Lightspeed Headset Update

Well after sending my Lightspeed 30-3g back for the 3rd time, I finally got a
brand new pair free of charge from Lightspeed.

I purchased them originally at OSH this year, and only had 20hrs total time on
them. Per Jay Honeck's suggestion, I spoke to Alan Schrader after sending them
for the second time with a battery box problem. Nice guy, and he was genuinely
interested in solving my problem. When they arrived at my home, I was all set
to take them flying with me the next weekend. Well, I got in the plane, powered
them up and no sound in the right ear piece. I checked the stereo mono switch
in the ANR battery box. No luck. SO I grabbed my old stand by DCs and went
flying. When I got back I sent a 2 page bitch letter to
Alan, saying how dissatisfied I was because, I got them back broken from the
factory repair center. I was off on vacation for a week so I didn't need them.
While on vacation my cell phone rings and it was some VP from Lightspeed who was
very apologetic. He used words like unacceptable, and just wanted me to know
that he personally would replace them with a brand new pair, and wanted me to
call him if there was any reason at all if I was dissatisfied. Right now he
said he wanted to gain my trust back, since I told him, that I now carry my DCs
with me because I do not trust the Lightspeeds I had. They sent them to me
overnight at their expense. He said that he would make sure that these were
tested thoroughly and found to be working before sending them to me.

So I have a new pair of Lightspeed 30-3Gs. I tried them with my hand held radio
and they appear to work. Next chance I get to fly, the weather all of sudden in
the midwest has just gone to heck, I will hopefully try them out.

At least they are trying to make right a bad situation for me.

FYI for what it is worth.

Kevin Kubiak - PP-ASEL

Yet another "DC to the rescue" story! :-))
You just cannot replace those dependable DC products.

Kevin Kubiak wrote:
/interesting story sinpped/
At least they are trying to make right a bad situation for me.

FYI for what it is worth.

Kevin Kubiak - PP-ASEL

Once again, while I admire Lightspeed's customer service, I am more
enamored with D.C.'s lack of need for customer service (not that they
don't provide it!). Their headsets are just that good.

Happy Flying!
Scott Skylane

Kevin Kubiak wrote:
Well after sending my Lightspeed 30-3g back for the 3rd time, I finally
got a brand new pair free of charge from Lightspeed.

I purchased them originally at OSH this year, and only had 20hrs total
time on them. Per Jay Honeck's suggestion, I spoke to Alan Schrader
after sending them for the second time with a battery box problem. Nice
guy, and he was genuinely interested in solving my problem. When they
arrived at my home, I was all set to take them flying with me the next
weekend. Well, I got in the plane, powered them up and no sound in the
right ear piece. I checked the stereo mono switch in the ANR battery
box. No luck. SO I grabbed my old stand by DCs and went flying. When
I got back I sent a 2 page bitch letter to
Alan, saying how dissatisfied I was because, I got them back broken from
the
factory repair center. I was off on vacation for a week so I didn't
need them.
While on vacation my cell phone rings and it was some VP from Lightspeed
who was very apologetic. He used words like unacceptable, and just
wanted me to know that he personally would replace them with a brand new
pair, and wanted me to call him if there was any reason at all if I was
dissatisfied. Right now he said he wanted to gain my trust back, since
I told him, that I now carry my DCs with me because I do not trust the
Lightspeeds I had. They sent them to me overnight at their expense. He
said that he would make sure that these were tested thoroughly and found
to be working before sending them to me.

So I have a new pair of Lightspeed 30-3Gs. I tried them with my hand
held radio
and they appear to work. Next chance I get to fly, the weather all of
sudden in the midwest has just gone to heck, I will hopefully try them out.

At least they are trying to make right a bad situation for me.

FYI for what it is worth.

Kevin Kubiak - PP-ASEL
I'm in Australia. I had some initial problems with 20XLs which ended up
being swapped out for 25XLs at no charge about three years ago. Haven't
flown much (couple of hours as passenger) in last 3 years. Got headset
out to use and the glue on the earseals (where they join the plastic
holding them into the headset) had gone all gooey. they peeled right
off (10 hrs use some time ago). Had a brand new set of earseals -
similar problem even though never used. Contected Lightspeed and they
UPSd me two new sets of seals.

Althoughthis is a 'wear' item the glue just appeared to have degenerated
(out of light heat etc). I'll keep an eye on the new seals, but I too
think their service is great even though I'd rather not have to use it.

Cheers,
Kevin

Kevin Black wrote:

Kevin Kubiak wrote:
Althoughthis is a 'wear' item the glue just appeared to have degenerated
(out of light heat etc). I'll keep an eye on the new seals, but I too
think their service is great even though I'd rather not have to use it.

it almost sounds like their service department should be charging
their engineering department to make them accountable for inferior
designs. Make the products good from the start. Garbage
in, garbage out.

I know of only one person who has needed service done on their
DC headset. I have 2 myself although I am now thinking about
going for a Bose but not sure if the money is worth it for how
much I fly.

Gerald

Althoughthis is a 'wear' item the glue just appeared to have degenerated
(out of light heat etc). I'll keep an eye on the new seals, but I too
think their service is great even though I'd rather not have to use it.

it almost sounds like their service department should be charging
their engineering department to make them accountable for inferior
designs. Make the products good from the start. Garbage
in, garbage out.

They've fixed all that with the new models. The 15s, 20s, 15XLs, 20XLs, and
25XLs are all their "old" models. They had known durability "issues" with
those models that have been corrected in all of their new models. (The 3G
series).

I've owned 'em all, and can attest to it.
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

Jay Honeck wrote:

They've fixed all that with the new models. The 15s, 20s, 15XLs, 20XLs, and
25XLs are all their "old" models. They had known durability "issues" with
those models that have been corrected in all of their new models. (The 3G
series).

I've owned 'em all, and can attest to it.

As a one-time owner of a 3G headset, I disagree. In the fifty hours I used
these headsets, they went back to Lightspeed four different times (Google
archives has my original post about this). To be fair, this could have
been due to the "version 1.0" theory, but still, it was the final straw for
me.

I switched to Bose and have used them for 400+ hours. The only repair
required was a replacement of the foam earcup pads after about 300 hours
due to normal wear and tear. Bose customer service told me that these pads
typically require replacement every 150 hours or so and, despite the fact
that the pads are normal wear items, Bose sent me a replacement for free.

--
Peter
























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I've owned 'em all, and can attest to it.

As a one-time owner of a 3G headset, I disagree. In the fifty hours I
used
these headsets, they went back to Lightspeed four different times (Google
archives has my original post about this). To be fair, this could have
been due to the "version 1.0" theory, but still, it was the final straw
for
me.

Sorry to hear it. My 3 pair of Twenty 3Gs have been bulletproof.
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

The 15s, 20s, 15XLs, 20XLs, and
25XLs are all their "old" models. They had known durability "issues" with
those models

I have a problem with a company that sells items with "known durability
issues".

Jose
--
He who laughs, lasts.
for Email, make the obvious change in the address.

The 15s, 20s, 15XLs, 20XLs, and 25XLs are all their "old" models. They
had known durability "issues" with those models

I have a problem with a company that sells items with "known durability
issues".

They're not selling the crappy ones anymore.

Lightspeed learned about their QC problems over time, and addressed them
very aggressively. (They GAVE me a $450 headset to keep me as a customer.)

True, it would've been better for them to make the product right from the
get-go, but remember, Lightspeed was new to the aviation industry when they
busted the ANR market wide-open. They just made the first generation too
fragile to hold up to daily in-cockpit use.

It's hard to fault a company when they take the bull by horns and fix
things.
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"