Average Reviews:
(More customer reviews)I owned a Bose X headset for about half a year. When I began flying regularly with other people, I picked up a Lightspeed Zulu headset. I found that the only advantage the Bose has over the Lightspeed is that the clamping force is MARGINALLY lower with the Bose. This has not created a problem for me or my passengers, at all.
I have now sold my Bose X, and picked up another Lightspeed for my passengers to use. It is by far the superior headset, for MANY reasons. Let's review!
- NOISE ATTENUATION: Bose X is just not as good as Lightspeed Zulu at this. If you are flying behind a high-revving engine such as a Rotax 912ULS, you will find that the Zulu is just as good at 5500 as it is at 2000 - which is to say, quite good, and better than Bose. This is quite a big deal by itself, and more than enough to get my attention and my future business, but Lightspeed didn't stop there.
- MUSIC: For $850 (formerly $1000), you would assume that Bose could afford to spend ten bucks (or less) integrating a simple 1/8" jack into the control box so that you could pipe in some music. For some strange reason, Bose elected not to do this. Not only has Lightspeed given you a 1/8" jack for music, but they have also put a really nice DSP into the control box that lets you turn a sort of surround sound mode called Front Row Center on and off. It also has a mode where it will cut out the music if someone calls you up on the radio, although I have not been able to get that to work particularly well, so I leave that feature turned off. The sound quality is very good for an aviation headset. If your airplane is already wired for music, or you don't mind wearing earbuds (which I tried with the Bose and found painful, as the Bose pressed them into my ear canal), this may not be a big deal to you. If you are a student pilot and have enough to worry about without music, this may not be a big deal to you RIGHT NOW, but once you've got a hundred or two hundred hours and you have enough free attention to enjoy some tunes, it WILL matter to you. The 1/8" jack supports normal stereo input as well as two-way cell phone plugs.
- BLUETOOTH: You may not care about this, but isn't it telling that Lightspeed - for $850, at a time when Bose X still cost fully $1,000 - was able to integrate a Bluetooth transciever? This is useful for picking up an IFR clearance on the ground, closing a flight plan, letting your SO know you're taking off or on the ground without having to shut down the airplane first, etc.
- SERVICE: You'll be paying well north of a hundred dollars to get your Bose X fixed out-of-warranty. Lightspeed routinely goodwills repairs outside of the warranty period. I have sent two different headsets (an OEM verison of their XC, as well as my older Zulus) in for service. The XCs were YEARS out of warranty, and I had lost my receipt for the Zulus. Both were repaired, FREE OF CHARGE, and shipped back to me. The only thing I had to pay for on either of these was the shipping costs to get the headsets to them - Lightspeed covered the shipping back to me. Now, which is better - paying $150 + shipping, or paying $0 + shipping? I'll let you do the math on that one.
Bose just does not have it together on the X. It doesn't do as good a job at attenuating noise as the Lightspeed Zulu. It doesn't have an audio in port, which is ridiculous on a headset of this price range. It doesn't have Bluetooth, which you may or may not care about, but which is nice to have. And - the final nail in the coffin - the service is nowhere as good.
Lightspeed, you have done a fantastic job on this headset, and because of it, you have earned a repeat customer. Keep up the good work!
Click Here to see more reviews about: Lightspeed ZULU Premium ANR Aviation Headset (Battery Power, Straight cord, Standard Dual GA Plugs)
A distinctive look and unparalleled comfort makes Zulu the ultimate blend of technology and high performance.Plush ear seals combined with magnesium ear cups and supported by a stainless steel headband deliver durability at 13 ounces. Use Zulu's innovative Bluetooth connectivity to facilitate communications and get on your way to enhancing the freedom of flying.Lightspeed engineers researched how pilots perceive noise at various frequencies in the cockpit, and then developed technology providing focused noise attenuation over the most critical ranges. The achievement is a headset with the ultimate performance profile and industry-leading total noise cancellation attributes.Zulu is setting the standard for all ANR headsets.
