Headset from Overseas

[DarkSarcasm]

Why is why I currently have my BAK book in front of me instead of my law textbooks...

 

 

[perthjay85]

oh LAW!!! your crazy hahhaa.

 

good luck with finding a good balance I waited until i had passed all me electrical licensing and tests before i started flying lol.

 

but then again i despise studying at tests lol

 

 

[DarkSarcasm]

I'm in my 4th year of a 5 year Arts/Law degree and, for some unexplainable reason, decided my life wasn't hectic enough and this was a good time to start learning to fly... it is fantastic fun though and has the added bonus that everyone I know now thinks that I am clearly the coolest person alive

 

 

[perthjay85]

hahaha good work.

 

i know what you mean all of my mates constantly ask how its going and what im doing its great fun lol

 

 

[DarkSarcasm]

All of mine say they can't wait to fly with me, but I'm waiting to see how many are still keen when it actually becomes a possibility!

 

 

[perthjay85]

hahaha yeah at the moment about 5 mates have said they cant wait but i agree it will be another story when it comes to them actually doing it lol

 

 

[DarkSarcasm]

Hey Ian,

 

Any news on the Zulu coming to Clear Prop? Had a lesson today with the most hideous headset ever so I'm doubly enthusiastic to get my own

 

 

[Guest ozzie]

I've had parts for my lazair sent over from both the US and Canada by UPS and no matter what they were worth i was charged GST on the total amount, goods and shipping. whether it was under or over a 1000 dollars. i mailed about 500 $ in goods to myself from airventure and was charged nothing by Aust post. I do not recommend UPS. My last shipment went from the New York to 3 airports in England back to the US then to Japan then to Singapore then to Melbourne then Sydney. i like this computed system of tracking. I began to look forward to logging on every morning and see where it went that night. i was expecting the parcel to start mailing postcards. wish i had seen that much of the world. then when it got here i had to fork out duty then GST on the value of the product plus duty, shipping, UPS handleing fee for this end and customs clearance fee. They saw me coming, if you refuse to pay it you don't get it.

 

RIPP OFF

 

 

[DarkSarcasm]

Yeah, I've decided against the import route, seems far too much hassle (HASELL? )

 

I'm currently hunting round to see what price I can get here in Aus. Apparantly Ian's going to get the Zulu's in at clear prop, hoping for an update about when... I'm keen to get my own after having the headset from hell in my lesson today!

 

 

[Admin]

Hey Ian,Any news on the Zulu coming to Clear Prop? Had a lesson today with the most hideous headset ever so I'm doubly enthusiastic to get my own

The head honcho guy has been away so I will be following up with them tomorrow - they already have the account application etc - all the paper work is done and they wouldn't talk to me until that was done as well.

 

 

[DarkSarcasm]

Awesome, can't wait. I may well be one of your first customers when you get them in :)

 

 

[Admin]

One thing to note though - if I don't get any satisfaction from the Australian supplier in terms of great pricing I will be going to Lightspeed themselves in the US which I have already started to open up dialogue with a girl named Amy who looks after their international agents.

 

Crikey, the work that has to be done to get Zulu headsets is ridiculous - it is the same with Icom - not easy companies to deal with.

 

I remember when Clear Prop looked into becoming an Australian Distributor for Mr Funnel some time back - my first order had to be $10,000 US worth - the time it would take to sell that many would not make it financially viable as you have to also cost in the cost of capital - I ended up sourcing them from elsewhere that still allowed Clear Prop to sell them with little margin to make them cheaper for recreational pilots.

 

Clear Prop currently has over $60,000 of on hand stock so every purchase you do make from Clear Prop does help to pay for this site and its continued development - example:

 

http://www.recreationalflying.com/forum/announcements-site-news/45298-recreational-flying-multimedia.html

 

So thank you to all that do support the shop that allows this site to be available for you - without it this site would just be a little with minimal resources due to cost. :big_grin:

 

 

[DarkSarcasm]

Any luck with the aussie supplier Ian?

 

 

[emaroo]

Ian

 

I spoke to AreoShop. They no longer have the Zulus at $1080. Thet are now $1295 (currently out of stock)Apparently the manufacture was giving a discount while there was a down turn but now can not keep up with the orders so price has returned to normal.

 

 

[DarkSarcasm]

I heard that about AeroShop too. I'm hoping Ian will be able to work some magic and get it cheaper :)

 

 

[emaroo]

Tried a set of zulus yesterday to see if the bluetooth would work with a new Sony ericsson phone. (As all the latest mobile phones only have bluetooth as axillary to use to connect to other devices they no longer have a place to plug in device to be able to hear through headsets and guess what Zulu are the only headset at this stage which have bluetooth capabilities and they have a patent on this.) Anyway while the phone would pair with the zulu and I could hear incoming ring I could not talk or hear or make a call. So I rang Lightspeed in the US this morning to find out that they have had problems with certain phones but they have made changes and any zulu purchased in the last 9 months should be okay. The set I tried was about 12 months old and worked okay with nokia phones.

 

 

[DarkSarcasm]

cool, good to hear :) Have you tried the music at all?

 

Still waiting in anticipation to see what magic Ian can work with them. I know that if I cave and buy a set at retail price, I'll come on this site the next day and see Ian has them with an amazing cheap price, so I'm doing my best to hold off and wait :)

 

 

[Admin]

Yes I can now get them however the best price is at this stage $1,290.

 

My next step is to try and get something going with the US however they are not very helpful so far but I will keep trying - I will ring them early on Tues morning and speak to them instead of the email run around.

 

 

[DarkSarcasm]

I think LightSpeed know they have the market cornered somehow...

 

 

[Guest Walter Buschor]

Just bought a Bose X last weekend at Watts Bridge Historic Fly-in. This thing was $1400.

 

It is for my wife who complains about headaches and noise and is concerned about clamping pressure. The bose was better in this regard than the lightspeed zulu and that was the only reason why the bose got the thumbs up. When trying all these units I also tried a " generic " ANR unit. To be totally honest it seemed to work every bit as well as the Bose or Lightspeed and cost $ 400.

 

The only downside was the pressure on the head that gave it the thumbs down.

 

I guess the point I'm trying to make is that the expense is very real at the time of purchase but will soon be forgotten. The joy of ownership of something decent will last for a long time. So if the thing is a couple of hundered dollars dearer - hang the expense and buy it. Don't compromise

 

We're all worth it:thumb_up:

 

the grey Nomad

 

 

[DarkSarcasm]

Hey Walter,

 

yeah I agree with what you mean about the expense. I figure that I've only got one set of ears so I may as well protect them the best I can!

 

Right now I'm just waiting to hear how Ian is doing because I'd like to support this site if possible :)

 

 

[Modest Pilot]

One of the things worth considering when buying headsets is the ir weight. This was pointed out to me by the Van's factory pilot during a demo ride in an RV6. I went for the Peltor 7000 they used for this reason. They give 24 db passive protection and you can actually wear then for longer 5+ hour flights.

 

 

[DarkSarcasm]

Yes, weight is one of the important issues for me too. I have a scar on the top of my head (right where the headband goes unfortunately) that hurts like crazy if too much pressure is placed on it, so one of the main considerations for me was weight and clamping pressure. That's another reason why I'm going to pay for a good ANR set, the weight is just so much less :)

 

 

[ahlocks]

A couple of observations about the Bose ANR headsets.

 

Pros;

 

They are definitely light and comfortable.

 

I have been informed that radio transmissions using them are clear and free of ambient noise.

 

They provide a nice quiet workplace and that means nice calm radio broadcasts by not yelling into the microphone. (Ever notice how people seem to talk louder when making long distance phone calls?)

 

Warranty service is good if you have an issue (broken conductor within the cable with one set and a chopping effect in another - turned out to be a battery issue)

 

Cons:

 

They are dearer than poison.

 

If the batteries are getting marginal, the headset will indicate the batteries as OK until the noise level increases and then you will experience a chopping effect.

 

If ANR buggers up, they are as noisy as all hell and that is very distracting.

 

I can't offer any objective input on the Zulus as they weren't around when I went shopping a couple of years ago.

 

Cheers!

 

 

[DarkSarcasm]

Luckily, since I've done all my poisoning for this month, I have lots of money to spend on headsets.

 

(thanks for your input, it's all very helpful)