilty and durability? I've got the DC H10-13x with anr and I wouldn't buy anything else. They did come up with a smaller lighter battery pack, but I just lay mine on the floor anyway, the cord is very long. Comfort is great with the pillow headpad and gel ear seals. They will get a little warm sometimes but any good passive sounddamping requires a somewhat snug fit to do their job. I love the way they are made and don't think any other set is as good. I have lent these to some high time pilots who are shocked at the noise damping. I don't hear as well in noisy xxxxpits with my ears and the anr makes a HUGE difference. Even if you don't buy Clarks again, do get the anr.
I love my David Clark H20-10XL (ANR). I bought the headset used on eBay. I wasn't completely satisfied with the performance of the mic, so David Clark replaced the mic and pretty much completely refurbished the set under warranty. I know you pay a premium for the DC product, but it's hard to beat the way they stand behind their product.
P.S., People talk a lot about the DCs doing a "head in vice" thing. I've never worn the traditional DC H10-XX products, so I can't comment on them. The H20-10XL is very comfortable, however. The earseals make a great seal without noticeable clamping pressure. The set rests more on the top of your head instead with a super-thick, soft head pad.
Date: 8/27/2004 7:12:11 PM
Anonymous Wrote:
sigh...
Somebody revives, a 2 year old thread with:
''I use a blah-blah-blah, and it's the best'kind of comment.
There are days I truly lament easy i-net access.
Hey, I figured it's better to revive an old thread than to have no discussions at all, which is the way these forums tend to be (i.e. too quiet). Besides, I actually thought my opinion would be useful and relevant here. There are many more who read than contribute. Sorry if you didn't find it helpful.
Oh, and I'll bet I've been using the Internet a lot longer than you have, whoever you are.
I have been using a Lightspeed 30 3G for about 12 months and find it very comfortable and the noise cancellation excellent. Battery usage seems to be very frugal as I still have the original batteries in the unit for some 50 hours flying time. I also have a Sennheiser ANR which I use some times as I find the bulk of the Lightspeed can bump the side window or roof of my Archer in turbulence. The Sennheiser is very light with quite small earpieces but the ambient noise reduction is nowhere as good as the Lightspeed. I also have a non-ANR Avcomm that i have relegated for passenger use as I find that, having used ANR, I can't go back to passive units again. Hope this helps.
There are lots of personal tributes out there for headsets.
I would give Flightcom's Classic ANR headset a real look. If money is not an issue, I would go with the Bose X. I haven't found anything that matches the Bose in sound quality. This is especially true if you listen to music while flying.
One more thing. All of these headsets are a little hard on the head after a few hours, even the Bose. I have taken all my headsets to a company called Oregon Aero (http://www.oregonaero.com) and upgraded them in such a way that I can fly pain free, regardless of how long the flight is.
Clear skies.
Greg
See Thru - we're two for two (see IFR Flight File post). When I was up at Oshkosh two years ago, I stopped by the Oregon Aero booth and, for $99, they upgraded the heck out of my Dave Clark's. Big, soft ear seals, washable covers for the seals, "floating" speakers in the ear cups (really reduces ambient noise), a harmonic-reducing mike cover, and a soft top. I can wear them all day, even though I wear glasses (or double glasses when I'm wearing foggles over my prescription), and never notice them. Can't say enough and would recommend their products for any set of phones.
Next from Oregon Aero for me - a seat cushion to make the time in the Diamond C-1 more palatable for my 6'' 1" 200 lb. frame (sorry Diamond - love the airplane, but hate the seats. The DA40's are much better).
Hi again, Bob and Greg!
Just curious, as I'm considering eventually doing the Oregon Aero mod on my DC's... I remember you (Bob) said they did it for you out at Oshkosh. Do you know of anyone that has done it by buying the kit from OA and performing the mods on your own, or do you have to ship the headset to them?
My next major aquisition is going to be a good transciever... just waiting for some extra flying budget $$''s for that one though :) I have an opportunity to buy an ICOM A-23 Sport at a very good price, but I'm doing my research on options first. Also considering the Sporty's one, more for ease of programming and cost of accessories.
You can buy all of the pieces out of the catalogue. The only question I have is "floating" the speakers in the earcups. They used a type of foam to do that, while removing the speaker mounts. It's a pretty straightforward mechanical job, but they may want to do that. If you correspond with Oregon Aero, refer to the Osh Booth and my description of the upgrade. They'll know what's up.
I recently added undercut gelseals and soft foam head pad to my old DC H10-30, which was my first headset. This one is so old it doesn't have a volume control, has the old style mike. The upgrades make a big difference as far as comfort and noise reduction, but makes the headset too tight for me. So I use it as a passenger/kid headset. No objections from them.
I fly with a Bose X headset (Chrismas present last year; I couldn't get past the $1k price). Very comfortable, excellent ANR, poor with ANR turned off. I didn't realize how good it was until I wore my third headset, a Lightspeed QFR Solo ANR set recently in a Skylane. I had to keep checking to be sure the ANR was on, it seemed so loud in comparison.
That being said, I thought the Lightspeed was pretty good when it was my main unit. I got it for about $250, but the price has gone up to around $350. Some of the pilot shops sell a private-branded unit which looks suspiciously like the QFR for around $250. I had to send the QFR back for repairs after about a year; developed a buzzing sound in one ear. They fixed it, no problem.
My instructor, who has hard-wired Bose headsets in his plane, uses a set of Dave Clark h10's with the Headsets Inc. ANR upgrade. He insists they are as good as anything he's tried.
Yes,
Clarity Aloft have excellent sound quality, comparable to my Bose X for voice, not tried music. Noise suppresion seems very close to my Bose - sometimes better - when I fly the helo with doors off - the blade slap occasionally seems exceeds the Bose X ability to ANR & I get a ear full - never a issue yet in a closed cabin airplane or helo.
Had to send them back because my outer ear canal are too narrow & after a 3 hour flight (was okay up till 2 hours), the plastic cover part of the speaker would cut into my outer ear canal causing pain. The plastic part looks like it could be removed but I did not want to invalidate the warrantee. (Then again I used to remove my DC after about an hour to give my head a break.)Excellent Customer service.
For DC lovers - I choose the Bose X because it gives me over 25 hours noise cancelling in a helo instead of just 3 hours in my DC(advertised to be about 25 hours, & 9V batteries were costing me a fortune; plus the clamp pressure of DC in AZ heat (Phew!!!), and Bose X better ANRs then the DC.
So give the Aloft a try.
Any tried the Light spped L1 or Mach 1?
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