ANR headset worth it for CFI?

Zulu 2s are very comfortable. 600+ hours now. I wish I had bought them sooner, you only have one set of ears for the rest of your life... Protect them. Flying 6-8 hours a day in noisy twins and noisy fabric airplanes makes it worth it!
 
I fly Lightspeed exclusively. I've got the Zulu and the Zulu 2. Both are awesome. Prefer the Z2, because of the slight weight reduction, but love both equally.
 
Investing in ANR is worth it if you fly period.

That being said, if you're looking at something like the Lightspeed Sierras to save a few hundred bucks, pony up and buy the Bose or Zulus. I own a set of Sierras and am not that impressed.
 
KKochan said:
Investing in ANR is worth it if you fly period.

That being said, if you're looking at something like the Lightspeed Sierras to save a few hundred bucks, pony up and buy the Bose or Zulus. I own a set of Sierras and am not that impressed.
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I considered a set of Sierra's in the past (I ended up getting a set of Flightcom Denali ANR's instead). What is it you don't like about them?
 
Compared to my previous headset, DC 13.4X (ANR). Audio quality was crisp and clear with the DCs, made you sound like a badass on the radios ha. The mic on the DCs was excellent, it would come on quickly when spoken into, and stay activated. It didn't squelch easily if air was blown onto it from vents etc.

Audio quality, mostly hearing your own speech back is poor in the Sierras. The mic is fairly sensitive to vent air etc, and your squelch must be set precisely in order to balance this with it actually staying keyed while speaking into it. I believe there are some sensitivity adjustments, but I haven't messed with them much (yet). The DCs were great out of the box.

The Sierras are pretty comfortable, still not great on the longer trips. The aux in and bluetooth features are nice, the audio playback quality is good and the volume reduction during comms is nice, it doesn't completely cut it, just reduces volume to 20%.

Said and done, I'd recommend spending more for the Bose (0% financing!) or the Zulus, both of which I've heard great things about. I wish I'd spent a few hundred more.
 
I'll second the uflymike. Look them up if your unfamiliar. You won't have bluetooth, but you can continue to use your Qc-15 when your riding in the back of an airliner. They do have an aux line in, which you can plug your iPod, phone, etc into. You will go through batteries more frequently, but you should get at least 15hrs on one AA.
 
I bought the Bose X the week after I passed my checkride (4 years ago), and still use it, and love every second of using it.

EDIT: On a side note... For a cheaper ANR option, you can get the Bose QC 15, and a UFlyMike... A lot of airline guys use those. UFlyMike will even TSO certify it, if you send in your QC15

 
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So if you might eventually go to the airlines Bose X is ok but Zulu.2 will be an issue? Is that about right?
 
bobbycreager2209 said:
So if you might eventually go to the airlines Bose X is ok but Zulu.2 will be an issue? Is that about right?
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Might or might not be an issue. Some airlines require TSO headsets, so if you end up at one of those, then it matters, otherwise it doesn't. I'm not sure which airlines do/dont have the requirement.

FYI, I recently tried both the A20 and the Zulu2. I ended up choosing the Zulu2. While I agree that the Bose has the quietest ANR, its not enough to matter (the Zulu2 is still very quiet) and, in my opinion, the Zulu2 feels better and looks better, plus the audio streaming is actually a nice touch when you're hanging out on a cross country. Certainly not "needed" but a nice touch. For my money, the Zulu2 was a much better package. By the way, I just upgraded from the PilotUSA 1779 ANR headset which is also a really great deal but I had a bit more trouble with the ear seal leakage on that one when wearing sunglasses. Certain head or jaw movements would cause a gap. PilotUSA support is good, they offered to change out my headband with one that had a little more clamp for free, and I was going to take them up on it but ended up trying the Zulu2 and with that I haven't had the leakage issue while wearing sunglasses and the added blue tooth features was a nice small upgrade. I fly out of some non-radar, non-RCO airports, so having the Bluetooth phone interface is a real nice touch.
 
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