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czechsix(at)juno.com
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 Posted: Tue Apr 18, 2006 8:14 pm Post subject: Helmet & Headset ponderings |
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Guys,
I've been enjoying my trusty helmet but as the wx turns warmer I'm
thinking I'll probably break down and get a good ANR headset. The head
bucket is just too hot to wear when it gets into the upper 80's and
beyond. The other thing I've noticed is that the Oregon Aero earseals in
my helmet get extremely soft with higher temps and don't seem to seal as
well as they do in wintertime....they're very comfortable (as advertised)
but the ANR has a hard time keeping up with the noise level and I find it
bothersome after several hours in the air. FWIW I have the Headsets Inc
ANR in my helmet earcups and I imagine there are better systems available
from the likes of Bose and Lightspeed.
So...I've been looking at ANR headsets and figure if I'm gonna spend some
dough, might as well get a good one and only cry once. I'm sure Bose is
the best but I can't quite believe the cost/benefit tradeoff is worth the
$1K price tag. So I'm looking at Lightspeed's top-of-the-line Thirty 3G
instead. It is cheap by comparison at about half the price of the Bose X
(iPilot.com has the Thirty 3G for $559 with free shipping).
Couple questions: does anybody know if Lightspeed might have a better
deal available at Oshkosh? If they have really good show specials it
might be worth waiting...
Also, any pireps on the Thirty 3G series or similar high-end Lightspeed
model would be appreciated. In general I've heard that Lightspeed
headsets are comfortable and work well, sometimes break but have good
factory support to replace parts. One of my hangarmates has a pair of
well-used Lightspeeds that have the thin covering pealing away from the
foam earseals and head cushions. Still works but looks like crap...
Thanks as always for the input,
--Mark Navratil
Cedar Rapids, Iowa
RV-8A N2D flying 25.0 hours now, first oil change just completed...
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rv8ch
Joined: 10 Jan 2006
Posts: 250
Location: Switzerland
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| Posted: Tue Apr 18, 2006 10:56 pm Post subject: Helmet & Headset ponderings |
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| Quote: | So...I've been looking at ANR headsets and figure if I'm gonna spend some
dough, might as well get a good one and only cry once. I'm sure Bose is
the best but I can't quite believe the cost/benefit tradeoff is worth the
$1K price tag. ...
|
It is a lot of money, that's for sure. Before I had bought my Bose X
headsets a few years ago, I had only used David Clark. I didn't have
the chance to try many other headsets, since there are no pilot shops
around here. All the various ones I had tried seemed fine, but I
decided to order the Bose anyway, even though I had never tried a
set. They claim you can send them back. I'm happy with them, and
if I had invested the extra $500 in the stock market, it would be
worth about $300! 
--
Mickey Coggins
http://www.rv8.ch/
#82007 finishing
do not archive
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Mickey Coggins
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gholland(at)gemini-resour
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| Posted: Tue Apr 18, 2006 11:53 pm Post subject: Helmet & Headset ponderings |
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Mark Hi!
| Quote: | One of my hangarmates has a pair of
well-used Lightspeeds that have the thin covering pealing away from the
foam earseals and head cushions. Still works but looks like crap...
|
I had till recently the same raggy but happy Lightspeed Headset (the
Original 15K from 1998) and contacted Lightspeed. Their response was as
follows:
The ear seals are $20 for the pair, $10 for the head pad and the mic muff is
$3. And just to update you on the K series, we still do repairs on these
headsets at no charge but since we haven't produced them since 1999 we are
running out of some parts and there are repairs that we can no longer do.
You may want to consider a trade at some point. You can trade your 15K for
any of the new ANR headsets and get $100 off.
I thought that a fair deal but for now replaced the pads, a 2 minute job if
that. I did purchase an additional and latest low end model, the 15XL and am
very pleased with performance and fit. Good value at $375.00.
Service and response are very good from Lightspeed.
Regards
Gerry in UK
Europa XS Trigear - G-FIZY
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Earl_Schroeder(at)juno.co
Guest
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| Posted: Wed Apr 19, 2006 5:28 am Post subject: Helmet & Headset ponderings |
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If you want to support an USA made headset, investigate Sigtronics. I
was told that the overseas made units actually cost ~$15 so making
repairs at low cost doesn't affect the profit margin. The Sigtronics
mike is designed for the frequencies used in aircraft and mask the wind
noise etc. A none ANR version worked fine in a Mustang II and my ANR
version works great in a Lancair. Earl [just my opinion]
Gerry Holland wrote:
| Quote: |
Mark Hi!
> One of my hangarmates has a pair of
> well-used Lightspeeds that have the thin covering pealing away from the
> foam earseals and head cushions. Still works but looks like crap...
>
I had till recently the same raggy but happy Lightspeed Headset (the
Original 15K from 1998) and contacted Lightspeed. Their response was as
follows:
The ear seals are $20 for the pair, $10 for the head pad and the mic muff is
$3. And just to update you on the K series, we still do repairs on these
headsets at no charge but since we haven't produced them since 1999 we are
running out of some parts and there are repairs that we can no longer do.
You may want to consider a trade at some point. You can trade your 15K for
any of the new ANR headsets and get $100 off.
I thought that a fair deal but for now replaced the pads, a 2 minute job if
that. I did purchase an additional and latest low end model, the 15XL and am
very pleased with performance and fit. Good value at $375.00.
Service and response are very good from Lightspeed.
Regards
Gerry in UK
Europa XS Trigear - G-FIZY
|
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rv8ch
Joined: 10 Jan 2006
Posts: 250
Location: Switzerland
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| Posted: Wed Apr 19, 2006 6:45 am Post subject: Helmet & Headset ponderings |
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Brian Lloyd wrote:
| Quote: |
...
And there is one other thing that I have never seen anyone talk about
with headsets -- the quality of the microphone. ...
|
I've often thought about this, but have not found an easy way
to test it. The normal "radio check" request from a tower
or ATC usually doesn't get too deep into the quality of the
sound. Any suggestions?
--
Mickey Coggins
http://www.rv8.ch/
#82007 finishing
do not archive
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Mickey Coggins
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nuckollsr(at)cox.net
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| Posted: Wed Apr 19, 2006 7:01 am Post subject: Helmet & Headset ponderings |
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At 04:39 PM 4/19/2006 +0200, you wrote:
| Quote: |
<mick-matronics(at)rv8.ch>
Brian Lloyd wrote:
>
> ...
>
> And there is one other thing that I have never seen anyone talk about
> with headsets -- the quality of the microphone. ...
I've often thought about this, but have not found an easy way
to test it. The normal "radio check" request from a tower
or ATC usually doesn't get too deep into the quality of the
sound. Any suggestions?
|
There's nothing like "listening to your own radio" to assess
your transmitted quality. Have someone sit in your airplane
while you go across the field (100 yds +) and talk to him
on a handheld . . . it's especially useful to plug a headset
into the hand held.
There are far too many airplanes with lousy audio wherein
other pilots and particularly ATC personell won't gig them
on it.
Bob . . .
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brian
Joined: 02 Jan 2006
Posts: 643
Location: Sacramento, California, USA
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| Posted: Wed Apr 19, 2006 8:23 am Post subject: Helmet & Headset ponderings |
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Mickey Coggins wrote:
| Quote: | > And there is one other thing that I have never seen anyone talk about
> with headsets -- the quality of the microphone. ...
I've often thought about this, but have not found an easy way
to test it. The normal "radio check" request from a tower
or ATC usually doesn't get too deep into the quality of the
sound. Any suggestions?
|
There aren't many objective ones. I find my results to be subjective
based on three things:
1. how well I can understand someone else in the airplane over the intercom;
2. how much I have to change the squelch on the intercom during flight;
3. how well ATC understands my transmissions.
Having ATC ask you to "say again" every other transmission is a bad sign
as is having to turn the intercom squelch up so high you have to yell to
break the squelch.
Brian
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_________________
Brian Lloyd
brian-yak at lloyd dot com
+1.916.367.2131 (voice) +1.270.912.0788 (fax)
I fly because it releases my mind from the tyranny of petty things . . .
- Antoine de Saint-Exupery |
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