Should I buy a Bose or a Lightspeed

BTW, I would think your friend would be more interested in what he/she should buy rather than what you should buy.
 
Your friend asks a lot of questions.....:cool:
 
Let's take a look at the important features -

Bose: It's a headset.

Lightspeed: It's a headset.

You're welcome.
 
I'll give you one for the price of shipping.

Bose that is. X.
 
Sorta like asking Southern Baptist or Methodist. Both can achieve the end goal. But one has more dancing.
 
They’re both good. I’d probably buy the light speed if I had it to do over. Nothing wrong with the Bose, but the light speed is just as good for less money.
 
I have both a Bose A20 and a Lightspeed Sierra. They both have about the same ANR in my opinion, but the Bose has noticeably better music sound via Bluetooth. Worth the extra bucks to me...
 
And by "Lightspeed" I take it everyone means Zulu3?
 
TomRV4 said:
I have both a Bose A20 and a Lightspeed Sierra. They both have about the same ANR in my opinion, but the Bose has noticeably better music sound via Bluetooth. Worth the extra bucks to me...
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You're comparing apples and oranges. The A20 is the top of the line Bose, while the Sierra is the budget Lightspeed and costs half as much.

I bet my Zulu PFX sounds every bit as good as your A20...

asicer said:
And by "Lightspeed" I take it everyone means Zulu3?
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They sell an entire line of headsets. I think right now the ones you can buy new are the Zulu3, Zulu PFX, Sierra, and Tango.
 
flyingcheesehead said:
They sell an entire line of headsets. I think right now the ones you can buy new are the Zulu3, Zulu PFX, Sierra, and Tango.
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I suspect that the Zulu3 is the workhorse of the line and the most popular. As a matter of fact, when I ordered my Zulu3...

Me: "Hi, I'd like to trade-in my old QFR."
Lightspeed: "OK, name, email, number, address... and you said you wanted a Zulu3, is that correct?"
Me: "No, I never said what I wanted but you are correct that I would like a Zulu3."

Lightspeed would have you believe that the 'P' in 'PFX' stands for 'Personal'. I think it should stand for 'Passenger'. Super aggressive noise cancellation bothers some pilots but passengers typically value silence above all else. The shortened battery life is a bit of a bother for pilots, but passengers have plenty of time and free hands to swap AA's. The giant control wand can get in the way of pilot gear but passengers don't have to deal with gadgets.
 
asicer said:
Lightspeed would have you believe that the 'P' in 'PFX' stands for 'Personal'. I think it should stand for 'Passenger'. Super aggressive noise cancellation bothers some pilots but passengers typically value silence above all else. The shortened battery life is a bit of a bother for pilots, but passengers have plenty of time and free hands to swap AA's. The giant control wand can get in the way of pilot gear but passengers don't have to deal with gadgets.
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Well, I have a really noisy airplane with LEMO (panel power), so getting the LEMO PFX worked perfectly for me. :)
 
I’ve had great customer service and reliability with Lightspeed’s, first with 15XL’s and now with Sierra’s.

Plus, they usually will give you credit for old headsets - I believe I got $250 off my Sierra’s when I turned in my really old and beat up 15XL’s.

Can’t speak to their higher end models, but the Sierra’s get the job done.
 
Bose cramps and hurts my fat head after about 30 minutes. Glad I had one to borrow before I bought. Just my 2 cents.
 
I have BOSE, Lightspeed, and DC ANRs. Preference for Lightspeed but I don't think you could go wrong with any (basic features). Since I don't use the Bluetooth phone or music features, I cannot comment on them. I was flying final in a helo when the ANR died. Without ANR, they were less than useless. Had ANR crap out enroute in the Warrior, marginally worthless.
Batteries last about 20 hours. When the BOSE or DCs get near the bottom, the ones I have "pop". Lightspeed just fade to dark/dead/doa/nada/zilch. Backup batteries or a quick change headset works. Just not something to do on final.
Still, I would rather ANR than not. What you need to do is fly the pattern with all three. See what you like best. Then again, after a five hour day of flying, nothing feels good.
 
If you're in the knows, go Bose.

Okay so that's what I have. Don't know about Lightspeed.
 
Sac Arrow said:
If you're in the knows, go Bose.

Okay so that's what I have. Don't know about Lightspeed.
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And I thought BOSE stands for "Buy Other Sound Equipment"...

Between my Bose X and Zulu3, I'd say that Z3 is slightly quieter and slightly more comfortable which is pretty good considering the two are about 15 years apart in age. I'd imagine the A20 probably has the goods on the Z3 but I'm too cheap to spend the extra cash. I'm thinking about trading the X for a used PFX for front seat passengers though. Used PFX's seem to be going for super cheap relative to new.
 
I have an A20 I bought early on and a Zulu 2 I bought for my wife. Having used both they basically accomplish the same thing and are far more comfortable than the ubiquitous david-clamp headsets. The fit feels slightly different but a minute into the flight and I stop noticing.

If I had it to do over again I'd just have got a Zulu 2 instead of Bose for myself as well. The Bose is fine, great, no complaints but I felt the zulu2 was just as good and at the time I believe they were $100 cheaper.
 
I'm fortunate that I live near Sporty's. I flew in with my son and we tried all the headsets on display. We both agreed that the Zulu3 was the most comfortable. They have a speaker for cockpit noise simulation so we were able to compare the ANR. We both found no difference between the A20 and Zulu3 ANR. I bought the Zulu3.
 
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