How to Buy a Headset for the Wife?

I've got 3 headsets. Two sets are cheapies I got when I earned my license 10
years ago, and a nice set I bought when I finished the RV-6. Both models
are discontinued.

I'm happy with the nice set (Lightspeed 25XL's), but the cheapies have more
clamping force, and my wife is uncomfortable wearing them on longer flights.
Being PIC, I make sure she understands why it is very important that I wear
the nice, comfortable, noise cancelling headsets. Clearly, I need to hear
traffic calls, and since her life depends on me when we're in the air, she's
very much attuned to my comfort, not hers. ;-)

Anyway, how do I go about helping her find a set of headsets she likes?
I've never found an avionics shop that loans headsets for a weekend , which
is what you really need, since you don't get a real feel for a headsets
until you wear them for 3-4 hours at a time. What feels and sounds great in
the booth at Oshkosh or SnF may be a head crushing nightmare after you wear
'em for a couple of hours...

Thoughts?

KB

I thought Lightspeed had a 30-day return policy?
Someone made available TELEX 50's for trial awhile back on the acro group.
Contact the manufacturers and ask if they or their vendors have any
policies for loaning or returning. The worst they can say is "No".

Kyle Boatright wrote:
Anyway, how do I go about helping her find a set of headsets she likes?
I've never found an avionics shop that loans headsets for a weekend , which
is what you really need, since you don't get a real feel for a headsets
until you wear them for 3-4 hours at a time. What feels and sounds great in
the booth at Oshkosh or SnF may be a head crushing nightmare after you wear
'em for a couple of hours...
Thoughts?

Lowest clamping force on the market is the Bose Aviation X - I guarantee
she'll LOVE them


"Kyle Boatright" wrote in message
...
I've got 3 headsets. Two sets are cheapies I got when I earned my license
10
years ago, and a nice set I bought when I finished the RV-6. Both models
are discontinued.

I'm happy with the nice set (Lightspeed 25XL's), but the cheapies have
more
clamping force, and my wife is uncomfortable wearing them on longer
flights.
Being PIC, I make sure she understands why it is very important that I
wear
the nice, comfortable, noise cancelling headsets. Clearly, I need to hear
traffic calls, and since her life depends on me when we're in the air,
she's
very much attuned to my comfort, not hers. ;-)

Anyway, how do I go about helping her find a set of headsets she likes?
I've never found an avionics shop that loans headsets for a weekend ,
which
is what you really need, since you don't get a real feel for a headsets
until you wear them for 3-4 hours at a time. What feels and sounds great
in
the booth at Oshkosh or SnF may be a head crushing nightmare after you
wear
'em for a couple of hours...

Thoughts?

KB

In article ,
Kyle Boatright wrote:
I'm happy with the nice set (Lightspeed 25XL's), but the cheapies have more
clamping force, and my wife is uncomfortable wearing them on longer flights.

My wife and I tried all the Lightspeed models (this is before the 3G
series) at their HQ in front of their bigass speakers playing recorded
airplane noises. My impression was that the Cross Country ANR blocked
slight more treble (passivly) and the high-end models blocked more bass
(actively). My wife liked the XC better because they weighed slightly
less and were less bulky. She's worn her XCs for many hours and likes
them fine.

When I bought the plane I got a couple of the "Solo" headsets (like the
XC, but no ANR) and she's worn them on a few flights and has commented
on how much nicer the ANR is. If I flew 3-4 people at a time more often
I might feel bad enough for the back seaters to upgrade my own XC to
something else so they could use my old headset. ;-)

--
Ben Jackson

http://www.ben.com/

In a previous article, "Kyle Boatright" said:
I'm happy with the nice set (Lightspeed 25XL's), but the cheapies have more
clamping force, and my wife is uncomfortable wearing them on longer flights.

Does she like the 25XLs? Buy yourself a pair of the Bose, and give her
the Lightspeeds.


--
Paul Tomblin http://xcski.com/blogs/pt/
Q: Do you know what the death rate around here is?
A: One per person.

"Ben Jackson" wrote in message
news:A0bwd.201783$V41.11172@attbi_s52...

My wife liked the XC better because they weighed slightly
less and were less bulky. She's worn her XCs for many hours and likes
them fine.

--
Ben Jackson

http://www.ben.com/

Had my wife try a bunch too and she picked the XCs for the same reasons. But
they have failed on her twice so far. Both times during a long flight. So
she had to go without talking and that made her a bit upset. She feels
better in the plane when she can ask question and her me tell her what is
about to happen. I have been trying to get her to pick out another more
reliable set. I use DC 13XLs and have an extra DC-13X that I may lend her on
our next flight. The DC never break, I upgraded after too many failures with
my Lightspeed 20XL and 3Gs. Lightspeed really makes some crap equipment. The
only thing I see they do right is customer service but that is a necessity
since their product quality stinks.

Scott

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MI-150972
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swallowing is that I live in a country where more than half the
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After commenting that she liked my 20XL, I bought my wife a refurbished 20XL
direct from Lightspeed.

Jim


"Thomas Borchert" wrote in message
...
Kyle,

Thoughts?


Buy a Lightspeed 20XLc.

--
Thomas Borchert (EDDH)



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Among audio professionals, anything "Bose" is derided for offering half the
sound at twice the price. I'd get a nice Lightspeed set or something with
a separate audio input for music and spend the rest on some jewelry for her
XMAS gift.




"Cockpit Colin" wrote in message
...
Lowest clamping force on the market is the Bose Aviation X - I guarantee
she'll LOVE them


"Kyle Boatright" wrote in message
...
I've got 3 headsets. Two sets are cheapies I got when I earned my
license
10
years ago, and a nice set I bought when I finished the RV-6. Both
models
are discontinued.

I'm happy with the nice set (Lightspeed 25XL's), but the cheapies have
more
clamping force, and my wife is uncomfortable wearing them on longer
flights.
Being PIC, I make sure she understands why it is very important that I
wear
the nice, comfortable, noise cancelling headsets. Clearly, I need to
hear
traffic calls, and since her life depends on me when we're in the air,
she's
very much attuned to my comfort, not hers. ;-)

Anyway, how do I go about helping her find a set of headsets she likes?
I've never found an avionics shop that loans headsets for a weekend ,
which
is what you really need, since you don't get a real feel for a headsets
until you wear them for 3-4 hours at a time. What feels and sounds
great
in
the booth at Oshkosh or SnF may be a head crushing nightmare after you
wear
'em for a couple of hours...

Thoughts?

KB

Depending on how much you want to spend, Bose is prob one of the best
on the market. My Sigtronics S-58 (purchased from Sporty's) is
generally lightweight, and quite comfortable. Decent noise reduction.

Hi Kyle,

Well buying headsets is a tough decision because as you mentioned, many that
sound or feel great, don't seem so great after you've had them on your head
for a couple hours. Experience has shown us that generally speaking, you
usually get what you pay for.

As for the Lightspeed, they do sound great and are comfortable to wear for
long flights. The problem I have with them is they are just to cheaply made
to last for very long. I know of two pair that have broken after 2 years of
normal use and are unfortunately no longer under warranty.

On the other hand, I have several pairs of Dave Clarks for myself and my
passengers. I fly professionally, many days timing out at 8 hours and I can
wear my DC H-60's for the entire day and not feel uncomfortable one bit.

I paid around 350 dollars for my H-60's about 10 years ago before ANR
existed. The first thing I did was have them fitted with the Oregon Aero
leather top with sheep wool and the ear pieces are the DC ear gels with the
felt lining. In 2000 or 2001, I had the ANR kit installed and it's one of
the best investments I've ever made in aviation.

Customers are hard on headsets and these have been dropped out of airplanes
and helicopters, kicked across the ramp, stepped on, sat on, doors shut on
them and ripped out of the jack inputs and they just keep on working as
expected without a hitch. The quality and durability is, in my opinion,
superior to all other headset on the market, including the Boise, which I
have used often. I actually prefer my DC's for the way the mic is attached
with the wire type of system. It's much more adjustable and stays put
without a fuss. As you could guess, for someone who is really going to
'use' their headset I can not recommend the DC line highly enough.

With the Boise, I tend to get a hot spot on top of my head after several
hours of wearing them. I've also found that because of the materials used,
they do not withstand the abuses the DC's hold up to.

Of course if you're certain that you won't subject your headsets to these
tortures, you may be happy with a lesser pair. But then my girlfriend
didn't have that luck with her lightspeeds.

Good luck,

PJ

============================================
Here's to the duck who swam a lake and never lost a feather,
May sometime another year, we all be back together.
JJW
============================================

"Kyle Boatright" wrote in message
...
I've got 3 headsets. Two sets are cheapies I got when I earned my license
10
years ago, and a nice set I bought when I finished the RV-6. Both models
are discontinued.

I'm happy with the nice set (Lightspeed 25XL's), but the cheapies have
more
clamping force, and my wife is uncomfortable wearing them on longer
flights.
Being PIC, I make sure she understands why it is very important that I
wear
the nice, comfortable, noise cancelling headsets. Clearly, I need to hear
traffic calls, and since her life depends on me when we're in the air,
she's
very much attuned to my comfort, not hers. ;-)

Anyway, how do I go about helping her find a set of headsets she likes?
I've never found an avionics shop that loans headsets for a weekend ,
which
is what you really need, since you don't get a real feel for a headsets
until you wear them for 3-4 hours at a time. What feels and sounds great
in
the booth at Oshkosh or SnF may be a head crushing nightmare after you
wear
'em for a couple of hours...

Thoughts?

KB