Are Bose A20s worth the money?

[LJ45]

As far as the Ufly mic goes,

If you clip the wire to your shirt, it doesn't pull out easy. Also the O-ring on the plug if worn or missing will make it loose fitting in the headset.

Also, I think the later sold mikes had a better/longer boom. I have no trouble with keeping it in the proper location.

I have no trouble detecting when the battery is low and changing it before it dies.

 

[Tripower455]

As far as the Ufly mic goes,

If you clip the wire to your shirt, it doesn't pull out easy. Also the O-ring on the plug if worn or missing will make it loose fitting in the headset.

Also, I think the later sold mikes had a better/longer boom. I have no trouble with keeping it in the proper location.

I have no trouble detecting when the battery is low and changing it before it dies.

They might've changed them as mine was an early one. The boom would never stay bent to the proper position,. It would always straighten out a bit and make transmissions weak. The pulling out issue was from the get go, and I did/do clip the wire to my shirt. I put fatter o-rings on mine and that helped somewhat.

The battery is/was is a non issue, IMHO. They run a LONG time (5-10 hours) after the LED starts flashing, and then they "click" loudly for a while before going dead.

Another advantage to the UFM is that it uses one AAA vs. 2 AAs in the A20. The battery also seemed to last a lot longer with the QC2 vs. the A20.

They are both outstanding choices. I believe that Bose has a trial period for the A20 where you can use it for a while (30 days?) and return it if you don't like it. Not sure about the QC15/UFM. That's a no brainer if you're on the fence about the A20.

 

[densoo]

Bose 20i soft earbuds noise canceling has worked great for me. No more over-the-head weight, over-the-ear clamp. You have to figure out a mic setup which I already had separately. Adapter from radio shack puts transmissions into one ear so it doesn't interfere with talk with other pilot while still keeping NR in both ears. The soft pliable ear tips have been remarkably comfortable and of course the whole thing takes up a lot less room in personal flight bag. Will still carry signal with dead battery or if turned off, just no NR.

http://www.bose.com/controller?url=...ncelling_headphones/quietcomfort_20/index.jsp

 

[densoo]

If you sit in the right seat and your capt doesn't use a noise canx headset, then you are flying with your left ear cup off and your mic all crooked, that was a pain in the you know what!

...I just keep my left ear cup a little off the ear and in some cases, I'll pull it all the way on and make him repeat everything, "huh, can't hear you, speak up!"

You can buy a third-party in-line volume control that can control the volume to each ear separately. This does not affect the noise canceling feature. So you can turn the ATC volume down on only the left ear which should allow conversation coming from left side to be heard. When you upgrade turn right volume down and left up. More wires to deal with (arg) but worth considering.

http://www.amazon.com/Sennheiser-HZR-62-Stereo-Volume-Control/dp/B000H0K8VY

 

[ATLplt]

What did you use as a mic setup? This combo sounds like a winner. Keep the company issued 850's in the bag for gov't and line check reasons, earbuds for all the other times.

 

[Ty Webb]

David Clark makes a nice, small, lightweight on-the-ear ANR headset with bluetooth. Sells for about $650. Very comfortable, lightweight, TSO'd, and has individual volume controls to tune in or out whoever you're flying with.

Marv Golden or Sporty's.

http://www.marvgolden.com/david-clark-dc-pro-x-anr-enc-headset.html

 

[Ticker]

Holy cow. $1000? Yikes!

 

[densoo]

What did you use as a mic setup? This combo sounds like a winner. Keep the company issued 850's in the bag for gov't and line check reasons, earbuds for all the other times.

My company provides these.

https://www.google.com/search?q=tel...%3Fid%3Dprod00200982413498295_JEPP_bu;280;250

I use just the boom mic part and instead of clipping it to the provided headset I clip it to my glasses. The over-the-head part goes in a cubby hole. Meets the FAA requirement for boom mic. The only time I've found it convenient to wear glasses. Nothing on head or over the ears, which I have found to be uncomfortable, especially after several hours. And in the summer, very uncomfortable.

Here's a view of how the boom part clips on without the over-the-head piece. For me, instead of it clipping onto a rod on a molded in-ear piece as shown, it's clipped to the eyeglass template.

https://www.google.com/search?q=tel....pilotstuff.com%2Fpilot_earpiece.html;260;288

The eyeglass angle won't work for most for the boom mic, but the over-the-head part could still be used for the mic and then just use the Bose 20i for the ears.

 

[ATLplt]

Densoo, I like it. Very MacGyver of you. I'm gonna go all super geek and solder up a couple ideas I have in my head. They'll be totally frowned upon by the FAA, but maybe I'll stumble upon something that works well. Can't stand wearing the big headsets after flying such a quiet airplane for so long.

 

[JonnyKnoxville]

I use A20s on the 747 (loud cockpit). I have tried many different headsets out there and I would say without hesitation that the A20s have the best audio quality. The downsides are the cost and they take up a lot more room than some of the others when you want to pack them in a flight case.

There is no question that I would purchase them all over again if I had to choose a new headset today.