Best Headset?

[Hankal]

Question to all who use Lightspeed headsets.
I have been using Avcom headsets for the last 4 years. Only complaint is the
pressure on the ears, even with GEL cups.

How do you like Lightspeed? Pro and Con.
What is the best model for the best cost?
How do you rate the reliability?
Where is cheapest place to get one?

Hank 172 driver

[Geo. Anderson]

On 7/19/04 7:21 PM, Hankal wrote the following:

> Question to all who use Lightspeed headsets.
> I have been using Avcom headsets for the last 4 years. Only complaint is the
> pressure on the ears, even with GEL cups.
>
> How do you like Lightspeed? Pro and Con.
> What is the best model for the best cost?
> How do you rate the reliability?
> Where is cheapest place to get one?
>
> Hank 172 driver

Not a Lightspeed and not cheap but if you want low pressure and,
especially if you are going to Oshkosh, you might want to look at this one:

http://www.clarityaloft.com/

A new design, new company, guy running it is a friend of mine and I have
been among those testing the headsets for him.

The earpieces have been proven and are used in military helos. The mic
and headband have been proven and are used in high-end professional
stage performance. Audio quality is absolutely stunning and they weigh
nothing. No pressure, of course, because no muffs. Actually quieter
than my ANR Softcomm C-90s, especially above the low frequency range
which is the only place that ANR works.

He told me that they were going to have special pricing for CFIs, but I
do not see it on the web site. So ask.

Other than he's a friend, I get nothing out of recommending the product.
In fact I had to pay for mine. :-(

Geo. Anderson

[Dan Luke]

"Hankal" wrote:
> How do you like Lightspeed? Pro and Con.

I have a Lightspeed and a Telex. The Lightspeed is more comfortable and
is easier on batteries. The Telex has better ANR performance and a
better microphone and has been more durable.
--
Dan
C172RG at BFM

[Cecil Chapman]

I've used the lightspeed models from the low-end passive headsets to the
'higher' end ANR's. I've consistently been pleased with the product and
even more impressed with the customer support staff at Lightspeed.. seems
to be a great bunch of people who have been very helpful and accommodating
in my past dealings with them.

Currently I have the 3G series ANR,,,, and a 25XL as a passenger headset
(which I will be trading in for a 3G series at lightspeed).

I used my Lightspeed Passive Solo X-country headset for more than a few
years after getting my PPL and was most pleased with it.

If you can afford the $$$ for ANR, go for it... I have to admit I was a
little skeptical hearing about how the sound reduction could reduce
fatigue - I'm a believer, now. Never realized that long low drone could sap
a bit of energy from you.

Enjoy!

--
--
=-----
Good Flights!

Cecil
PP-ASEL
Student-IASEL

Check out my personal flying adventures from my first flight to the
checkride AND the continuing adventures beyond!
Complete with pictures and text at: www.bayareapilot.com

"I fly because it releases my mind from the tyranny of petty things."
- Antoine de Saint-Exupery -

"We who fly, do so for the love of flying. We are alive in the air with
this miracle that lies in our hands and beneath our feet"
- Cecil Day Lewis -
"

[Jonathan]

I have 2 Lightspeed 20XL ANR headsets and have been well pleased with both.
I have not had a need to use their customer service, but I have heard that
it is great! BTW- I sold 2 David Clark headsets to buy my lightspeeds and
I have not regreted it a bit.

Jonr

[Ross Richardson]

I have a 180 hp cessna 172 and have owned two Lightspeed 15Ks since they
came out. I had to send one back when the seat ran over the cord.
Lightspeed replaced it for....FREE.

I had one ear stirrup crack and they sent the a replacement to me and I
fixed myself, for FREE. They said I could send it in, but I could handle
this repair.

They are bulky looking, but they are light and comfortable and I feel a
lot better after a long flight.

I keep looking at upgrading, but these seem to work just fine. One
reason to upgrade is to get the model that will accommodate a cell phone
for those clearance deliveries.

Ross

Hankal wrote:
>
> Question to all who use Lightspeed headsets.
> I have been using Avcom headsets for the last 4 years. Only complaint is the
> pressure on the ears, even with GEL cups.
>
> How do you like Lightspeed? Pro and Con.
> What is the best model for the best cost?
> How do you rate the reliability?
> Where is cheapest place to get one?
>
> Hank 172 driver

[Kobra]

I have the Lightspeed 30-3G's for pilot and passenger. I love them. I like
to plug my Rio MP3 player in and have music for the flight. They can be set
up so that on the pilot's side when ATC talks the music cuts out. When ATC
stops talking the music fades in slowly. I set the passenger headset to
keep the music constant.

Also I have my passenger plug in their cell phone to the cell phone port at
5 miles out to call a cab if necessary. This way they're waiting for us on
landing.

Our DE broke the mic boom about a month ago (it only rotates one direction).
He forced it to rotate the wrong way. It still worked but the mic was
intermittent on rare occasions. I called Lightspeed and they said they'd
fix it for free so I just mailed it back to them.

Kobra

"Hankal" > wrote in message
...
> Question to all who use Lightspeed headsets.
> I have been using Avcom headsets for the last 4 years. Only complaint is
the
> pressure on the ears, even with GEL cups.
>
> How do you like Lightspeed? Pro and Con.
> What is the best model for the best cost?
> How do you rate the reliability?
> Where is cheapest place to get one?
>
> Hank 172 driver

[SFM]

"Hankal" > wrote in message
...
> Question to all who use Lightspeed headsets.

I used to be a user is it ok for me to answer? Those that have given them up
may offer a valuable viewpoint as you consider you purchase

> I have been using Avcom headsets for the last 4 years. Only complaint is
the
> pressure on the ears, even with GEL cups.
>
> How do you like Lightspeed? Pro and Con.

I have owned 3 different lightspeeds headsets and I have used two fo them,
the third is still used by my wife.
The first on I had was a 15XL. Good performance, comfortable but I did hate
the size and the earcups were seperating from the earpieces after a year.
But LS was offering an trade up program to the 20-3G so I traded up. I
really hated that headset. The batteries kept falling out. The noise
reduction was not very good compared to the 15xl, there was an intermittent
buzzing. One of my co-workers had that headset and it failed completely on
him during a flight.

My wife's LS is a QFR and it broke within 5 hours of purchase while in
flight. Her microphone went dead.

In both of these cases LS fixed the problem for free and quickly but like
many others I wanted reliability not just a good repair. I did not want to
loos my headset functionality while IMC and then have to deal with the noise
in the cockpit, a hand mic and fly the airplane along with all the other
stuff. SO I went David Clark 13XL (new ANC box). So far I love it. It is
smaller and fits very well, I do not expeiernce the clamping problem and I
like that is has worked without issue since I got it.



--
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MI-150972
PP-ASEL-IA

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-------------------------------------
> What is the best model for the best cost?
> How do you rate the reliability?
> Where is cheapest place to get one?
>
> Hank 172 driver

[Hankal]

>I keep looking at upgrading, but these seem to work just fine. One
>reason to upgrade is to get the model that will accommodate a cell phone
>for those clearance deliverie

why would you get clearence over the phone?
I alway get my clearence on the ground with tower or in the air without a
tower.
What am I missing?
Hank

[Hankal]

> I love them. I like
>to plug my Rio MP3 player in and have music for the flight. They can be set
>up so that on the pilot's side when ATC talks the music cuts out.

Do use the headset for this or the intercom

[Paul Tomblin]

In a previous article, (Hankal) said:
>why would you get clearence over the phone? I alway get my clearence on
>the ground with tower or in the air without a tower. What am I missing?

You're missing the situation where you're at an untowered airport, and the
ceilings are so low and the nearest atc too far away that you can't get
your clearance in the air without penetrating the class E. So you phone
FSS and get a clearance with a void time, climb up high enough to be
heard, and tag up with atc.

--
Paul Tomblin > http://xcski.com/blogs/pt/
There are three kinds of people: Those who can count & those who can't.

[Blanche]

The best headset is the one that fits you best, you are comfortable
wearing, and has features (to ANR or not to ANR) you want.

[Stan Gosnell]

(Hankal) wrote in news:20040720194807.16492.00000209@mb-
m14.aol.com:

> What am I missing?

Not much, except the fact that most airports don't have a tower, clearance
delivery, or a remote ATC frequency.

--
Regards,

Stan

[Thomas Borchert]

Hankal,

> Do use the headset for this or the intercom
>

From his description, he is using the headset. You'd need a splitter
cable to supply the audio from the MP3-player to both audio-in plugs on
two headsets.

--
Thomas Borchert (EDDH)

[Kobra]

The MP3 plugs directly into the headset battery compartment as does the cell
phone.

Kobra


"Hankal" > wrote in message
...
> > I love them. I like
> >to plug my Rio MP3 player in and have music for the flight. They can be
set
> >up so that on the pilot's side when ATC talks the music cuts out.
>
> Do use the headset for this or the intercom

[Ross Richardson]

I am based at a non-controlled airport. There is another uncontrolled
airport about 8 airmiles from me with a RCO but I cannot reach it on the
ground. My other choice is to warm up the plane, get all ready, then
shut down run in and call clearence delivery on the land line. The last
time I called on the cell with all the ambient engine noise, but the
controller's first question was "are you ready to go?" No void time to
worry about. He knew I was fired up and waiting.

At a towered airport you can do that and I have.

Hankal wrote:
>
> >I keep looking at upgrading, but these seem to work just fine. One
> >reason to upgrade is to get the model that will accommodate a cell phone
> >for those clearance deliverie
>
> why would you get clearence over the phone?
> I alway get my clearence on the ground with tower or in the air without a
> tower.
> What am I missing?
> Hank

[Hankal]

>You're missing the situation where you're at an untowered airport, and the
>ceilings are so low and the nearest atc too far away that you can't get
>your clearance in the air without penetrating the class E. So you phone

If the weather is that bad I do not launch.
I did not get my IFR ticket to kill myself

[Barry]

> >You're missing the situation where you're at an untowered airport, and the
> >ceilings are so low and the nearest atc too far away that you can't get
> >your clearance in the air without penetrating the class E. So you phone
>
> If the weather is that bad I do not launch.
> I did not get my IFR ticket to kill myself

At a non-towered airport with an instrument approach, Class E will start at
700 AGL, which is often not high enough to contact ATC. Once in Class E you
have to stay 500' below the clouds. So you won't depart IFR with a 1200'
ceiling?

[Dan Luke]

"Hankal" wrote:
> I did not get my IFR ticket to kill myself

What *did* you get it for?
--
Dan
C172RG at BFM

[zatatime]

On Wed, 21 Jul 2004 20:45:58 -0400, "Barry" > wrote:

>> >You're missing the situation where you're at an untowered airport, and the
>> >ceilings are so low and the nearest atc too far away that you can't get
>> >your clearance in the air without penetrating the class E. So you phone
>>
>> If the weather is that bad I do not launch.
>> I did not get my IFR ticket to kill myself

This is SOP where I got my ticket and I regularly get clearances this
way when I file as it is the only way to leave home base. There are
procedures to protect the airspace for you and I don't think the odds
of killing yourself increase by departing an uncontrolled airport with
a clearance having a void time vs a controlled airport.

z

[Thomas Borchert]

Hankal,

> If the weather is that bad I do not launch.
> I did not get my IFR ticket to kill myself
>

That is a really weird point of view, IMHO. As someone else mentioned,
you'd be unable to legally launch with a 1200 feet ceiling. If you
consider that a major risk, why did you get the IR in the first place?

--
Thomas Borchert (EDDH)

[Ron Rosenfeld]

On 21 Jul 2004 23:18:02 GMT, (Hankal) wrote:

>If the weather is that bad I do not launch.
>I did not get my IFR ticket to kill myself

What are your personal minimums for launching IFR?

There are plenty of airports I've been in where it is not possible to
contact ATC for clearance other than by telephone even with weather well
above IFR minimums.

At my home base, for example, one cannot contact ATC by radio until at
4,000'.


Ron (EPM) (N5843Q, Mooney M20E) (CP, ASEL, ASES, IA)

[Paul Tomblin]

In a previous article, (Hankal) said:
>>You're missing the situation where you're at an untowered airport, and the
>>ceilings are so low and the nearest atc too far away that you can't get
>>your clearance in the air without penetrating the class E. So you phone
>
>If the weather is that bad I do not launch.
>I did not get my IFR ticket to kill myself

I didn't realize that having a tower or a near-by RCO was a pre-requisite
for terrain clearance. Silly me, I thought that if you followed the
departure procedures and standard IFR practice, that you wouldn't hit the
ground. Thanks for clarifying that for me.


--
Paul Tomblin > http://xcski.com/blogs/pt/
Must admit, I'd like to know what is the homeopathic treatment for
gunshot wounds.
-- Tanuki

[Tom Sixkiller]

"Ron Rosenfeld" > wrote in message
...
> On 21 Jul 2004 23:18:02 GMT, (Hankal) wrote:
>
> >If the weather is that bad I do not launch.
> >I did not get my IFR ticket to kill myself
>
> What are your personal minimums for launching IFR?
>
> There are plenty of airports I've been in where it is not possible to
> contact ATC for clearance other than by telephone even with weather well
> above IFR minimums.
>
> At my home base, for example, one cannot contact ATC by radio until at
> 4,000'.
>
Quite...go out to some of the the mid-west (Kansas, Nebraska, Eastern
Colorado...) and try raising ATC via radio even at 6,000, 8,000 feet.