Clarity Aloft

[RAY - Musician Pilot]

Hawkeye0001
The Blulink is not too bad to be honest. If you are looking for the Music/Cellphone interface with Bluetooth, I do hear a lot of good words of Flightcell Pro which produced in New Zealand. It can connect with multi devices including cell phone, MP3/Ipod, GPS, satellite phone as well as Bluetooth connection. However, the price is quite expensive comparing with other adaptor or even Blulink. Also, the pro box is quite large as well. One good thing is pro box is rechargeable, so you may not need a lot of batteries.

The other Bluetooth choice of Commlink pro Angel which includes a built in stereo, Bluetooth wireless technology, and a multitude of input and output jacks, as well as an integrated E6B flight computer.

However, to be honest, they are quite expensive and I don't really often use the phone function (make call) during flying, so I haven't tried those products yet. And sound quality of music in Bluetooth should be not good as the wired connection. Its will use a lot of battery in your device as well. (Although I do hear that the sound quality in Flightcell is very good)

If I need the Bluetooth connection and phone function, I will definitely look at those two products (Flightcell pro and Commlinkpro Angel)

If you consider wired options, have a look in Matchbox FC-1, Vx Makerplane ASX-2B and Safetycell for phone/music interface.

For me, I will probably choose the PS Engineering the Muse as the unique soft mute feature, however it only support one input for music only.

Hope it help

[RAY - Musician Pilot]

whoknows idont, thanks a lot for your field report.
Its really help.

Where do you buy the Phonak Freecom from?
I will definitely order a pair of Freecom 7100 lateron.
Do you know the Freecom 7100 are Mono or Stereo headset? (Can you choose which one you use and have a switch in the headset?)

For the music/phone interface, the Vx ASX-2B is seem a nice product with reasonable price. However, its doesn't have bluetooth connection, right?
However, the wired connect should produce the better sound quality especially you are hearing the music (not the phone call).

However, its really difficult to find the information and review in term of sound quality in the Internet of those Music/phone interface. Some guys said that Blulink already have a very good quality. Some guys said even Flightcell pro/Commlink pro is not so good in term of music quality.

For me, as I haven't used the phone feature up to now, so I mainly focus on the music sound quality, easy to use and the Auto-mute feature and the PS Engineering the Muse seem to work in his way...

Hope you enjoy your new headset.

[whoknows idont]

Ray, not sure about stereo/mono. It does not have a switch for that. I bought the headset from a local pilot store. Right afterwards I went to a hearing aid audiologist and got my ear impressions. Then took them back to the pilot store. They have a 3d scanner for that, scanned the imprints and uploaded them to Phonak. If your store does not have the scanner they will have to mail the imprints to Switzerland.
If you check out the Freecom product page there is a "how to buy' section which lists two dealers for UK.
Looking forward to reading about your experience.

[RAY - Musician Pilot]

whoknows idont, the ordering process is seem quite straight forward. Would you mind to tell me which dealer/local pilot store you order? As they have a 3d scanner for scanning the imprints and uploaded them to Phonak, its seem save a lot of time.
Ya, I know that there are some dealers in UK, but unfortunately I am not staying in UK currently and I can't find any Phonak aviation dealers around my area. That's why I am looking for your store and probably order it online or via phone as they are seem quite good and straight forward regarding the service and the ordering process.
Thanks again!

[whoknows idont]

PM sent to avoid advertising. It doesn't make much sense to mail the imprints to the store for them to scan. Instead you could just mail them directly to Phonak. The headset contains a fold-up box specifically for that. Maybe the hearing aid audiologist could have the 3d scanner as well (Phonak is one of the market leaders for hearing aids). I'm sure you will figure it out.

[aa777888]

I agree on the Blulink unit though: Lightspeeds Bluetooth unit is far superior to the Blulink; the most annoying feature being the Auto Mute function that doesn't have an override toggle. Basically renders it useless for listening to music during most of the flying I do. Not to mention the sheer excessive amount of straight cord of this whole assembly cluttering everything in the cockpit (headset ~6-7 ft, blulink assembly with box 6.5ft, RW->FW adapter 1ft, that's a total of almost 15ft of cable!)! Mildly annoying at best if not outright unsafe. One definitely has to coil the whole length of cable and secure it with zip ties or safety wire to ensure safe everyday operation.

I also have the Blulink, although I acquired it separately from the Clarity Aloft. The cord is ridiculously long and in fact I do have it wrapped very carefully in a way that allows me to hang it from the headset storage hook as it is otherwise so heavy it might pull the plug loose from the jack in the R22 or R44. I don't use it for music, but it does work quite well for phone calls.

A slight tangent on this subject: Android voice commands don't work so well in the cockpit. If I'm not using a tablet on a kneeboard for nav I will often Velcro the phone in its place. It would be very cool if someone would come up with an app that allowed the phone display to be replicated on the tablet!