Headphones

[Compulsion]

This is a hard question seeing Ian sells headphones but can all the highly experienced people here advise me on what headphones to buy. I don't really like sharing the ones provided in the school aircraft. I personally perspire a lot so my own headphones is a good way to go I think. Has anyone here used the headsets Ian sells? I would happily support Ian.

 

 

[winsor68]

I have used a Recreational Flying Headset for a few years now... for the price they are great.Tthere are better headsets out there but you will pay more. Quite comfortable to wear for a couple of hours during Navs and quality is fine and with the warranty you can't go wrong IMO. Probably a great option as you will find as I have that over a few years you will get to try out different brands of more expensive headsets in other people's aircraft... if you buy the Rec Flying set you will then have a great spare/pax headset in a few years when/if you want to buy something more fancy.

 

 

[brilin_air]

Hi John,

 

In our own plane we use Bose headsets and they are great, but I also have a set of rec flying headsets that I use when flying other peoples planes when I am servicing them or ferrying them around and they are a good tough headsdet that are comfortable enough to use for a few hours of flying at a time and won,t break the bank

 

Brian

 

 

[Neil_S]

This is a hard question seeing Ian sells headphones but can all the highly experienced people here advise me on what headphones to buy. I don't really like sharing the ones provided in the school aircraft. I personally perspire a lot so my own headphones is a good way to go I think. Has anyone here used the headsets Ian sells? I would happily support Ian.

Yep - I have a set and they are fine. Can get better, but you will pay a lot more. So if you want value for money, go for it.

 

Cheers

 

Neil

 

 

[pudestcon]

I have 2 Rec Flying headsets for my Thruster. They are very comfortable, cut out ample noise in an open cockpit, and the wind noise doesn't feed back through the mike very much. I recommend these headsets to anyone who wants a good value, low cost headset.

 

 

Pud

 

 

[Compulsion]

Thank you everyone for the advice. I think i will go with the Rec headset for now atleast.

 

 

[Compulsion]

On order so I am now waiting like a kid at Christmas. LOL:augie:

 

 

[damkia]

I have a bit of a problem in this area too. Before I get started (again) into flying training, I am going to need some decent headphones. I am deaf in my left ear (75 dBA) and partly deaf in my left ear (30 dBA to 1500Hz, 60 dBA above that). I normally wear hearing aids which gives me hearing in my left ear to the equivalent of 30 dBA, and right ear within normal limits for age. Even with all this I can use a normal telephone and can hear normal conversations in a quiet room "unaided".

 

My question is does anyone make headsets that have adjustable boost (ie louder than normal) and ANR so I can fly without my hearing aids, or would I be better to keep my hearing aids and go for a normal headset with ANR. ANR for me would be a requirement as my level of noise to "information" discrimination is reduced by lack of (for want of a better description) brain development from being so deaf in my left ear for so long (took 48 yrs to eventually get hearing aids...) Noisy pubs etc, are a pain.

 

 

[winsor68]

Inspired by Pud's photo... one of me wearing mine...

 

 

 

[pudestcon]

Inspired by Pud's photo... one of me wearing mine...

Lookin' gooood win

Pud

 

PS. Anyone else out there with photos of Rec Flying headsets - I'm not trying to hijack this thread, just thought it would be interesting.

 

 

[brilin_air]

Mmmmm cheese sandwich looks good

 

 

[winsor68]

Lookin' gooood win

You will have to excuse the food stuck on my teeth... I was having too much fun to bother! lol

 

 

[sain]

I've had a bit of an issue with mine. In the plane I normally fly I get a lot of noise coming through from the intercom (impossible to squealch out) when I've got the recreational flying headset plugged in and a different headset is plugged into the other jacks. It makes it pretty much impossible for the passenger to be plugged into the intercom because you can't hear the radio when they are. My David Clark DC-10s are fine in the same aircraft.

 

Apart from that issue they are a good headset. excellent noise cancellation etc. Good to take if your going solo.

 

 

[Admin]

I've had a bit of an issue with mine. In the plane I normally fly I get a lot of noise coming through from the intercom (impossible to squealch out) when I've got the recreational flying headset plugged in and a different headset is plugged into the other jacks. It makes it pretty much impossible for the passenger to be plugged into the intercom because you can't hear the radio when they are. My David Clark DC-10s are fine in the same aircraft.Apart from that issue they are a good headset. excellent noise cancellation etc. Good to take if your going solo.

Apparently Bose headsets are known for causing trouble when used with other headset types, don't know what your headset type is that causes trouble but one aviator I knew of used Bose and when he connected I think (but don't quote me) a Flightcom headset, he had trouble as well. He ended up buying a 2nd set of Bose for his passenger

 

 

[mAgNeToDrOp]

I have promised myself a pair of Bose A20's (or similar class ANR's) once I have my Nav endorsement.... otherwise my David Clark H10 13.4 work perfectly for the time being. At around $1K for a pair of A20's I reckon I would be better off spending that on flying time..

 

 

[Gnarly Gnu]

At around $1K for a pair of A20's I reckon I would be better off spending that on flying time..

Can you really get a pair for that sort of money? Edit - OK a set, I see... not two of them!

 

I'm looking too & get the feeling these high end ANR headsets should be quite a bit cheaper than they are - and probably will be within a couple of years.

 

 

[mAgNeToDrOp]

Yep sorry, 1 headset :) I think because it has the word "aviation" in it the price automatically doubles...

 

 

[Guest turk182]

I've got a few budget headsets but reckon for value you can't go past David Clark's, and I've had issues with cheapies playing up when used with better quality sets and for me it's to important to transmit clearly to mess around ,

 

Turk

 

 

[kiwicrusader]

I have a Iightspeed zulu in my helmet. Was hard to pull my new $1000+ headset apart and grind down the cups so it would fit. However it is fantastic. ANR that works really well plus Bluetooth is great. Can ring the farmers from the plane for clarification plus listen to music on the boring jobs. I find the headset comfortable, often wearing it for ten hours a day. I have done about 900hrs with it over the last 18 months and have had to replace the ear seals once. Only problem is it chews through the AA batteries. It would be good if you could plug it into a cigarette lighter. I will replace it with another one if/when this one dies.

 

 

[Tomo]

Where abouts do you crop dust Kiwiwcrusader?

 

I've got three Rec fly headsets for my passengers, plus a flightcom one that came with my plane. As others have said, they are great for those shorter flights with people and for their cost, they are quite good. Ultimately the Bose, or Zulu's will be the bee knees but you pay for it!

 

Personally I use Clarity Aloft earpiece headset. It's my favourite, and people do often comment on the clarity of my coms. Plus I can wear a helmet over it, or my leather flying helmet etc... or my Akubra...

 

 

[rgmwa]

Can you really get a pair for that sort of money? Edit - OK a set, I see... not two of them!I'm looking too & get the feeling these high end ANR headsets should be quite a bit cheaper than they are - and probably will be within a couple of years.

I just had my budget X-COM headset converted to ANR. Works very well, and if the battery goes flat, it just becomes a passive set. I believe the expensive headsets like BOSE and Lightspeed are great for ANR but have very little passive attenuation.

 

http://anrheadsets.com.au/

 

You can install the upgrade youself if you're handy with a soldering iron, but my headset had a circuit board that complicated matters, so I had the guys at DM do it for me. They also upgraded the original gel seals to better quality ones, and I added the integrated cable and auto shut-off battery box for another $40 or so. Total cost for parts and labour was under $300. Add in the $190 for the original headset, and it's a pretty good bargain. I've read many forum reports from other owners who say the ANR performance of these modules matches their Bose, Lightspeed etc. headsets. Maybe it does, maybe it doesn't, but I'm happy with mine. Don't know yet how long the battery lasts yet (9v), but flying is much quieter than it was before.

 

rgmwa

 

 

[kiwicrusader]

Where abouts do you crop dust Kiwiwcrusader?

 

With the shortage of Ag. Pilots in Australia at the moment I go all over the place, wherever the work is. But predominantly in S.A.

 

 

[Gnarly Gnu]

Thanks for that info rgmwa, I just ordered the Rec Flying headset (can't beat the value for money there) and may consider adding the ANR feature in the future. Maybe Rec Flying will have an ANR version of this headset for sale by then...

 

 

[Admin]

Hi All, thank you for the orders of headsets...it really helps, the orders are going out to you today. Unlike other headsets we only put small margins on them to make them very affordable for you and when you know you have a 1 year clean swap warranty, you really can't lose when you consider the cost per hour which is what the headsets are all about...they are even spec'd better then the David Clark 13's at 3 times the price

 

Thanks to all you guys who use them and support this site with your purchase

 

 

[Compulsion]

Thanks Ian. looking forward to trying them out.