Headsets

[Pac Rotors]

I got to use the Bose 10 in Hawaii last week with a couple of operators and found them great. The earcups on them fit well, some sort of gel inserts there, and made a very distinctive difference. Most tour operators in Hawaii seem to be using them.

Cant comment on the David Clarks since havent tried them.

Pac Rotors

[pitchlink]

Tried the Bose ANR headset in an S76 a few months ago. On the whole found them quite good and very comfortable, the one problem seemed to be that they did not get rid of the whining gearbox noise. In fact, that was the only noise left to listen to, which after a while drove you mad!!! Most people who used the headset found more or less the same thing. My advice would be to see if you can get the set on trial before you actually buy it as it is a lot of £££ to shell out if it is not going to do the job you hoped.
If the company you are purchasing from are a bit reluctant, tell them you are from a large company and the trial may result in many orders. It worked for us!!!

[Vfrpilotpb]

Hi VF,

"Pilot" make a good set too cost me about £280 and are very light, but need charging up daily , however there was a report of some sort of accident in a Heli caused by the wearing of NC headsets, but cannot find the thread.
My Regards

[The Nr Fairy]

Vfr :

This, I think, is the one :
http://www.aaib.detr.gov.uk/bulletin/mar01/gbyhe.htm

[tigerpic]

first of all, i thought they were named anr for reduction and not cancellation (although a 'c' in the abbr. would have been fantastic). be that as it may, i have one thing to say about the bose vs david-clark: 12 oz! it is fantastic. try wearing a d.c. headset for eight hours straight. the downdraft with the bose x is changing the batteries every fourth-fifth hour.

cheers
tigerpic

[verticalflight]

Thanks for the answers I've got so far.

A few questions for tigerpic:

Bose claims that the 9volt battery last 20 hours. You said 4 to 5 hours. Why is that? Do you use rechargable batteries?

What do you think about the gearbox noise that pitchlink mentioned?

Are you flying turbine or piston?

Personally I'm flying the Super Puma, so I'm concerned about finding the same problems the Bose X has on the S76.

More comments please. They are very welcome

[Rotorbike]

If you have a headset that you are really happy with then you may consider fitting an ANR kit into it.
www.headsetsinc.com make kits for most models, that can be fitted yourself in a few hours. Cost is under US$200.

Myself I have been using a Bose II for over 3 years and find the odd time I fly with my old standard David Clark painful.

Problems none, but new gel seals required every 6 months. Bought it with rechargable and non rechargable battery pack but believe that option isn't available on the Bose X.

[Vfrpilotpb]

NF Hi,

Yes that was the thread, thank you.
My Regards

[md 600 driver]

i have bose in my 600. i find them comfortable they work well with my ship. also used them in a enstrom480
you can get a power injector kit so you dont need a battery pack this saves clutter in the cabin and charging battery packs incedentley [sorry cant spell] they work as normal when battery is flat regards steve.,

[CTD]

Sennheiser makes a nice kit as well, and the ANR part is second to none. I can't give you specifics about the headset itself, because I always wear a helmet. Having said that, the conversion kit they offer for the SPH5 helmet is magic, and has the same electronics as the headset. Worth a look.

[tigerpic]

vertical flight:

i dunno why they claim 20 hours, maybe they changed the original battery pack that was one 9v battery to the old one that had plenty of aa batteries. no, i don't use re-chargeables, because everything is an efford - think about buying it, finding the place where to buy it, getting into your car, driving to the place, etc.

to be honest with you, i haven't noticed any special annoying noise from the gearbox. there are a lot of annoying noises from a helicopter and this is choosing between two lesser evils. i fly a jetranger, but i've used the headset in r22, enstrom, longranger, and a109. the bose is still good!

everything about a headset is stressing, the pressure, the noise, the weight. finding the headset with the least amount of each is the key. what type of operation do you do? if you only fly a couple of hours a day, maybe a d.c. is good for you (money-wise), but if you are pushing 5-8 hours/day, i would suggest testing the bose.

bose's warranty also works perfectly (two years i think)! i sent the head with fedex from florida after the mic stopped working. they fixed the mic, plus changed a few other things, returning the headset within ten days. how's that for customer support!

[PPRuNe Towers]

There might be some early adopters out there who want to check out a non headset/ non ANR solution.

17 years ago I was involved in trials of moulded earpeices with bone conductive mics for special forces. My part was checking out use and effectiveness for free fall operations.

I noticed this site: www.pantherelectronics.com

A claimed 46dB reduction once custom earpieces replace the ones they arrive with may be too quiet for safety but certainly seems an avenue worth checking out. The universal earpieces are rated with a 31dB reduction and they're priced at $464.

I can say from experience that the bone conductive mics work incredibly well in high noise situations.

Rob Lloyd

[Thomas coupling]

Prune Towers, we tried ear plugs(specially moulded to that individual) and they worked quite well, however, they were a problem around the helipad when working outside the running helo what's more: we kept 'misplacing' the bloody things because of their size!!!

We now use Active Noise Reduction headsets(ANR) set inside the headphones. Headset Services @ Shoreham designed them for us.
We looked into the research that DERA had compiled over many ears(sic).
Basically there isn't anything available on the commercial helo market at the mo' that will reduce/cancel low frequency sound[MGB, certain engine frequencies, etc]. The best models on the market only cater for high frequency noise such as the turbine whines etc and it is these that apparently cause damage to the inner ear and not so much the low freq.
Be very wary of an 'off the shelf' model because they may have been designed to capture a very narrow spectrun of high freq noise found in anything from motorbikes to model a/c!!! These are not tailored to the helo market per se.
Usual saying: you gets what yer pay for....

[Ally1987]

Noise reduction headsets for rotary?

Can anyone rec. a good ANR headset for rotary? I need one with a non-Nato plug (three insulating stripes rather than four?) and a UK source for it, preferably. I'll have to use batteries.
TIA.

[Gaseous]

I Use a Pilot 17-79 ANR and when you press the button the engine noise melts away. It has dual jacks and I use an adaptor to give me US and UK Nato plugs. It's comfortable too.

[TipCap]

I'm in discussion with David Clark at the moment ref ANR headset.

If I get any useful info I will post.

BTW Gaseous I think yr headset is fine for piston but not for turbines.

[ 21 November 2001: Message edited by: TipCap ]

[ 21 November 2001: Message edited by: TipCap ]

[Gaseous]

You may well be right. I only fly a Robinson.

[Kyrilian]

I'm also interested. I've been using a non-ANR David Clark and it simply clamps too much for my preference. I'm thinking of getting the Bose as I will have the opportunity to get it at a discount for a little longer. What do others think of it in terms of both piston (now) and turbine (future, hopefully) performance?

[Thomas coupling]

Call up ANR using the search facility this has been discussed in detail before.

[Kyrilian]

Thanks TC! Somehow I didn't think of that. I remember some old threads but didn't recall them mentioning differences between turbine and piston (and I didn't feel like clicking back and trying to find it--should have realized there is a SEARCH function!) Duh