Lightspeed headsets: thinking about getting this one

I personally love mine. When my father came to town back on Labor Day weekend he tried mine for a few minutes. Within a few weeks of returning home he'd purchased a set online from someone on eBay.
 
I've got a pair of Twenty 3G's and I love them. The mic boom broke not too long ago and Lightspeed overnighted parts to me. They had clear cut directions that were easy to follow and I had them working again after about 20 minutes.
 
I love mine! Its quiet and comfortable! The only issue I have with it is that the plastic is a little flimsy, so you have to take good care of it or it might crack. What helped me get over this issue is that Lightspeed has excellent customer service.
 
Have you looked at the bose headset? I know there really frickin expensive but they KICK ASS!! way better quality then the lightspeed and bose offers a payment plan for us poor pilots that dont have the cash up front. I have the older 9V version and I love it! Im upgrading to the slimmer AA battery version soon. good luck... whichever one you choose you should be happy with..
 
Who cares about Bose? They don't look nearly as cool with cowboy hats as the Lightspeeds do.

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Sorry for hijacking, but it's similar

What do you guys think of the 15XLc, and is it worth just getting the 20?
 
How the H$ll do you get a freakin' cowboy hat on inside a Cherokee? I have problems wearing DCs and bumping into the visors & I'm only 5'8". Do newer ones have articulated seats or somethin'?
PS Try clarity aloft. No batteries to die, weighs just a bit more than your cellphone earbud for the car, 30days free return trial period.
 
A few things:

-It was a Seminole
-I'm 5'10"
-Are Seminole's really that much bigger than any other Cherokee? They don't seem like it.
 
lightspeed is good stuff...i really need to get another set of something but i just cant justify it when both aircraft i fly have lightweight headsets in them already. I say that if you likem, get em



On a side note..seminoles have a pretty tall cabin. I know that since im about 5'10" as well, i have plenty of room in there.
 
John, come to 35D, to find out an old but modified Cherokee -180, 4 seater. It is not funny if you try to put 3rd person in the back seat especially for a tall guy
 
I've had the Denali ANR's for the past couple of years and used them in all sorts of piston singles, twins, and turbine planes. I borrowed a friends lightspeeds and really liked them better. Overall noise reduction was better. Plus the input jack is incredibly handy on those 8 hour days. My denalis are the older ones with the gel earcells, the newer ones are suppost to be better.

If I had a choice I would choose the Lightspeeds. They are a little bulkier than the bose, denalis but neither of those have the built in input jack which is worth quite a bit.
 
I am still in "musical headset" hell......

First I had a pair of DC 13.4's. They gave me headaches.

Then I bought Lightspeed 20XL2's. They gave me headaches.

Then I bought Lightspeeds first in-the-ear set (Light Flight?). They sucked, never made it in an airplane they hurt my ears so bad with the square portion that is supposed to fit comfortably in your ear.

Then I bought Clarity's. Pretty great headset. The minuses for me are no audio input, no ANR and a recurring cost of $25 for new canal tips when old ones wear out (the manual says use a new set every 5 flights, you get 6 pair per package). I still have the Clarity's, but jumped on the Bose wagon today.

I am pretty pissed about the Bose set because I feel that in paying $1000 I should get an audio input from one of the leading speaker manufacturers in the world. Also, the volume controls move on a whim like the lightspeeds, and they aren't marked so you can tell before you plug them in and fire up comm's. I haven't tried the Bose in flight yet because I'm afraid the sound quality will make me become masochistic over the volume controls. I had a hell of a time with those on the Lightspeed set. The difference between the two is that the Lightspeeds could clearly be adjusted before blowing your ear drums through the other side of your head.

Next on my list will be the Telex Stratus 50D, if I decide to ship the Bose back. The Telex's have an instructor rebate that brings the price down to just over $500. I have tried a pair on and they clamp a little bit for me. I will have to do some research on adjustability of the headband or other items to make them a little wider for my melon head. The great thing about this set is that it has everything else that I am looking for. They also have a cigarette adapter if it is available in the aircraft to bypass battery usage.

As many pairs of headsets that I have had, I should write a thorough How-to, or better yet How-Not-to. The chief charter pilot made me laugh today a little bit when he told me to calm down, there is no perfect headset. Well damn it, I want one.
 
Buy a Lightspeed and you will be on a first name basis with the customer service.

They like to go breaky.
 
Lightspeeds are fairly flimsy, they must have a massive markup to be so willing to send free replacement parts. I didn't mention this, but I had a problem with my set and they sent two free sets of ear seals on top of an entire new headband assembly. I don't see how you could send out free replacement parts all the time on the finger and make much of a profit. I understand the real guts of the unit are in the ear cups, but still.....
 
Bought the Thirty 3G's this summer and I can't imagine being without them now. The other day I was out flying around and I forgot to change the battery then the ANR died, so they were just passive reduction at this point. I thought I was gonna go deaf, the ANR is so good on these things you forget how loud the engine actually is without it, I don't know how anyone could not get them after trying them out. When ANR is active the engine is barely audible and all of those noises don't make you tired or make your ears ring at all after that long flight. So in conclusion, they are well worth it and will last a long time as long as you take care of them.
 
Texasspilot said:
I've had the Denali ANR's for the past couple of years and used them in all sorts of piston singles, twins, and turbine planes. I borrowed a friends lightspeeds and really liked them better. Overall noise reduction was better. Plus the input jack is incredibly handy on those 8 hour days. My denalis are the older ones with the gel earcells, the newer ones are suppost to be better.

If I had a choice I would choose the Lightspeeds. They are a little bulkier than the bose, denalis but neither of those have the built in input jack which is worth quite a bit.
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have the same set now...the ANR fully stopped working as i dropped them and now i only have the PNR...not that great. Luckily i really dont have to use them at all. Their gell ear seals suck, at least on the older ones.
 
Yah, I have alittle over 1000 hours on mine and the right earcell started to leak. So I'll have to upgrade if I have to start using them full time again. The plane I'm flying now has the telex 850's which are really quite good up front in the citation, where its fairly quiet anyhow.

However when I was doin survey stuff I flew with ANR's and foam earplugs. 3 large holes in the bottom of the plane with an exhaust exit right next to them makes that whole airplane on big giant soundbox.
 
Lightspeed will replace the ear seals and do a general refurbishing/overhaul of your old headset for $20. Doesn't have to be under warranty. And yes, their service is great.
 
bLizZuE said:
Any suggestions?

http://www.anrheadsets.com/products20xl2.asp

I have found this one by way of recommendation, and it seems really nice. Anyone have it?

I'm looking for a headset with ANR, cell/audio input, and at least 35db of combined active/passive noise reduction...
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Yeah, buy the reconditioned one if you're gonna do it:

http://www.anrheadsets.com/productsR20xl.asp

Only $300 compared to $440. I purchased a reconditioned 25XL for $350+$8 shipping and it was like a brand new headset. I've used it for the past 10 months or so, it really helped in a prop twin. The ANR didn't do that much for piston singles in comparison to the old standard DC's (I actually thought the DC's did a better job in singles than any ANR except the Bose, and I've tried the Denali's, Stratus, Bose, and Lightspeeds).

However, if you wear seeing glasses the headset pushes into your glasses frames and it can give you a headache. I am going to sell mine on ebay and buy either the Bose Quiet Comfort 2 with the UFlyMike [ http://uflymike.com/ ] setup or the Bose X's. I've heard the QC2's are about 80% what the Bose X's are, and in a CRJ it should be plenty. I shall see on the next trip.

Comfort for me is worth the $$ in the long term. I tried the 20 & 30 3-g's that lightspeed has to offer and I wasn't much impressed when compared to the Bose X's, IMO. They are MUCH more comfortable and reduce quite a bit more noise.

~wheelsup
 
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