Bose A20 or Lighspeed Tango

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Cptwing

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Cptwing
I recently purchased the Bose A20 headset, came with bonus wireless blue tooth speaker. I went high end because I suffer from noise induced hearing loss. I have not received them yet, in the mail so to speak. Now I am having second thoughts since I came across the Lightspeed Tango Wireless, which are $300.00 less than the Bose. I know being wireless in a small plane has almost no benefit; you are not getting up and walking around. Any thought on either model?
 
From the folks who I know that have the Tango, they aren't thrilled with long term usage. Main complaint is battery life.

Between the two listed, I'd suggest sticking with the A20. Folks who own that one are very happy for the long run.
 
I love my A20s, refuse to flight without them. I have no experience with any Lightspeed products to compare to.
 
Cptwing said:
I recently purchased the Bose A20 headset, came with bonus wireless blue tooth speaker. I went high end because I suffer from noise induced hearing loss. I have not received them yet, in the mail so to speak. Now I am having second thoughts since I came across the Lightspeed Tango Wireless, which are $300.00 less than the Bose. I know being wireless in a small plane has almost no benefit; you are not getting up and walking around. Any thought on either model?
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I haven't personally used a wireless headset, but I would stay away from it. I've had batteries go out on my ANR headsets, but they are not a big deal. It still works. I would be a bigger deal to be nordo, or figuring out how to use the handheld mic and speaker.
 
never once had an issue with battery life with the tangos. wireless is nothing short of awesome. can't speak for the bose cause I never tried them, but only hear good things about them.
 
You didn't ask but if I have learned anything from POA,when you ask about which of 2 things is the best, it is always a third that you need.
Too bad Bonanza doesn't make headsets.

I have A20s and Lightspeed Zulu 3s
For $200 less, I feel like the Zulus are easily on par maybe a little better in the quality department.

I am working on a video now with a bunch of different headsets and a decibel meter to find out who the real hero is.

@eman1200 uses the tangos and did a couple review videos on them:
 
And according to his post 1 minute ago, he thinks they are awesome.
 
Thanks all, the A20 are coming in Monday of course I am flying the day before. Currently I use the ASA flight school set which suck and cut out all the time. I think I will stick with the A20, supposedly I can test/use them for 60 days anyway and return if not happy.
 
The shape of your head will have some effect on which you prefer. The Bose uses a coiled high mounted torsion spring to provide clamping pressure while the Lightspeed uses a leaf spring.
 
I bought an A20 and love it, although I have no other headsets to compare to except for the crappy loaners at the flight school that didn't fit right and that had mics that kept slipping down from my mouth during flight.

I did buy mine about a month before the speaker offer, so bummer for me. But oh well.

I also got the 6-pin version so I don't have to worry about batteries. I know it's a small thing to nitpick about, but I really like the convenience of the 6-pin plug and no batteries.
 
Cptwing said:
I recently purchased the Bose A20 headset, came with bonus wireless blue tooth speaker. I went high end because I suffer from noise induced hearing loss. I have not received them yet, in the mail so to speak. Now I am having second thoughts since I came across the Lightspeed Tango Wireless, which are $300.00 less than the Bose. I know being wireless in a small plane has almost no benefit; you are not getting up and walking around. Any thought on either model?
Click to expand...

If you have some hearing loss I would do the Lightspeed PFX.. I have some like new for $699. All my testing the Lightspeeds work way better than the Bose. The Bose will not handle wind or loud airplanes. I have the following.
Lightspeed PFX's $699
Lightspeed wireless Tango's $625
Lightspeed Zulu's $565
Lightspeed Zulu 3's $675
All my stuff is slightly used but just like new. Fresh seals and muffs.
I like the wireless Tango. It works well but you do have to recharge it. Battery life is solid 12 hours between charges.
 
James Darren said:
I've had a Bose A20 for 5 years now. It's a great headset..
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Its great in a quiet airplane with the windows closed. Add a airplane with some ass behind it or some wind noise and they are pretty bad.
I bet that 5 year old A20 won't stream music either.
 
I bought a Lightspeed Sierra as a second headset - the build quality is nice but the ANR is definitely not as good as the A20. The bass frequencies come through a lot more. Really made me appreciate my A20’s. I can’t speak to any other Lightspeed product.
 
pigpenracing said:
Its great in a quiet airplane with the windows closed. Add a airplane with some ass behind it or some wind noise and they are pretty bad.
I bet that 5 year old A20 won't stream music either.
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I love mine... Panel aux jack solves that
 
TylerSC said:
I bought a Lightspeed Sierra as a second headset - the build quality is nice but the ANR is definitely not as good as the A20. The bass frequencies come through a lot more. Really made me appreciate my A20’s. I can’t speak to any other Lightspeed product.
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Yep, The Sierra is the Budget model. Compare that Bose to the PFX or Zulu 3 and you will think the A20 is like your Sierra :)
 
SixPapaCharlie said:
You didn't ask but if I have learned anything from POA,when you ask about which of 2 things is the best, it is always a third that you need.
Too bad Bonanza doesn't make headsets.

I have A20s and Lightspeed Zulu 3s
For $200 less, I feel like the Zulus are easily on par maybe a little better in the quality department.

I am working on a video now with a bunch of different headsets and a decibel meter to find out who the real hero is.

@eman1200 uses the tangos and did a couple review videos on them:
Click to expand...

In a 172 with back to back testing the Tango and Zulu 3 anr sounded the same. I could not tell that one was quiter than the other.
In the loud Pitts the Zulu 3 definitely cut the noise better than the Tango. It is nice not having a cord.
 
A20 is more comparable to the Zulu3.

They are both great headsets. Your preference will entirely be based upon which one fits your head better.

I've flown hundreds of hours with both. My head prefers the Zulu3. Yours might prefer the A20.
 
I have a noisy airplane and the A20 has the best noise canceling among any other I’ve tried.
 
I have been tempted to try the tango, but decided that the minimum hassle of the cord was not with having to charge the batteries.

We keep a20’s in the c400 and I fly everything else with Lightspeeds. I have 1’s(now for passenger use) 3’s and pfx. Love the pfx, but the 3’s are close (started as 2’s but had them upgraded). I prefer the zulu’s To the point that I use them in the 400 even though there is always a set of Bose plugged in and ready to go. I suspect if I started with Bose, I might prefer them. I find the Lightspeed more comfortable. I have 12 hours in them one day.

Jim
 
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Ben2k9 said:
I have a noisy airplane and the A20 has the best noise canceling among any other I’ve tried.
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How noisy? The A20 would not work at all in my 540 Eagle... 11:1 pistons and 3300RPM with straight exhaust. The A20 would buzz, crack and pop!a eagle 3.jpg
 
eman1200 said:
ugh, now why'd u go and do that fer? I should do a follow up, that video is from when I literally took them out of the box.
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Fork that...

Both those vids violate @eman1200 recording duration policy... :eek:

I have the zulu 3's and love them. Wore an a20 once and i was impressed as well.
 
Cptwing said:
Thanks all, the A20 are coming in Monday of course I am flying the day before. Currently I use the ASA flight school set which suck and cut out all the time. I think I will stick with the A20, supposedly I can test/use them for 60 days anyway and return if not happy.
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You won't send them back unless that $300 you'd save with the others is burning a hole in your pocket. I just got the A20s and love them.
 
A20s are great. I haven't regretted buying mine.
 
I tried the Lightspeed stuff when shopping for a quality headset. For comfort they didn’t compare to the A20s at least for my head, plus they are light. Don’t know about the noise cancelling performance between the two, but the A20s block out almost everything the IO-550 powered 210 and O-235 powered Champ throws at them. Could feel the noise more then I could hear it. Sound quality is unbelievable and all radio transmissions are clear as day. If I got another I would go A20 for sure. The $200 Bluetooth speaker was a bonus.
 
SixPapaCharlie said:
You didn't ask but if I have learned anything from POA,when you ask about which of 2 things is the best, it is always a third that you need.
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Anyone school the OP yet? Clarity Aloft or Halo are the besticatious. [yes, that is a word] :)
 
I have the Tango wireless for the co pilot seat to keep the pilot from tripping when entering/leaving the airplane. But other than the wireless, I am not all that impressed.

I am waiting until there is a Bonanza headset and I will buy that, wires or not.
 
As with everything Bose makes they’re overpriced. I have pfx. Remember those bose speakers with a hundred transistor radio speakers?
 
Cptwing said:
I recently purchased the Bose A20 headset, came with bonus wireless blue tooth speaker. I went high end because I suffer from noise induced hearing loss. I have not received them yet, in the mail so to speak. Now I am having second thoughts since I came across the Lightspeed Tango Wireless, which are $300.00 less than the Bose. I know being wireless in a small plane has almost no benefit; you are not getting up and walking around. Any thought on either model?
Click to expand...


Go for the Tangos
 
I'm a Tango user, I like the Tango, but in fairness, my particular headset has been back to Lightspeed three times... maybe mine's just a fluke, but internal stuff on the left ear muff hasn't been the ideal of reliability on my particular headset. I love not having wires when I'm doing aerial photography. Battery life is no issue for me and we fly 8 hour missions weekly. Sound quality is fine as far as I'm concerned.
 
RyanShort1 said:
I'm a Tango user, I like the Tango, but in fairness, my particular headset has been back to Lightspeed three times... maybe mine's just a fluke, but internal stuff on the left ear muff hasn't been the ideal of reliability on my particular headset. I love not having wires when I'm doing aerial photography. Battery life is no issue for me and we fly 8 hour missions weekly. Sound quality is fine as far as I'm concerned.
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Has this happened to you yet?
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/video/news/video-1180513/Councilman-forgets-turn-mic-bathroom-break.html
 
I was in a church service one time where the youth did a skit and one of them forgot to turn off their mic when they got through and in the bathroom. Lots of conversation but thankfully nothing improper came across. lol.
 
I have both an A20 and Zulu 3. I love both of them. The A20 has better ANR.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
 
Paulie said:
As with everything Bose makes they’re overpriced. I have pfx. Remember those bose speakers with a hundred transistor radio speakers?
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Bose 901. The "Direct Reflecting" speaker. A.k.a fun with equalization...
 
Man, am I the only person left alive that went with David Clark? I highly recommend the DC ONE-Xs.
 
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