LightSPEED Zulu Headset Review By Jack Cowell Is LightSPEED's new ANR headset good enough -- quiet, cool, comfortable -- to unseat Bose from the top of the class?
Gadget Mounts: RAM Takes Top Honors By Aviation Consumer Staff Versa-True has more positioning flexibility but RAM's gadget cradle is superior and it costs half as much. Best value is the RAM suction mount.
Flight Review: Garmin GPSMap 496 By Marc Cook Last year at Oshkosh, Garmin dropped the weather bomb on pilot nerds with the GPSMAP396, the first integrated, portable navigator with XM weather and music capabilities. Built on the 296 platform, it was faster, more capable and so feature rich that you might get through War and Peace before finishing the user's manual. Now comes the 496, again built on a familiar platform -- it is pin-for-pin compatible with the 296/396 models, and is in the same waterproof plastic case -- with a faster update rate and a host of new features and seemingly innocuous (but ultimately useful) system refinements. Kitplanes editor Mark Cook shares his thoughts on the new wonderbox -- and insights after a first flight...
AOPA Commander for Microsoft Flight Simulator By John Ruley If you didn't win that great Commander 112 from AOPA's sweepstakes this year, AOPA has a consolation prize: You can fly that plane -- and try out its glass cockpit -- on Microsoft Flight Simulator. John Ruley has our review of this aircraft add-on from Flight1 Software.
Garmin GPSMAP 396 By Paul Bertorelli Navigation, weather and entertainment, all in a portable package. Here are some brief impressions of this impressive product that may be in short supply at Oshkosh.
Telex Airman 850 By Jeremy Jankowski You've moved on to heavier iron, and now you want to ditch the clunky old headset for one of those fancy, light-as-a-feather headsets you see the pros wear in the movies. Too bad the cockpit is too loud for you to hear anything. Enter the Telex Airman 850, a lightweight headset with the benefits of the latest ANR technology yet requiring no batteries to operate. Jeremy Jankowski puts the newest entry to the market to the test.
Some Great, Cheap Electronics for Pilots By Mike Busch Long GA flights require special planning and, sometimes, special equipment. During a recent transcontinental trip, Mike Busch had the opportunity to fly with some new electronic gadgets -- each priced well under $1,000 -- and found them too terrific not to share.
Survival Tech Aviation Survival Kit By Doug Ritter Like a seatbelt or an ELT, you hope you never need to use a survival kit, but in an emergency you'll be glad you've got one. Doug Ritter reviews a recent entrant to the survival kit market.
Taking the "Search" Out of "Search-and-Rescue" By Brent Blue, M.D. After years of bureaucratic delay, the FCC has finally approved the use of 406 MHz Personal Locator Beacons in the United States starting July 1, 2003. For less than $1,000, you can now carry technology in your flight bag or survival kit that will alert search-and-rescue agencies of your identity and exact location within five minutes. Updated August 24, 2003, with information on new PLBs from Pains Wessex.
LightSPEED Thirty 3G ANR Headset By Russ Niles AVweb's Russ Niles moved up from no cockpit noise reduction to a passive headset only 10 years ago, and now has tried the latest active-noise-reduction (ANR) set from LightSPEED. He's a convert, and now he won't willingly fly without an ANR set, preferably LightSPEED's.
