QT halo v Bose A20 with a Garmin G3X
 

For those of you shopping for headsets, I just wanted to give y'all a little info on my experience with the QT Halo and Bose A20.

First of all, I am an airline pilot flying the 737. About 2 years ago I bought an A20 to use in that capacity. In the 737, the A20 is absolutely amazing. I figured since it worked so well in the 737, it must work great in an RV-7. Not so much. When I would use it in my RV-7, I noticed that the Garmin warnings and alerts were not very crisp. I spoke with Garmin about it, did some troubleshooting (thinking something was either wrong with my wiring or the unit) but the results remained the same.

Eventually, after much research, I decided to get the QT Halo for use in the RV-7. I am extremely happy that I did!

First of all, the noise canceling, although it is only passive, is just as good as the A20, if not better. Plus the fact that you don't have to worry about your sunglasses breaking the ANR seal is a huge benefit.

Second, I immediately noticed that my settings for the Garmin sound levels had to be turned WAY down. I am talking about from 100% to around 30-40%! During my first flight, the warnings and cautions from the Garmin were so loud they were deafening!

Third, the warnings and cautions from the G3X are now perfectly crisp.

Last, and this would be the only negative, to me it sounded like when I transmitted, the microphone picked up too much background noise compared to the A20. However, when I asked another person listening to my transmissions, he said that he didn't notice any background noise. So, although I don't like how my transmissions sound to me, the receiver is hearing a good quality transmission.

All and all, I am extremely satisfied with the purchase and plan on buying another set for my wife to use. The A20 still has a use for me, but I will only use it at work and to lend out to my passengers!

Hope this helps.

Ditto for me, I will never buy anything else but the halo.

x3.
my Halo's earbuds got too dirty for a good seal, so I borrowed my wifes Zulu2. While they were better than filthy foam, I ordered new foam plugs as soon as I got home!
Halo's all the way for me.

In the RV, my QT Halos are quieter than my wife's Zulu 2s and my son's Bose A20s. They also stay put when pulling Gs.

I move between the RV and a couple of club planes. The QT halos aren't as durable and are a hassle to move between aircraft. The QT Halos live in the RV. The two seem to be made for each other.

I change out ear tips every couple of months. I make my own using my favorite ear plugs.

Ahh, yes, the never ending headset debate.

We have this Lightspeed 30-3G at the hangar that used to be the bee's-knees back in the day, currently used for "intro flights". A few years ago I was on the runup pad doing battle with my "delicate" Halo (completely agree with Guy) and grabbed the Lightspeed from the baggage compartment. Once on my head, uh, NO, not airworthy for me.

I was solo, so I reached over to the "pilot's side" and snatched Tanya's Clarity Aloft out of the jacks. Ahh, this is better (ear juice and all). Good flight.

We have 1500hrs in the RV. Tanya swears by the Clarity aloft and is her only headset today. I've split my time between a Halo and Clarity aloft. She has had some very frustrating wire failures that have almost pushed her over the edge with the $$$ repairs every couple of years. Even though the Halo is "delicate" in nature, once you figure out that you need to juice the POT of the volume control with some "magic elixir" (somewhere in the archives here, and really works) once per year, all is good. For the past couple of years, our spare headset in the airplane is my Clarity Aloft riding around in the baggage compartment.

I change out my stock yellow Halo ear tips about every couple of months. Happy pilot = better performance.

This weekend I had the opportunity to directly compare a Bose A20 and my QT Halo. I bought an RV-12 that included an A20 for the pilot side. I flew with it for a three hour leg on Saturday, and switched to my Halo for the 5-1/2 hours of flying Sunday.

• Comfort: The Bose pretty comfortable compared to my former DC H10-13.4S head clamps, but then most things are. I noticed no pressure points or anything. The QT is much lighter, enough so that it's easy to forget you have a headset on. The foam earplugs could be a little softer.
  Point to QT.
• Convenience: I did bang the Bose headband on the canopy more than once when I tilted my head to look out the side. That never happened with the QT, of course. And when I wanted to put on my Bob Hoover wide brim hat to block out the sunlight on Saturday - well, too bad. Fortunately the sunlight only lasted a few minutes. I like having the option of wearing whatever hat I want. On the other hand, the Bose is quicker and easier to put on and pull off, and a little easier to toss somewhere convenient when climbing out of the plane.
  Dead heat.
• Audio quality: The Bose ANR really works well. Turning it on was just like magic. LED on, noise off. I'd say it's maybe a dB or so better than the Halos. On the other hand, I liked the audio and mic on the Halos just a little better. Intercom and radio was just a little clearer to me.
  Dead heat.
• Size and Weight: The Halos weight a couple of ounces and zip up into a very small zipper case that weighs almost nothing. The A20 folds up and zips into a nice padded case, weighs as much as bunch of Halos and takes up a lot more space.
  Point to QT.
• Ruggedness: The Bose headset seems quite well made and pretty rugged. The Halos are probably easier to bend up if you're not careful, although it has not been a problem so far. If you leave them in the plane, there's probably no difference. If you tend to drop things, you'll break the Bose for sure and not the Halos.
  Half a point to Bose (depending on your use & care).

I think the Halos do about 95% of what the Bose does, at a little over 1/3 the cost of the non Bluetooth-equipped Bose. I'll probably put a LEMO plug on the passenger side and keep the A20 headset for passengers other than my wife, who has her own Halos.

What I would love to see is something like the Halo or Clarity Aloft headset without the loose bits flopping around. That would be a killer combination. I predict that in ten years (because we're sometimes slow to adopt new things) we'll almost all be using in-ear headsets with Bluetooth or a similar wireless technology, with an inexpensive retrofit/plug-in transceiver for older dual GA plugs.

Experimented with the Lightspeed Zulu, Bose A20, and the Clarity Aloft in our -6. CA wins out in every aspect hands down. Plus it doesn't mess up what little hair I have left!

If you're having a real issue with background noise pickup, double check to be sure the correct side of the mic is pointed at your lips. Might sound like too simplistic an issue, but with the Halo's, it's not hard to get the mic reversed.

Charlie

I bought two pair Halos, one for me, one for the wife. We love um! I wouldn't care if they were not as quite, the comfort makes up for all that! I have a set of ANR headclamps that don't ever get used anymore.:o