ANR Headset Comparison

[BenderGonzales]

BoseX

Add my vote for the Bose X. (if you ever get over to Clermont County airport near Cincy, sporty's will let you try them on a test-bench against other ANRs)

I did the payment plan. I think it was around $84 a month on my credit card. Before I knew it they were paid off.

I've had them now for about 3 years. The AAs will last about 2 months (we fly about 50 hours a month). I find rechargable batteries die quicker so I just went to Sam's Club and bought a giant-sized pack of batteries. That was about 2 years ago, and I havent had to buy any more batteries yet. Maybe another year or so.

If the batteries die in flight, yes they are lousy headsets. That is not how they were designed to work. So I slip an extra couple of batteries in my flight bag. Once in a blue moon I might do an in-flight battery change.

The headsets have been sent back to Bose twice for minor write-ups. Each time they are returned within a week and while they were gone they replaced EVERYTHING that wasn't bolted on. The head-pad, the microphone condom, the earseals, the battery cover. Everything.

I've been very, very impressed with the Bose.

When people here tell you that they're the best, it's no lie. When you say you can't afford them -- that's not true. You simply don't WANT to afford them.

At $85/month i'd say you can't afford NOT to invest in your hearing. Most of us have another 50-or-so medicals until the day we retire. Might be nice to pass those last few.

 

[Propnose]

I used the Bose X when I was towing banners & flying frieght. I am now in a jet, so I use lightweight headsets - but I love my Bose. It was totally worth the $$. I just bought the new lightspeed Mach1 lastnight, so I look forward to seeing how good they are.

 

[saviboy]

I just bought a refurbished Lightspeed 20xl from the factory for 300 dollars. I had a chance to compare them with one of my Captain's DC ANR and they are more comfortable but do not reduce noise as well as the DC.
The reason why I bought the lightspeed versus anything else is obviously the price. But again if you can , buy the Bose, I tried them once, my lightspeeds 20 are no match.

 

[CubanSmoker]

I'd be very leary of buying anything, especially refurbished or used, from Lightspeed. In 2 years, I had 3 different models of their headsets (thanks to their upgrade program) and had sent them back a total of 8 times. The newest one at the time was the 25xl and I sent back the first two of them because they didn't work at all right out of the box. To be fair to them, I heard their quality control is better now, but I had so many problems for so long that they actually sent me a check for the full purchase price of the 25xl which, at the time, was $600.

I took that check and dropped another $600 to buy the Bose which at the time were $1200. It was the best money I have ever spent without question. There is a reason everyone is telling you to buy them; they are THAT good. I've sent mine back only once for a software update and just like someone else stated, everything was new that could be replaced. They switched form the dense foam to the nice fake sheepskin head band pad, new mike muff, etc. When I upgraded the 9v to the AA, there was a delay in shipping. So out of the blue, I received a pair of the $250 ANR headphones and an appology letter for the delay! Find the extra cash somewhere, be a manwhore for a few times if you have to. The Bose are worth it.

Oh yeah, and buy the Bose.

 

[NYCPilot]

Can't front...I've also heard nothing but good about Bose except that they're terrible when they die. This shouldn't be a big issue if you have spare batteries, which you should.