Which headset?

[Eliza]

Can anyone recommend a headset? I have decided to buy my own as I find it difficult for headsets to fit properly (have quite a small head!). I am hoping to have fATPL by end of next year, so will want something suitable for use in commercial aircraft later on - in the offchance that I can find a job! I would prefer to spend a bit more and protect my hearing as it's not perfect to start with as I just scraped my audiogram - am having a look at David Clarke and Bose range as they seem to fit me well, but no idea which ones.

Also, I'm not sure what ANR means...(something Noise Reduction?)


Can anyone help or recommend their headset?

Thanks,

[pbloore]

I can only comment from the PPL point of view rather than ATPL but here goes. David Clarks are excellant at passive noise reduction (ie: without requiring power) but I've always felt like my head was being held in a vice after about 45 mins or so. I wear spectacles which doesn't help and the David Clarks are very durable but for me they don't suit.

For many years I've used Peltors which are quite light and comfortable and give adequate noise suppression. They have also proved to be very compatible when used with other makes of headsets, excepting a couple of issues with the aforementioned DCs.

We recently decided to go for ANR headsets (which have active noise cancellation) and narrowed our choice down to the Sennheiser or the Bose ones. The Sennheiser headset was very good, comfortable, light and with good passive noise attenuation (ie: when the battery's flat!), but the Bose were superbly comfortable, very light and in the end even though they were nearly twice the price this is what we bought. The only real snag is that the passive attenuation is not good at all so it pays to carry spare batteries - they last a good 20 or 30 hours though.

Hope this helps.

[Jet A1]

If you are looking for a headset for both GA and Commercial planes I would strongly recommend the Sennhesier Models in particular the HMEC25KA.

I use that on the A320 and what a difference it makes with the ANR. Comfy and lightweight too. Expensive but some make their way onto EBay and go fairly cheap. !

Regards

http://www.sennheiser.co.uk/products.jsp?id=04317

[Flyin'Dutch']

The HMEC25KA is not so useful in piston aeroplanes unless they are pressurised. The concept of these headsets which sit on the ears rather than over them does not give enough passive noise reduction.

The most comfortable by far are the Bose X headsets which unfortunately are also the most expensive ones. They used to be nearly £1k but with some shopping around can be had for around £750.

Equally as good to my ears but a bit higher in clamping force are the DC 10-13 ENC (ANR) sets and depending on what model exactly you can have one of those for around £450-500.

I think that you will end up with 2 headsets as I don't think that any of them work well enough in both piston aeroplanes and the flightdecks of bigger machines.

If you don't want to spend too much and have a small head you may want to consider the DC 10-13.4 Y which is a bit smaller. They are a passive set only but cost a lot less at around £199.

Most important thing is that the set is comfy for you. So try them for a little while before forking out the dosh

FD

[montster]

Eliza - I also have a smallish head and find it difficult to get comfortable headsets. I found my club's David Clarkes to be very uncomfortable. I have a pair of Sennheiser HME100s which are a basic model but are light enough to be comfortable, and I can adjust the strap enough to rest on my head rather than painfully on my ears like the DCs.

[flyingfemme]

I'm another pin-head (must be a girl thing) and I have found the BoseX to be great (if you really want to spend that sort of money).

Currently I'm wearing a Telex Echelon which is small, light, comfortable and good value (it's also not green).

Dave Clark do a "youth" option headset for heads that measure less than 21" around.

I also have my eye on a purple Softcomm ANR headset in youth size!

[Chilli Monster]

I bought a couple of Sigtronics S-58's (http://www.adamsdirect.co.uk/proddetail.asp?group=Headsets%2DPassive&modelno=S58) out in the States and after having now used them for a few months think they're fantastic. Lighter and cheaper than DC's, slightly better noise attenuation plus they don't clamp your head (In fact you don't even notice you're wearing them - yet they cut out the noise of 250HP each side :) )

[Small Rodent Driver]

I use a pair of Senheiser HME 100,s. I have used them in a variety of aircraft (including some very noisy ones) and found them to be excellent. Qualities are :- good acoustics, light weight, comfortable and best of all relatively inexpensive. The only gripe I do have is that the mic socks tend to go west with amazing regularity. A dab of silicone adhesive on the next lot of replacement spongy bitsI think.