James M. Knox wrote:

First off, thanks for the post. I would be interested in knowing what
actually shorted out (sounds like a spring contact or some such, most
likely, in the battery box).

I think that's an excellent educated guess. The point of maximum
deformation was just to the side of a spring contact. There appeared
to be some material covering the bottom of the box which might have
been installed off-center, leaving an area where a short could occur,
but I'm not sure about this.

You are right that, compared to having, oh say, a wing spar break, it's
hardly a "crisis." OTOH, I've got two Peltor's and a Dave Clark ANR -
average life 10 years - and never had a problem (other that physically
wearing out the earpads) with any of them. So you can see that, relative
to the "crowd," you are well to one side of the curve.

Well, Denny was specifically referring to different groups of
*Lightspeed* owners, so I don't think your perception applies to
his post. He posits two different populations of *Lightspeed*
owners, those whose headsets are trouble free and those who "lurch
from crisis to crisis".

However, you get no argument from me: I love my Lightspeeds because they
are comfortable comfortable comfortable whereas after about an hour
I want to throw DC's out the window. But on the "longevity" and
"durability" front, I must admit they do not measure up. Their customer
service and support is *excellent* -- but it has to be. I would much
prefer far less need for said good support.

By the way, after calling Lightspeed Customer service yesterday about
4:30 central time, I had a new headset in hand (!!!!) by 9:30 central
time.

[Not that we wouldn't expect you to stand out in a crowd regardless. G]

Why thank you!

Cheers,
Sydney