Vick wrote:What's the difference between the Zulu and the Sierra (beside the price)?

I had a chance to try both the Zula and the Sierra at Lightspeeds factory. The biggest thing to me was the the Zula was lighter with less clamping pressure then the Sierra. Sound quality and noise reduction was also noticibly better with the Zulu.

As much as I love my 25G's I am really temped to trade them up for Zulus after trying them on. Also Lightspeed mentioned to me they are no longer producing parts for the older style headsets (20-30G's). They are still supporting them, but when the spare parts are gone they are gone for good. They were nice enough to send me home with a bag full of spare ear seals, mike booms etc. for future use.

In the beaver each summer I'll routinely do 15-20 take-offs a day, the Zulu is the only headset I've tried that doesn't cut-out.

Those old school big clear Bose ANR jobs, Bose X, Bose A20, DC H10-13X, DC H10-13.4 with an aftermarket Headsets Inc ANR kit(second best IMHO), Sennheiser HEMC 461, tried 'em all, Zulu kicks ass.

P&W R985 is loud.

Then there's the battery life, 20 plus hours on 2 AA, super lightweight, bluetooth, audio input, soft mute, had them repaired for free already. So impressed, I preach the Zulu gospel to everyone I meet. You'll have to pry them from my cold dead fingers.



Sam

OK, basic question.
I've been flying airplanes with headsets provided by the company forever. It sounds like most of you have the battery powered version, can you switch from panel powered airplanes to unpowered with no problem? Would you lose only the ANR if you had an unpowered headset in an unpowered airplane? And would there be a problem if you had a powered headset plugged into a powered panel?
Thanks

John,

You want the ones with the battery pack. The ones that require ship's power have a proprietary plug, like Bose does, which provides ships power and audio/mic.

I too am a devotee of the Lightspeed headsets. I've tried almost everything else in very noisy airplanes, and the Zulu headset simply can't be beat.

MTV

And John, it will work if batteries are dead, but no ANR obviously.

Ditto on the Zulus. They rock. No literally- music via Bluetooth sounds awesome!

cool, that's what I thought.

Another vote for the ZULU. We have 2 we use in the Maule and are the cat's meow! Blue tooth is flawless.
Considering trading our spare David Clark for another one!

15-20 daily take offs in a R985 Beaver on floats??!!! Some folks have the life.....

Halestorm wrote:In the beaver each summer I'll routinely do 15-20 take-offs a day, the Zulu is the only headset I've tried that doesn't cut-out.

Those old school big clear Bose ANR jobs, Bose X, Bose A20, DC H10-13X, DC H10-13.4 with an aftermarket Headsets Inc ANR kit(second best IMHO), Sennheiser HEMC 461, tried 'em all, Zulu kicks ass.

P&W R985 is loud.

Then there's the battery life, 20 plus hours on 2 AA, super lightweight, bluetooth, audio input, soft mute, had them repaired for free already. So impressed, I preach the Zulu gospel to everyone I meet. You'll have to pry them from my cold dead fingers.



Sam

porterjet wrote:OK, basic question.
I've been flying airplanes with headsets provided by the company forever. It sounds like most of you have the battery powered version, can you switch from panel powered airplanes to unpowered with no problem? Would you lose only the ANR if you had an unpowered headset in an unpowered airplane? And would there be a problem if you had a powered headset plugged into a powered panel?
Thanks

This is something you really don't want to do with BoseX.... Bose have virtually Zero passive noise protection. In fact, they almost make things louder when the battery dies.

Another negative with Bose, is that when they don't keep up with a noisy aircraft, they cut out and then crackle... Taking off in a largish round motor, or in a turbine that has you close to the engine / prop, is miserable in this event.

Thanks for all the great responses Zulu is the hands-down winner! One is on the way via Sporty's since they at least have free 2-day shipping!

I live 1/2 mile from Lightspeed headquarters. Maybe I'll go dumpster diving tonight.

Zane wrote:I live 1/2 mile from Lightspeed headquarters. Maybe I'll go dumpster diving tonight.

Let us know how that works out for you. That is the best plan I've heard of given the price of these things.

blackrock wrote:

Zane wrote:I live 1/2 mile from Lightspeed headquarters. Maybe I'll go dumpster diving tonight.

Let us know how that works out for you. That is the best plan I've heard of given the price of these things.

I mentioned the deal to our Chief Pilot today, he asked what the regular price of a zulu was. About choked then said the 68 year old Telex headsets we have are just fine. This from a guy that oversees the budget on a G2.....

I think there is a marked difference in the performance depending on the environment they are used in. I ran across a fellow that had everything from a Stearman to a T-6 to a Husky to a TBM700. He had a number of different headsets. Said that some are better than others in different airplanes. I think its important to try out whatever you are considering in the airplane you're going to be using for maximum satisfaction. Most, you can get some type of return on, and on close to $1000, its fairly simple to have the right set at the end. Maybe even let the Little Lady try each also, as her choice might not be yours.