Plantronics ultralight StarSet hung over one ear only. The earpiece is custom-molded to my very own ear. I used the supplied, pink "earbuds" for a few years before discovering the optional $40 custom jobbie. Request the kit, and when it comes, push the supplied goop into your brain to get the impression of your ear, have a friend help pry it out, and send it to the manufacturer. Wonderful fit. You can even get it in your choice of color. I always recommend trying to find a match for ear wax...
I don't think I'd ever want the set that used the inside of my ear as the only point of attachment though. I tend to move around too much. Therefore, it's the headset that goes over the ear.
In the tower I went with the 25 foot cord. When I moved to radar I opted for the shorter version. However, some people used the 25 footer in the radar room as well. Those were the guys who'd push back and roll in their chair all the way across the room to do a physical point-out to another sector while staying connected to their own position.
I can honestly say that, apart from destroying a couple of PTT switches (usually the lock on the PTT was the first thing to go), I've never had a problem with this brand. However, I've not tried any others, so I can't say how it compares. (Note: my only connection with Plantronics arises from my USE of their product. I don't sell them.)
In the UK we have R/T in both ears but when we select telephone we get phone in one and R/T in the other...
Common practice here is to have the headset piped into one ear only. The other ear is uncovered so you can clearly hear people say, "what the hell are you doing?" When I'm connected to the console I generally have only one thing in my ear at a time... radio, landline, etc. If I'm on the radio and I push the button for the landline, the radio goes to the speaker and the landline is in my ear. The exception to "one thing at a time" is "hot" in-house communication where somebody pushes a button on their console and my mic is suddenly hot on that line. In that case I can still key the mic to talk on the radio, but whether or not I've keyed the mic, I'm hearing the other controller and he's hearing me.
Which reminds me of another way that a controller can be a pain... My child's teacher was raising a stink with the child regarding the "proven fact" that you can't talk and listen at the same time. I pointed out that in my line of work we do exactly that (tower controller who keys into my headset to do a "rundown" on upcoming departures is trained to be quiet while an aircraft is transmitting to me and then do the rundown while I talk to the aircraft.). I pointed out that what's REALLY hard is listening to more than one person speak at a time. At this point my wife was telling me to shut up and I never did get the whole story out...
