Products: Can You Hear Me Now?

Faro Aviation Air

The Faro Aviation Air in-ear headset is worn on the back of the head and is secured by loops over the ears. Wires connected to earplugs supply the hearing protection. The Air can be worn with or without a hat, and the loops won’t interfere with the stems of eye glasses, or vice versa.

When using in-ear headsets, it’s important that the foam earplugs fit your ear canal snugly. Faro includes three sets of standard-size and three sets of large-size plugs, color-coded green and blue. Don’t assume that one size will work until you know for sure. A longtime user of in-ear headsets advises that you always carry extra ear plugs in your flight bag, because if you lose one, the set can’t be worn.

During a test flight, transmission through the microphone was clear. The noise reduction, said to be up to 50 decibels, was adequate. The unit has a music/auxiliary input, so you can listen to music on a portable device.

The most startling aspect of an in-ear headset is its weight: The Air weighs just one ounce. It’s disconcerting the first time you fly with the Air because you cannot believe that you are not wearing something clamped around your skull. But you get used to it quickly and on a long flight, you’ll notice the benefits. The featherweight means the headset can be easily stowed and carried, as well. —Jill W. Tallman

Price: $389.99
Contact: www.faroaviation.com

Lightspeed Zulu 3

Lightspeed’s new Zulu 3 is extremely comfortable and quiet. It uses the same light, tough, durable frame as its Zulu 2 and offers exceptional active noise reduction (ANR), and it manages to do this with a small battery box that uses two double-As. The Zulu 3 microphone’s transmissions are crystal-clear, and the gain can be adjusted to avoid squeaks and squeals.

The Zulu 3 has rugged Kevlar cords that the company says are both lighter and more durable than standard cords. Lightspeed backs the Zulu 3 with a seven-year warranty (that’s two years longer than its others).

Bluetooth is available at the touch of a button on the battery pack, and pairing is standard. It also comes with an iPhone plug-in, although Apple is making that particular wire obsolete with its iPhone 7 (which doesn’t contain a jack). —Dave Hirschman

Price: $850
Contact: www.lightspeedaviation.com

Faro Aviation G3 ANR

The new, lightweight Faro model works well. Acoustic quality is good and the additional noise reduction provided by the ANR circuitry is noticeable in both a Piper Arrow and a Robinson R22. The microphone is appropriately but not excessively sensitive, leading to fewer “Say agains” than most pilots are used to. Coming home on a cross-country, I went off frequency to switch from the Faro back to my beloved David Clark, and I admit it sounded unnaturally loud for at least the first five minutes.

Faro touts the light weight of its carbon-fiber frame and ear cups, citing a gross weight of just nine ounces. I didn’t notice the difference—maybe I didn’t fly long enough, or maybe I just have a bull neck—and I didn’t run it long enough to be able to estimate battery life (two double-As). —David Jack Kenny

Price: $689.99
Contact: www.faroaviation.com