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Jim, I agree. Between Dave Ramsey show and my more disciplined wife, we're doing just fine, thank God. Left to my own devices I'd probably be in a situation myself. Once I saw a thoracic surgeon (think 1M/year) crying in the call room. I thought he had lost a patient. No, he was literally crying over his debt, much of it self imposed, no doubt. It's that lifestyle thing again.
Sorry, hijacked again.
Geoff

I read articles LIKE THIS [cnbc.com] and shook my head. $42K a year for child care for two kids. Three vacations a year.

Thx again for the good info received on headphones.

Sold a lawn mower to a doc friend of mine, he said "don't put it in the bank till Friday" -250 dollar check. Got my attention.

If you own and airplane good money discipline is almost necessary.

Bruce

Zulu 3’s, here. My wife and I ordered his’n’hers as Christmas gifts. I also had a Zulu 2 that I was going to give to my daughter after I replaced the ear seals and mic muff. But when I called Lightspeed the rep told me that I could get the Zulu 2 refurbished to Zulu 3 specs (and 2 additional years of warranty) for not much more.

So that’s what I did. At first glance all three headsets look identical. It’s only when I look closely that I can tell them apart.

I had a Bose X headset before. Great sound quality, but I did not like the smaller ear cups that sat on-the-ear rather than over-the-ear. My wife like it, though, and used it while I used a Zulu 2. I ended up selling the Bose X on eBay to help buy the pair of Zulu 3s. For the record she likes the comfort of the Zulu 3 better.

However, as mentioned before, all of these headsets are good; personal comfort is the primary determinant of one over another. I believe all the manufacturers let you try their headset for a month and send it back if you don’t like it.

My advice would be (if you have room on the credit card) to purchase a couple of headsets, then have a personal “fly-off”. It’s one thing to try out a headset for a minute at a trade show, quite another to fly around for awhile.

It reminds me of buying a mattress. You can bounce around on a couple of mattresses at the store, but to really know you have to lie down on one for at least a few minutes, even curl up a bit. Consumer Reports noted that people that spent at least 10-15 minutes laying down on a mattress in the store were more happy with their purchase a month later than people who didn’t. You feel silly doing so in a store, but it worked for us.

I believe headset comfort is similar - It’s only a few minutes of use does one really notice the weight, clamping pressure, ear seal comfort, and the like. None of these headsets are ‘bad’ - all will feel good enough. But, if you’re going to spend $500+, it makes sense to get on that feels ‘right’.

I took the cheap route and purchased a ANR DIY kit for my David Clark H10-13.4 headset.

The kit cost $99 and I like to tinker, thus I thought I'd give it a go.

Our company had a set of panel mounted Bose ANR headsets and my plan was to compare sound quality between my $99 DIY ANR headset and the $1K Bose ANR headset.

When I finished the install I compared the DC 10-13.4 with the DIY ANR kit to the Bose headset, and found they were equally good, and I could not detect any difference between the two when the ANR was activated. I actually prefer the DC fit better.

I've been flying with them over the past 6 years and have had no problems yet.

All that said, the DC DIY ANR is more cumbersome with the added cord and control box, but in the words of Si Roberson "Hey" for $99 it cant be beat!

I did the same thing, Shawn. I like them. The only problem is, when the battery goes dead, the sound quality is very poor. It caused me to misunderstand a departure clearance, which gave me the opportunity to talk to the FAA about the deviation. I'm still using them, but changing batteries sooner.

I concur Wayne, when the battery voltage gets low I also get a high pitch sound through the headset.

I keep fresh spare 9v batteries in my flight bag as a backup.

Understand, Geoff, and I probably could have found a better way to communicate my point. Doc has a very successful practice, and is a responsible, professional individual, rather than the type that's reckless with his money. In a way he kind of reinforces the stereotype, but not in the reckless way that some of his colleagues do (big house, red or yellow Corvette - seriously, there are several of them around town).

Anyway, I did want to add, if there is one thing I'd change about my Zulu 1, it would be to add the option to switch the microphone to the right side. I've had a stiffness in my neck the last 2 days from flying Tuesday evening, caused mainly by the way I have to contort my neck when look back at the end of the runway before turning base. The mic boom hits my shoulder harness, and I have to look up and around it then back down to sit it on top of the harness. This is even after bending the boom up, then down so the microphone is right in front of my mouth.

I know the Bose A20 has this option, but does the Zulu 3 offer this as well? I've searched online and even the Zulu 3 manual but did not find any info that says it's possible.

I have 3 DC H10-13s headsets with ear gels. 1 set is brand new (spare). Only 2 seats but hey, never hurts to keep a spare set! As my father used to say, “better to have it and not need it than need it and not have it”

I did the same as Shawn. But I bought the auto shut off "battery box" version. Works great.