Crazed Pilot in the ear headset
- Thread starter GeneC
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GMascelli
En-Route
I bought a pair for the bride, she thought the clarity aloft were better. I'm going to use the crazed pilot set if and when I get back in the air. I'm also interested here to hear any PIREPs on this headset.
I should note that I use the lightspeed Zulu headset, and love it. My bride got tired of the clamping pressure from her Bose X and thought the Zulus felt the same. I think the Bose X and Zulus are very comfortable.
I should note that I use the lightspeed Zulu headset, and love it. My bride got tired of the clamping pressure from her Bose X and thought the Zulus felt the same. I think the Bose X and Zulus are very comfortable.
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<Edit>: I totally missed the 'in ear' part of the post; my bad. My information is about the over the ear version.
I did have a chance to fly with a set of Lightspeed over ear ANRs this week (the flight center rents them out for $5 or $10). No instruction provided so I may have missed something important in how to use them.
Once I figured out you had to turn on the ANR feature, I have to say the LSs provide better ANR than the Crazy Pilots or my Kore's. I think if I flew every day, all day, they might be worth the extra many hundred $$ but for my level of flying (1-2 hours/week), not so much.
What I did NOT like about the LSs was that the the mike seemed to really amplify cabin noise back into the headset so when under full power on take off, when I keyed the mike, I couldn't the engine noise completely overwhelmed my voice as it fed back into the ear pieces. I did one loop around the pattern and switched back to the CP's.
<end of edit>
I bought a set of the ANRs to test against my first headset (Kore KA-1 $170). I need to do a test against some of the more expensive sets (flight center rents out Bose ANRs for $5).
The Crazy Pilot's are a bit quieter but it's not like going from 'OK' to 'HOLY CRAP WHERE DID THE ENGINE GO?'. I moved the ear cups and fabric covers from the Kore's to the CP's and think that helped knock off a couple more dbs plus be a bit more comfortable. The Kore's have a softer ear cup which tends to fit closer to my head (see glasses comment below).
The sound quality from the speakers is about the same.
If the weather cooperates this week, I'll rent the Bose headsets and try all 3 on the same flight to see how they differ.
Fair Disclosure: I wear glasses so there are small air gaps where the frames go under the ear cups; even more if I wear sunglasses over my primary pair. My ears are 64 years old and I have a tiny bit of hearing loss and some minor tinnitus so YMMV.
I did have a chance to fly with a set of Lightspeed over ear ANRs this week (the flight center rents them out for $5 or $10). No instruction provided so I may have missed something important in how to use them.
Once I figured out you had to turn on the ANR feature, I have to say the LSs provide better ANR than the Crazy Pilots or my Kore's. I think if I flew every day, all day, they might be worth the extra many hundred $$ but for my level of flying (1-2 hours/week), not so much.
What I did NOT like about the LSs was that the the mike seemed to really amplify cabin noise back into the headset so when under full power on take off, when I keyed the mike, I couldn't the engine noise completely overwhelmed my voice as it fed back into the ear pieces. I did one loop around the pattern and switched back to the CP's.
<end of edit>
I bought a set of the ANRs to test against my first headset (Kore KA-1 $170). I need to do a test against some of the more expensive sets (flight center rents out Bose ANRs for $5).
The Crazy Pilot's are a bit quieter but it's not like going from 'OK' to 'HOLY CRAP WHERE DID THE ENGINE GO?'. I moved the ear cups and fabric covers from the Kore's to the CP's and think that helped knock off a couple more dbs plus be a bit more comfortable. The Kore's have a softer ear cup which tends to fit closer to my head (see glasses comment below).
The sound quality from the speakers is about the same.
If the weather cooperates this week, I'll rent the Bose headsets and try all 3 on the same flight to see how they differ.
Fair Disclosure: I wear glasses so there are small air gaps where the frames go under the ear cups; even more if I wear sunglasses over my primary pair. My ears are 64 years old and I have a tiny bit of hearing loss and some minor tinnitus so YMMV.
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SkyDog58
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Canis Non Grata
I hate when I hear a crazed pilot in my ear while flying.
CRAZEDpilot
Pre-Flight
Glasses will always give difficulty when sealing ANR headsets - if you can invest in the 'spatula' style sunglasses tips that will help. Good luck with our in-ear headsets and ANR headsets, we appreciate you guys as customers.
-Brendan
-Brendan
If you can get your hands on a set of Kore's, check out the ear cover material. It's a bit softer than your material and wraps around the glasses. When I switched the Kore ear pieces along with fabric covers for yours, the sound deadening was improved a bit. FWIW, the fabric covers are generic and are mostly useful in a hot cabin.
I wear thin metal frames and, occasionally, a pair of sunglasses over my glasses. The only times I have any issues is when I have on both pair at the same time and even then it's not bad. I've been quite happy with the CPs both stock and modified. Now if you can just come up with a way to convert 'mumbled super-fast pilot speak' into 'pilot speak I can understand' that's be awesome!