Telex headsets - Heli-XT vs 50D

[Slatye]

Hello everyone, I've got a quick question about headsets, and I'm hoping that someone here can give me an answer. Pretty much: in a helicopter, am I better-off with the Telex Stratus Heli-XT (relatively cheap, designed for helicopters) or the Telex Stratus 50 Digital (expensive, designed more for planes, apparently has more ANR technology)? Full explanation for anyone who is interested: I'm currently learning to fly a fixed-wing plane, but with the aim of moving from a private plane license to a commercial helicopter license once this is complete. I want to get a headset that will work for both, and I value my hearing so I'm aiming for pretty much the best noise reduction I can find. I'm assuming that anything that offers good noise reduction in a helicopter will be more than adequate for a training plane, so I'm largely disregarding which headsets will work better in a plane. I've had a look at the popular Bose and LightSpeed options, but they apparently have very poor passive noise reduction and tend not to work well in doors-off situations. I'm not fond of having things stuck in my ears, so that largely rules out the Clarity Aloft and similar options. Sennheiser's HMEC 460 looks okay, but finding any information is difficult. In almost every thread I've read, there have been comments that Telex offers the best noise reduction around apart from the exception of the in-ear headsets. Unfortunately nobody has been able to compare the two headsets in question; there are a few people saying that the Stratus 50 Digital is good, and a few saying that the Stratus Heli-XT is good, but none saying which is better. I've emailed Telex (twice) for their opinion but haven't gotten an answer. I've emailed one shop that sells both, and been told that they don't know which is better. Could anyone comment on this? Any information (particularly your experiences) would be very much appreciated. Thanks in advance.