Opinion on Bose ANR Headset
Hi all,
I've been flying helos with bose ANR headsets for 11 years now and am pretty satisfied with them overall.
I used the older version first for 9 years, very efficient although a bit bulky and heavy. The cords and the battery pack were not perfect but still, it was still very enjoyable. Regarding the Bose headset X, I've been using it for 2 years now: it's great!
All those bad points I just described above have been corrected in the latest version (out for quite a few year already). They are very light, yet durable, the battery pack and the cords system are smaller and use now only 2 AA's, averaging 40 hrs of usage.
Regarding the fact that this is no fun when the batteries go dead (true), because of poor passive noise reduction, is not an issue to me. Who can't afford to have 2 spare batteries with him? There is a battery power indicator telling you the power remaining (amber 8 hrs, red 2 hrs). That can be part of your preflight if you fly by yourself with no autopilot, as you can't change batteries with your left hand only.
The only thing I am not so happy with is the fact that Bose hasen't designed a headset with dual impedance. Flying low and high impedance aircraft, I had to buy an extra microphone set (plug-cord-battery pack-microphone) at a cost of 275$ not including tax!!! (what a ripp off) You then have to unsrew the whole set and install the new one in making sure you don't damage the pins during the process.
From what I have heard from collegues, Bose doesn't perform that well though on certain aircraft (412s with windows open)
I can't compare Bose with other ANR headset but one thing is for sure: never again without ANR!
Maintenance wise, never had any problem, just need to change the ear cushions and mike foam from time to time like with any other headset.
Cheers,
Nomodakine