Lightspeed Sierra headsets

Anybody heard what makes these headsets better/diffeerent than the ZULU headsets?

Dean
805HL

I looked into them, and it looks like they're replacing the midrange Lightspeed model. They are not quite as nice as the Zulu's, and will sell for $650 IIRC

Lighter Sierra is the Lesser Model Vs. the Zulu

As near as I can tell, compared to the Lightspeed Zulu, the Lightspeed Sierra:

has Less Headroom (thicker on top of your head)

has More High Frequency Noise (no magnesium cup)

Weighs More (16 vs. 13 ounces)

has No Hardwire Cellphone Connection

has No "Front Row Center" Surround Sound



has No Mono Mode

Sierra is the "Value" ANR headset from Lightspeed.

Now that the Lightspeed Sierra has been out for over 6 months, has anyone flown with them or know anyone who has? All the reviews I have read sound pretty promising and I'm torn between trading in my David Clarks for a 200 dollar credit towards a new pair of Zulus (bringing the price down to $650 which is what the Sierras cost).... OR selling the DC's on eBay and using the money towards a new pair of Sierras bringing the price to around $450 which is not bad at all for the features and decent ANR capabilities.

Gotta find a way to spend my tax refund money and stimulate the economy

P.S. My refund and bank account will not allow the purchase of the Bose A20's.... I still have an RV-7 build to pay for!

I have a Sierra set, which is the second headset I've owned. Overall, I think they're great; the ANR is fantastic and they're comfortable on my fat head. But I don't exactly have a wealth of experience to compare them to.

One thing I can say for sure is that Lightspeed's customer service is excellent. My first set was a 15xlc I bought used off eBay. After about six months of usage, one of the cradles failed. I took the set apart and determined I could do the fix myself with the replacement part, so I gave Lightspeed a call. First nice thing- a person answered the phone. No automated system, press one to speak to a rep, etc. I explained what had happened, and the rep proceeded to ship me a pair of new cradles for free. Didn't ask how old the set was, whether I'd bought it new, anything like that. Just boom, free parts.

It was an easy decision to stay with them when I was read to upgrade.

RVs are very noisy airplanes. The Zulus work wonderful to tame the noise. The Sierra looks to be basically a cheaper version of the Zulu design and ought to work quite well in an RV, but if you could swing the extra $$ for the Zulu, I'd definitely advocate spending a little more for them. Lightspeed service has been very good for me. A couple weeks ago, I accidentally sat on one of my Zulus and broke the little metal ratchet slide rails that hold the earcup to the frame, and while such a user-caused breakage shouldn't be covered by warranty, Lightspeed covered it anyway, costing me only the shipping to send the headset to them for repair. Got them back in under one week too.

Call Lightspeed. They have a 1-800 number and very good Tech Support people who can give you the real run-down on the differences. I'm considering trading in my 25XL's and spoke with them last week. The very nice lady I spoke with explained the differences and more or less convinced me to go with the Zulu's.

One think current Lightspeed owners should be aware of is that they are running out of replacement parts for the XL series. Once that happens, no matter how good Lightspeed's customer service is, a dead headset becomes a doorstop.

Two places to not go cheap on the interior:

Seat cushions

Headsets