Has anyone out there tried this option?

Bose QC15 "consumer" headphones with UFlyMike microphone attachment.

I have a friend with this setup, he flies go-fast kerosene burners for a living. He uses this instead of his Bose A20 because it's lighter and just as effective...

$525 for this setup versus $1000+ for the new A20

One of my FOs this month uses this set up. He really likes it a lot. I was planning on getting the details from him. Another advantage over the A20 is that you can still use the headset if you are flying as passenger and don't want the mic attached.

Thanks for the link!

I have both, the noise reduction is better on the 'real' headset but not much. Works great!

How does the mic attach to the headphones?

The headset has a removable plug for the cord, it goes there.

The downside, as I understand it, is if the batteries fail on the QC15, it goes dead, whereas the normal Bose headsets (A20 an predecessors) continue to work as passive headsets.

Cary

I've used this for years. I take them with me for commuting to work, 4-5 hours each way. Then my wife uses it for flying. The mic is very well made and has a jack on it for plugging in your iPod, phone, etc.

As for battery life, I've never tracked it, but one triple A last me long enough that I can't remember when I changed it last. If I had to guess, 30+ hours. Battery life is not an issue. Easy to carry a spare and takes about 10 seconds to swap...if that. I'd buy this set up any day over paying for a single purpose headset that cost 2x more.

Oh yeah, and when the battery starts to die, it cuts in and out, giving you a bit of a warning. It doesn't just go dead. When the battery starts to get low and if the ear cup gets bumped, it will also cut out briefly. As a result, I know we'll in advance when the battery is getting low and that I'll need to replace it in the next half hour or so.

Does this come with plugs for my panel, or just the 3.5mm plug and I have to buy an adapter for the panel?

The UFlyMike has several options. Go to their website to see.

One of the options is the standard two jack aviation setup.