Telex 50D

[newpilot]

Hi Folks,

First post on these message boards, although I've been enjoying reading them for a couple years now! Hopefully one day I'll have enough experience to contribute something worthwhile, but until then a quick question will have to do...

I was reading in another thread regarding headsets suggesting the Telex 50D. I'm in the market for a headset and would like to purchase one of these.

I haven't really purchased anything aviation related online, and so I'm not really sure where to go... A quick message board search showed recommendations for VIP Pilot and Calgary Supply, but neither of these carry the Telex 50D.

Suggestions?

Thanks!

-newpilot

[Bush League]

Old and busted: Telex 50D New Hotness: Lightspeed Zulu

Why in 2009, would anyone want to lug around 50lb earmuffs with 40ft of chord anchored by a half-ton 4xAA battery crate, is beyond me. If you're new or obsessed with passive noise cancellation or cant remember a spare set of AA's, just get DC's. They can always be upgraded with ANR for cheap in the future if you wish.

BL

[Carrier]

After several years with two LightSpeed headsets I decided to make a change. They are not robust enough for daily use by professional pilots. The same would seem to apply to both the Zulu and the Bose X. Good after sales support is nice but I prefer a headset with long term reliability that does not have to be sent back to the makers, particularly when they are in another country. DC seems to make some sturdy non-ANC headsets but its ANC headsets seem to lag behind in performance.

After checking no end of threads on various forums and numerous printed reviews and talking to users I came to the conclusion that the best value for money in performance, comfort and long term reliability is the Telex Stratus 50 Digital http://www.telex.com/aircraft/Product.a ... oductID=10 Apart from its outstanding acoustic performance, out of the box it runs on either batteries or aircraft power, has adjustable clamping force, and has plug-ins for cell phones and iPods. I obtained one several months ago and am satisfied with it.

You could obtain quotes from the dealers listed on the manufacturers’ websites. Alternatively you could obtain prices from various pilot shops.
I suggest Sporty’s Pilot Shop and Marv Golden Pilot Supplies in the USA, Harry Mendelssohn Pilot Supplies in the UK, Comet Aviation Supplies in South Africa and Aviall, particularly in Canada. Ask them also for the price of postage/shipping and insurance to where you want it sent and remember to include for any duties and sales taxes where you are. It is usually cheaper and less trouble to have a headset sent by registered or insured mail through the post office rather than using a courier service.

[kevinsky18]

Carrier,

You mention the Telex 50 Digital can be powered by aircraft power. I didn't see a panel powerd option the manufactures website or on Sportys Pilot shop. If I can get a Panel Powered set I might be interested. Can you provide a link to any further reference to that options.

[Strega]

From my experience, anything except DC for ga "type" flying is a waste of money... I have a DC10.13X that has been flawless for nearly 10 years and about 4k hours

[Banjo]

I also have a 10.13X and would not trade it for anything, I should probably invest in some of those gel seal cloth covers this summer as my melon gets clammy and the seals stick to my noodle a bit, but for stand up reliability DC is #1.

Customer Service as DC is second to none, I destroyed my original 10.13x in a bit of a pickle one day, and with one phone call to their Customer Support center and the remnants of my headset in the mail I had a new one in the airplane within 2.5 weeks at no additional cost to me. I can't say enough about how impressed I am with their product and support.

[200hr Wonder]

As for places to purchase a 50D which was the question, did anyone bother to read that? VIP, Calgary Pilot Supply and Aviation World are all reliable and trust worthy dealers. I ended up making my purchase at Sporty's out of the US as they where offering a nice rebate at the time. http://www.sportys.com/pilotshop/ just be sure to check out the exchange to make sure you don't get burnt by exchange.

[Hedley]

All our telex stratus 50D are powered by aircraft power - it's
a cinch. They have a power cable, which when plugged into
the battery pack, disables the battery power, so that you can
leave it "on" all the time, and when you flip the master on,
the headset starts working.

50D is probably overkill for a lot of people. You can kill a fly
with a 12 gauge if you want to, but ... not everyone needs
ANR. I personally like the DC 10-13 for quieter aircraft, esp
shorter trips. No hassle of battery pack/power for the ANR.

[Sneeker]

Telex 50's seem to be a nice product but why on earth would your want something that size on you head is beyond me. The bose don't have the passive noise canceling that I want. I have a pair of DC's but I'm starting to really want to get into some ANR. The Zulu's seem to have a pretty good set up. I don't really understand what people are doing to headsets to get structural failures on these things. My DC's are 10 years old and they don't have a scratch on them. Sure they would probably still run if there was more then a scratch on them, but why not just take care of an expensive piece of valuable personal equipment like that. If I'm paying $1000 for a head set I'm going to take really good care of it no matter how much punishment it can take.

One option I've also been looking at is this: http://www.headsetsinc.com/

I just put a request in for a couple units for me and a co-worker, but it seems to have excellent ANR and to be able to put it into my dc's is great. $300 cad isn't that bad either. Any one have experience with this company? I'm pretty sure its just 1 guy running it and he seems pretty friendly.

[Bush League]

With over 1000 problem-free northern-commercial hrs on my Zulus, I too wonder what people are doing to break nice headsets. Many of my co-workers have the Bose and the 50D as well. The build quality of the expensive ANR headsets are not poor by any means. Just don't be overly rough with any equipment that you need to work consistently. Would it be nice for a headset to still work after being stepped on and set on fire? sure. But I would much rather just take care of my stuff and have a headset I don't feel on my head even after 14 hrs. But yeah, for training or GA, DC13.4s were great. But a lot is personal preference. Try on as many sets as you can and just get what you like best.

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[Flybabe]

Well, after 4500+ hours on my DC's, they're perfectly functional as well. I wore them all last year, still, in a noisy environment.

I'd just like to give my ears a break before I get to saying "huh??" too much.

We'll see when I try out some of the available products..

[Carrier]

Kevinsky 18,

There is a “Product Specs” link for the Stratus 50D on the Telex website. Towards the bottom of the list of specs you will find a heading “Choose Your Power Source”, see here: http://www.telex.com/aircraft/Product.a ... oductID=10 I obtained my 50D last October and it came with the adaptor as described on the Telex website and by Hedley in his post above. I carry the adaptor in the case but have not been able to use it as all of the planes I have flown since then have not had a power outlet. I put my third set of batteries in a week ago so have no complaint about battery life.

[Sneeker]

Well, after 4500+ hours on my DC's, they're perfectly functional as well. I wore them all last year, still, in a noisy environment.

I'd just like to give my ears a break before I get to saying "huh??" too much.

We'll see when I try out some of the available products..

Yep, I guess thats what you get when you get a pair of DC's. Reliability. When In a noisy ac with my DC's I always make sure I have my ear-plugs along with me, and pump up the volume on my com's. I'm in the same boat though I really want a head set with ANR. I just don't want the shier size of that ungainly telex 50d. They have the technology to make the unit smaller, so why haven't they???

[kevinsky18]

Thanks Carrier. I like that the adapter is included and it makes the headset much more versitile. I have a zulu headset panel powered that I use in my plane but then I need to drag around a second headset for when I fly in other planes that don't have panel power. I wish Zulu they had the adapter option instead of one or the other.

They don't seem to have a picture of the adapter though. Do you know if they used the same standard as Bose and Zulu?

[C172-B744]

I picked up the 50D from aviationworld in Vancouver a few months ago, on there website it is listed at 799 however I was only charged 699, score! Calgary pilot supply don't regularily stock it but can bring it in however there price was 899. I had asked Threshold aviation if they carried it as well and they said they could bring it in too but never got back to me. There were a few available on Ebay however after the exchange rate and shipping t just made sense to order from within Canada.

I have about 300 hours using Bose X and 50 hours using the Stratus 50D, the Telex is definetly quieter but like someone else mentioned may be a little overkill depending on what you fly. I prefer the Telex on the noisy 172's i regularily fly, they are heavier and bulkier but I don't really notice this even after a 4 + hour day.

I have large ears that didn't quite fit under the bose ear seals properly which may be skewing my comparision though. Try them all out before buying if you can, good luck.

edit: batteries, I seem to get almost double the battery life that Telex claims and that's whith rechargeables, the battery box is a little bulkier than the Bose but this is a non issue for me.

[El Comat]

If anyone gets approached to buy a cheap Telex 50D, let me know cuz it's probably mine you're buying! I had my car broken into last year in the YYZ terminal 2 parkade and the losers took everything! I used to keep the head set hidden under the seat in case I needed it for my part time PC-12 gig, but they still found it.

On a lighter note, the 50D was a great headset for the King Air, slightly overkill for the PC-12 (made it feel more like an RJ), and waaaayyyy overkill for the dash 8. I'd highly recommend it. I used to plug my cell phone into it and call my wife when I was about 20 miles out of YQT to tell her to come get me, that was a great feature . That and the iPod input was handy when flying to YER (or any leg over an hour).

EC

[newpilot]

Whoa, thanks for all the comments - I wasn't expecting this much response

After a quick review of the suggestions/opinions it seems that the Telex 50D might be overkill for me... I'm currently using a DC H10-13.4 and think that it's great - it's just that I would like to start using a ANR headset instead. That said, I don't really want to give up the passive noise reduction. I'd prefer not to go with the Bose because of the lack of passive reduction.

Have to go out for now, but will check back in to this thread later tonight or tomorrow.

Thanks again so far!

[xsbank]

One thing that nobody mentioned was that a lot of hearing damage is caused by vibrations in your skull from very loud noises. Flybabe, if you are wearing a helmet now that might still be the best solution as helmets damp the skull vibration the most. You could have the ANC kit that DC puts out retrofitted to your helmet.

I do not know if ANC inside the ear cups will damp the skull vibrations but it can't hurt(?).

If you are having to stuff earplugs in under your headset and turn up the comms, you will end up as deaf as I am - can't hear crickets or a 'high hat' anymore and its pointless to go with a crowd to a bar as I can only hear the next person to me.

I sat behind a few radials and between a particularly loud pair in a Tracker. Fly an Islander? I used DCs, a helmet, a 1st generation Bose ANC that ran off surplus ELT batteries and spat them out like gum(!) and now I am in a very quiet a/c where the headsets only have to have good fidelity so I can hear the controllers.

If you are a shooter and you don't wear hearing protection for EVERY SHOT, you are f*cked. Or play Inna-da-godda-davida on your Ipod headphones after 3 beers you are also f*cked.

All you guys who fly quiet a/c, get an expensive set of ear protectors and USE THEM for your walk-arounds - you have no control over whether a Screaming Weinie arrives or someone fires up and APU. You might think you are golden now, but wait until you can't hear the first dickie birds that arrive in the spring... or that bear tippy-toeing up behind you.

Anyway, the purpose of this diatribe is that if you wish to fly for your whole career, you must religiously protect your hearing. Trust me, "overkill" is the wrong attitude.

Headsets die because you do 10+ legs a day and they are on and off yer noggin, hung on the column or the throttles, maybe your passenger gets his foot stuck in the cord, or you do and leap out to dock the aircraft, or you knock them off the column when you're polishing the window, you reach down for that Jep binder and you yank the cord. For you guys who have pristine headsets after 10 years of 'work,' bite me.

[AUGER9]

Would or has anyone tried an ANR upgrade in their pair of DCs?

[beaverbob]

I converted a DC passive to ANR and was disappointed enough to toss it out the window over the straights somewhere.
You can have them if you can find them. It was in the early nineties though.
Bob

[beaverbob]

What Xbank said about the skull transmitting noise to your ears is correct. I found that out on my first medical in 1968 when my Dr tested my forehead with tuning forks to find out if I could hear the vibrations. I know that simply wearing an ordinary hat makes my ears quieter. I have told a number of people that wearing a hat protects the ears and they think I'm nuts. Which I could very well be.
Bob

[ZBBYLW]

Off topic a bit, but what does everyone think of the in-ear headsets? Are they worth it? I know someone who has one and flies a BE76 around all day and swears by it.

[beaverbob]

In ear head sets are fine if the aircraft is of the quieter kind.
BB

[DBR]

I use the 50D on the Metro (SA227... the quieter one ), and it works outstanding. The 50D without ANR is better then my DC with ear plugs. Yes, it's a bit of a tool to handle and the cable is quite long, but fatigue is greatly reduced with the noise reduction of this headset.

After market service is good too. One of my ear seals had a hole in it after about 5 months of rough handling, got it fixed in Minneapolis, and had it returned in good shape within 3 weeks and has worked great since.

I bought the Telex via Ebay, cheappilotsupplies.com for $665 US.

Rgds//DBR

[Flybabe]

In regards to the helmet theory - my helmet was fitted with the ANR upgrade very shortly after I got it. IF my aircraft had A/c I would consider wearing it... however, it doesn't. I have to protect myself from heat as it is, if I had to wear that helmet in an airplane that's cooking in 117 F temps in CA, it would kill me.

Great info on the vibrations though. Thanks!