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

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

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.

Among aviation professionals, anyone owning Lightspeed always praise their
customer service - it's just a pity that nearly everyone seems to need so
much of it.

"T.Roger" writes:

Among audio professionals, anything "Bose" is derided for offering half the
sound at twice the price.

My wife often repeats the "no highs, no lows; must be Bose" saying from her
studio days. She still won't give up her Bose headset.

Fortunately she's smart enough to look beyond old sayings. ('course with
noise cancelling headsets "no highs and no lows" is a *good* thing.)

--kyler

"Cockpit Colin" writes:

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

Indeed. Don't screw around; keep her happy by buying a pair of Bose
for her. My wife has tried several and always comes back to the Bose
(despite her set getting screwed up for awhile during an upgrade).
http://lairds.org/Kyler/photos/disk0...g/image_viewer

--kyler

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/

"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
PP-ASEL-IA

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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.