I'm starting to look for handheld GPS units and new headsets. What do you use and what would you buy?
I'm starting to look for handheld GPS units and new headsets. What do you use and what would you buy?
I am getting good use out of an old Garmen 196. With the money I saved, I bought a Lightspeed headset that I love. They provide excellent customer support! However, if you have the $$, lots of folks are chosing the iPad route these days. Lotsa capability.
Cheers,
Jerry
NC22375
65LA out of 07N Pennsylvania
For GPS I'm running WingX on an iPad 2 and love it. The only iPad drawback I see is readability in direct sunlight. I have a Cherokee which has a shady cockpit. For a bubble canopy plane I'm not sure how it would be.
I have a panel mounted Garmin 696 & I am still satisfied with mid level David Clark headsets. If I fly a very long tome without talking I take the headset off & put in ear plugs.
I've been using Clarity Aloft headsets for the last 5 years. Lightweight (a few ounces), comfortable and quiet. Not inexpensive at $500.
My wife and I have been using the Lightspeed Mach 1 with custom ear molds since 2007 and absolutely love the performance and comfort. Unfortunately...Lightspeed discontinued these in 2011. Clarity Aloft is similar but I didn't find theirs to be as comfortable as the Lightspeed. Since I haven't been looking recently, I'm not sure who is in the ITE headset market anymore.
If you can wait until then, I'd recommend shopping at Airventure for the heasets. You can try a variety of them. There's a lot of personal fit and taste involved here. My wife loves her ClarityAlofts. They're nice but I'm not a big fan of the cram it in the ear feeling of them. I tried out just about everything available last summer (Lighspeed , Sennheiser, Beyers, Bose, etc...) before settling down on the Zulu2.
Good advice to check everything out at AirVenture if you aren't in a hurry. For my money I think the Lightspeed Zulus are the best. I have owned other Lightspeeds and Bose headsets, but I think the Zulus beat them all. The Lightspeed people are first class, too.
Dave Prizio
What do you fly?
I will offer the perspective that I own 4 pairs of David Clark's, one Clarity Aloft, and my wife returned a set of Lightspeed's. When I was a full time prefessional aviator, I got started with David Clarks. They took all kinds of abuse, David Clark has a warranty policy that folks rave about, and 35 years later my original set is still going.
I put the Headsets inc ANR kit in two pairs of David Clarks. Works great. Nice people with goor support.
The Clarity Alofts work well in a really loud Pitts S-2A. Like wearing nothing. Worth the $$ if you wear a headset for hours every day. Good noise attenuation. Different noise attenuation than ANR's though. You hear a different mix of frequencies with the in-the-ear vs ANR.
The Lighspeeds did not strand up to an antique airplane with high speed wind noise from a leaky canopy. I think that they do OK in your average Cessna, but they did not work for us. Went back to David Clarks and added ANR later.
If you have friends that will elt you borrow their headsets, you can find out some of the pro's and cons before you spend $$. I will also suggest looking on eBay. You can find some good prices from folks who have decided that aviation has not held their interest and bowling requires less commitment.
Best of luck,
Wes
N78PS
For the money I like the Sigtronics S-58 for quality (better than military specs) and made in the USA.
http://www.sigtronics.com/air/index.html
As far as handheld GPS it's hard to beat for the money the touch screen IFly 700 and now the new version IFly 720 but more expensive. Simple, easy and very friendly.
http://ifly.adventurepilot.com/
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