The next generation Bose
It's almost a given that a revolutionary product will spawn imitators. And there's the strong possibility that one company's giant step will in short order become a stationary target, ripe for the picking off. So when Bose introduced the active noise-canceling aircraft headset in 1989, it was to no one's surprise that a host of challengers followed.
But even after skirmishes on just about every front, the Bose remained unvanquished, arguably the most comfortable and effective active headset on the market. Sure, many competitors settled for performance nearly as good at, sometimes, a fraction of the Bose's price, but none took direct aim at Bose. What's perhaps most amazing about this history is that Bose committed only evolutionary changes to the headset and budged not at all on the price, hovering near the $1,000 mark for the life of the headset. To remain a leader in the face of newer, less costly competition, either a product must be a very good device or there must be tremendous corporate chutzpah.
Just how long Bose was willing to leave well enough alone has now been answered with the Series II. Almost any complaint leveled at the older model has been addressed in the new one, save for price. Still about a grand, the new Bose appears from arm's length just a mildly tweaked version of the original. But further investigation reveals myriad changes that, in sum, reset the high score counter in active headsets.
At the heart of matters, the Bose electronic brain has been simplified and shrunk, now taking up about one-third of the room inside the ear cup, as before. That cup has been treated with what appears to be a spray-on form of electrical shielding — which effectively eliminates one of the greatest complaints of the previous model, namely susceptibility to radio-frequency interference. Pilots of airplanes whose comm antennas are right above the cabin suffer the worst, but the Series II seems quite RFI resistant.
Bose has also changed the interface hardware. Before, you had to deal with a matchbox-sized module that housed the volume and power switches and filtered the power supply. Now the electronics are in the headset, greatly simplifying the external connections. For hard wiring into the airplane, you need only connect power, microphone, and headphone wires to a small (one-half inch around) connector that can be hidden just about anywhere. In addition, the battery-supply options have been improved, with a sleek connecting harness and a choice of alkaline or ni-cad packs.
In eliminating the external box, Bose had to find room for the volume and power controls, which now reside on the headband. The power is on the back side, above the left ear cup. Twin volume controls — all Series IIs are compatible with stereo intercoms and feature an automatic sensing circuit — are at the front. The volume knobs tend to get bumped often while the headset is removed or replaced, requiring occasional twiddling of the controls.
Bose also reworked the headpad and ear cup mounting scheme to great success. A sheepskin pad spreads the set's weight evenly over your pate, while the simplified — if somewhat bulkier — stirrups keep the headset from becoming a finger-pinching monstrosity in the hands of the pre-initiate. Overall, the physical redesign of the headset is a keen accomplishment.
What hasn't changed is the basic shape of the ear cups and the sensual silicone-and- foam ear seals. These seals provide generous surface area and an almost eel-like experience for the side of the head. They are, thankfully, adept at spreading the modest clamping pressure of the headset and slithering around all manner of eyeglass temples. The new sheepskin head pad is more effective than the thick foam of the previous generation and provides a bonus of improved form; the early Bose would sometimes be a real squeeze in headroom-deprived cockpits. The Series II, which frankly looks a bit bulkier, actually fits closer to the head and offers a smidgen more noggin room.
Electronically, the Series II is an incremental improvement, but it could be argued that the old one was hardly a slacker at reducing low-frequency noise. Even so, the new one is somewhat quieter — verified in back-to-back sampling — and better at resisting the popping created by large changes in cabin pressure, such as when you're taxiing around with a window or door partly open.
A new microphone has arrived with the Series II, and it's a winner. Its sound is clear and crisp, and the either-side mounting scheme provides both a secure foundation and decent flexibility.
Power can come from the aircraft itself or from either of two new battery packs. The basic permanent-mount Bose Series II costs $995; the alkaline-pack model runs $1,075 and the nicad version is $150 more. Bose claims a total run time of approximately 40 hours on the alkaline pack — six AAs do the trick — or 12 to 16 hours on the nicads. We matched the lower figure for the nicad pack in a moderately loud single-engine airplane and are still waiting for the alkalines to give up after about 25 hours.
It used to be that you could get three-quarters of the Bose's effectiveness and comfort at one-third to half the price. But now that Bose has raised the bar without substantially changing the price, those comparisons need some reexamination. In any event, Bose with the Series II has firmly kept its place at the top of the active-headset heap.
For more information, contact Bose Corporation, The Mountain, Framingham, Massachusetts 01701; telephone 800/242-9008 or 508/879-7330. — Marc E. Cook
Sympols checklists
Some pilots construct their own checklists because those supplied with the airplane appear to have been written by lawyers who never saw the inside of a cockpit. Still others may just have an off-kilter way of thinking and prefer to complete checklist items in a different order. And then there are the Sympols checklists, an impressive departure from the usual fare.
Company principal Craig Hellmers submitted an extensive study of checklists and their functionality as his senior thesis at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Prescott, Arizona. The Sympols checklists are, in part, the result of that thesis.
So, what makes the Sympols lists so different? First off, Hellmers undertook a painstaking study of type styles and sizes, as well as other graphical considerations. He cast off the type styles and layouts that prevented test subjects from identifying items quickly and accurately. In addition, Hellmers has given the spiral-bound, laminated checklists small computer-scanned photographs next to each item to help to stir the thought process and give a look-and-match picture for the completion of each task.
We sampled the Sympols checklist for the Piper Arrow and found it complete and innovative. Even for someone who had been out of the cockpit of this retractable for some months, the Sympols product made it easy to find checklist items in the cockpit and reduced some of the inevitable fumbling inherent in a reintroduction to an airplane.
In addition to the usual items, the Sympols lists include good emergency procedures prominently colored and logically arranged. There's also a section in the front of the list to place V speeds for your particular model aircraft. Though hardly shirt-pocket sized — the lists are 10.8 inches tall 2 5.8 inches wide — the Sympols product is an out-of-the- ordinary and useful way to stay organized in the cockpit.
Customized checklists are available for the Cessna 150, 152, and 172, and most of the Piper PA-28 series. Cost is $14.95. To order, contact Edmo distributors at 800/235- 3300. — MEC
Sporty's night flying video
Sporty's Pilot Shop used some innovative techniques in creating the latest in the Air Facts series of videos, Night Flying. Some technical highlights include infrared views of night GA operations and views of what you might see when breaking out of a scuzzy, low ceiling at night. Presented by Richard Collins, the video discusses the pleasures and the dangers of night flying, while giving tips to avoid the dangers. Night Flying is available for $19.95 by calling 800/SPORTYS. — Peter A. Bedell
Briefly Noted
The Mustang Club is offering several new custom prints, including the Korean Series, the Vietnam Series, and the Flightline Series. The airplanes can be fully customized right down to the nose art. The 12 2 20-inch full-color prints are priced at $69.95 plus $4 shipping and handling. For more information, contact the Mustang Club, Post Office Box 951869, Lake Marcy, Florida 32795; telephone 800/940-9906. — Stephen Pope
Birds like hangars; probably for the same reasons that pilots like to keep their aircraft inside them. But as anyone who has ever parked beneath a rafter knows, our avian friends can be pretty inconsiderate of the shiny new paint job below. Bird-X's Spikes Needle Strips can keep unwanted birds from these areas or anywhere they cause a problem. These all-plastic barrier spikes protrude upward and outward at varying angles, offering dense coverage that birds avoid. The spikes are not lethal, but they are extremely uncomfortable for birds to walk on. A 10-foot-long strip costs $45. For more information, contact Bird-X, Inc., 300 North Elizabeth Street, Chicago, Illinois 60607; telephone 312/BAN-BIRD (226-2473). — SP
Pocket voice-mail messaging service
Unless you have a dedicated flight phone system, once en route in your own airplane, you're out of touch. And while it's still technically illegal to use a cellular telephone in flight, there's no such prohibition against passive devices like beepers. However, early beepers that tell you to "call this number" are hardly the be-all in effective one-way communication.
That's where the alphanumeric beepers come in. We tried a setup administered by Mobile Information Services called Verbatim. For a modest fee, the Verbatim setup will take your callers' messages, up to 15 seconds in length, and have them transcribed and transmitted to your alphanumeric beeper. That's right, there's a human listening to the taped message and punching a keyboard.
After several messages, we discovered that the system works well. The necessary brevity of the messages makes your callers get to the point; and save for the expected spelling errors in names and highly technical terms, the service duly transmitted the messages in whole. Coverage depends upon the overall beeper network, but we found only one obvious black hole around Redmond, Oregon, where posted messages failed to get through. (Your included voice-mail system retains the message, however, and you can, for a nominal fee, ask for faxed copies of the message to arrive at home for verification.) The method seems to work quite well in flight.
One of the great advantages of the message beeper system is that you can determine the priority of the call without first having to land and find a phone. A one-time setup charge for the Verbatim package is $15, followed by one of two packages. One, which includes 25 messages a month, is $19.95; and the other, at 100 message a month, is $49.95; messages over the package limit are 59 cents each. Receiving faxed copies is an extra $10 a month. All prices are in addition to your local beeper service charges.
For more information, contact Mobile Information Services, Inc., 817 South Kay Avenue, Suite 3, Addison, Illinois, 60101; telephone 708/628-0380. — MEC
Unless otherwise stated, products listed herein have not been evaluated by AOPA Pilot editors. AOPA assumes no responsibility for products or services listed or for claims or actions by manufacturers or vendors. However, members unable to get satisfaction regarding products listed should advise AOPA. To submit products for evaluation, contact: New Products Editor, AOPA Pilot, 421 Aviation Way, Frederick, Maryland 21701; telephone 301/695-2350.
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