This topic was covered a long time ago, but I thought I’d ask for an update.
Everybody still happy with Lightspeed 20? Anything better-matched to SR20 come along?
I ask because I’ve been using several Pilot 17-79s that I bought and liked in the pre-Cirrus era. My wife is now complaining that they don’t fit her right – don’t close tightly enough on her ears. She never had this complaint before, because pre-Cirrus she did everything possible to avoid getting in a spamcan. So I am looking for at least one and maybe several new headsets. Questions:
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Excluding Bose (which I’ve tried and don’t really like, or maybe that’s rationalization to avoid the expense), is there any clear favorite over Lightspeed 20?
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Any sets particularly well suited to the problem my wife is having – needing them to clamp tighter?
-
Any problem in having mis-matched headsets in the plane – me with the Pilot 17-79, her with something else?
Grateful for advice, jf
I ask because I’ve been using several Pilot 17-79s that I bought and liked in the pre-Cirrus era. My wife is now complaining that they don’t fit her right – don’t close tightly enough on her ears. She never had this complaint before, because pre-Cirrus she did everything possible to avoid getting in a spamcan. So I am looking for at least one and maybe several new headsets. Questions:
- Any sets particularly well suited to the problem my wife is having – needing them to clamp tighter?
Jim,
About 3 years ago I bought a Lightspeed 15K (I think the same model is now called 15XL - it had an auto shut off added - good addition!)I was considering the 15 and the 20 models. I called Lightspeed to ask a question and ended up speaking with a technical person, because all the sales people were at a show. He told me that the 15 model fit women much better - I think it was a little smaller. He also said not to be concerned about the ANR difference between the 15 and 20, since the 15 was all that was really needed for a light single. Based on this, I bought the 15 and have been extremely happy. It does fit great. And it does not "clamp" on my head. It fits gently, with lots of soft padding top and sides. One can wear this all day and have no discomfort. It really cuts out a lot of noise and you can hear the radio much better. Talk to Lightspeed about a good fit for your wife, since they were aware of this being an issue with some of their models.
This topic was covered a long time ago, but I thought I’d ask for an update.
Everybody still happy with Lightspeed 20? Anything better-matched to SR20 come along?
I ask because I’ve been using several Pilot 17-79s that I bought and liked in the pre-Cirrus era. My wife is now complaining that they don’t fit her right – don’t close tightly enough on her ears. She never had this complaint before, because pre-Cirrus she did everything possible to avoid getting in a spamcan. So I am looking for at least one and maybe several new headsets. Questions:
- Excluding Bose (which I’ve tried and don’t really like, or maybe that’s rationalization to avoid the expense), is there any clear favorite over Lightspeed 20?
- Any sets particularly well suited to the problem my wife is having – needing them to clamp tighter?
- Any problem in having mis-matched headsets in the plane – me with the Pilot 17-79, her with something else?
Grateful for advice, jf
Jim,
I think headsets are a very personal item. I personally like the Lightspeed SR20 (which, just for clarification, is different than the 20XL model). But my wife prefers the fit of our David Clark 10-13.4s. So I would suggest, if you can, have your wife try on a bunch of headsets and see what she likes. In my opinion the lightspeeds don’t clamp particularly tightly (which I like, but if your wife wants a tigher fit, may not be right for her).
So it would be ideal to go somewhere where you can try on a bunch of headsets. when i used to live in the bay area i remember doing this at the pilot shops at PAO & RHV, although maybe there’s some similar shops closer to you.
As for mixing and matching headsets, I haven’t had too much of a problem. I’ve had the Lightspeeds, David Clarks, and Pilot Avionics headsets all plugged into the intercom and it seemed to work fairly well. Only issue is that, unless I’ve missed something, the Garmin audio panel has one squelch control for the pilot and one for “everybody else”. So I noticed that the squelch didn’t break quite as easily for the person wearing the Pilot headset as it did for the person wearing the DCs. Maybe they just didn’t have the mic positioned right, though, I’m not sure.
Steve