everyone still on the side of bose x or the zulu?!? for a 737

I've been on the lookout for a new ANR headset recently and have tried several different sets. By far I found the zulu to be superior to the bose....just my opinion off course. A great little set I found however was the Sennheiser HMEC250....at half the price of the other 2. Before splashing out any cash though, try before you buy!

In a word - yes.

Just bought a Bose X for a 757. Top Banana!

Not too tight or too heavy. If anything, it is TOO quiet. You cannot hear the engine noise during final approach. Probably not a problem on a 737-200, though!!

Uk-wide price fixing seems to be the case at the moment. Nobody dropping below £680. Almost the same price as the Zulus.

A bose QC-15 headset with a Uflymic works better and costs less. It's lighter in weight, fits easier in a flight bag, and has the advantage of being available for music or computer use when not being used for the cockpit.

Bought a Bose-X for €774,- in Germany (there's a campaign at the moment) and tried it out yesterday in a Tecnam P92E. I'm really, really pleased with and it's a quantum jump in noise reduction compared to the David-Clark H10-40 and no-name, cheapish ANR headset I've used before in the same aircraft. Noise reduction and ANR function is excellent, and of these three headset this one fits the best around the arms of my glasses. Also very light and comfortable to wear.

Highly recommendable!

I've used a Lightspeed 3G for several years and always thought it was very good. However, on a recent flight in a friend's plane he was having trouble hearing me and lent me a pair of Bose X. What a difference that made, especially in terms of comfort.
I'm now on the hunt for some s/h ones.....

Bose Aviaton X Headset
 

I've had a Bose headset for the past 5 years - best headset I ever owned. It's light, comfortable, and works superbly under all conditions. It's always worked well with no issues or breakdowns - I would recommend it to anybody who is either a professional pilot or a serious recreational flyer.

How do you guys get away with using big cup headsets like a Bose X in a 737 or 757? Is it not your airline's SOP to use off-ear cross-cockpit communication or do you use the intercom as standard? How do your colleagues you fly with feel about it? Do they use the same headset as you?

I use my own Bose X for prop flying but find it wholly unsuitable for medium jets; not least because I think it's unfair to push my colleague in to using the intercom and abandon one-ear-off comms which is standard procedure. Secondly the clamping effect of 2 large earpieces is just too much over 10 hours flying.

The best headset I had for 737s was a Starset "earpiece" with tiny boom mic, long since lost down the back of a seat. I had a Sennheiser ANR which allowed ear-off comms but found it too clamping and thus sold it on e-bay. I'm back to crappy company Telex headsets now.

I use a bose on the 737 and its excellent I don't even switch it on sometimes. A little while ago I dropped it though and I started to get a funny noise in one cup so I took it to a repair place at shoreham (HSL I think). They posted it back to me 10 days later they had repaired and serviced it replacing the broken bits and also changing the ear cushions and head cushion. All of this came under a no questions asked warranty I didn't even have to pay any postage. I was shocked and impressed.

As for off the ear comms. They are my ears if you want to go deaf thats your choice but I have a headset and I use it. Theres an intercom switch and a bag of elastic bands if needed. I can't imagine any company to put in writing that you have to keep one ear uncovered what more proof would you need when one ear went U/S than a copy of the company SOP's followed by "where theres a blame there's a claim". That said if there is someone on the jumpseat I can hear them with the cups on fully.if i'm using the ANR.

Ah, the elastic bands thing. Well, fair play to you if you and your colleagues agree to that method and you have nothing in writing to stop you. My last airline clearly stated in the SOP that ear-off comms were to be used, if yours doesn't then fair enough, but such standards do exist out there.

In my first airline job I was reminded by the trainers that open mikes were an irritant to the other flight deck member. They were right; it drives me nuts when someone gets the elastic bands out without asking me and then I have to listen to them munching their bananas for the rest of the duty. Or blasting their nasal exhalation through the mic every 3 seconds.

Ah I use the elastic elastic bands the benefit being that the switch can be moved out of the i/c position. :p

I have two Bose X headsets, one of which is now surplus to requirements if anyone is interested…

Rod1

I've used the Bose X in the 747 and it's quite comfortable. I do find that during takeoff or other times of high workload, partially cocking it off one ear helps in cockpit communications. Most whom I fly with, don't use the intercom, and the intercom isn't necessary to communicate.

I've taken to using the Bose QC-15 with the uflymic more now, and it makes hearing others in the cockpit even more difficult. Again, cocking the earphone slightly off the ear still enables me to hear the communication in the earphone, but to hear others talking in the cockpit.

I have worn my bose-x headset for up to 7hrs and had absolutely no discomfort.

I am not an airline pilot but it seems obvious (from pre-9/11 cockpit visits) that they do not wear headsets when enroute, and this is standard because they like to chitchat :) I can't blame them - on 12hr flights... but this also knackers their hearing, over the years, because a 747 cockpit is very noisy. Many retired ATPs I have known were pretty deaf.

I'm just past 40 and the hearing is going downhill fast, hence the Bose purchase. Our SOPs suggest using the intercom and it has proven to reduce shouting and to lower percieved noise levels due to the provision by the company of Senheisser 45 ANR headsets. We never used to use intercom when we had el-cheapo headsets but the arrival of ANR made the company revisit their recommendations. The Bose is a large step up in terms of noise reduction and general compfort plus it also improves the hygeine!.
Aeros? Probably better than DC but a velcro chinstrap might be worth investing in?
I keep my headset on even during longhaul cruise since it drowns out some of the noise of the 767s even if you don't have the antinoise on. Some of my colleagues take their headsets off after passing the OCA boundry but I don't. If it was a longhaul 757 then I'd be suicidal if my Bose wasn't with me.

Once the pain of the bill for £680 has worn off you will not be disappointed.

The 747 cockpit isn't all that noisy; especially at altitude. Most crewmembers wear their headset all the time, including enroute.

My hearing is fried, but not from the 747...radial engines and gunfire did that for me. (Not at the same time).