Faro G2 ANR (Active Noise Reduction) Premium Pilot Aviation Headset with Mp3 Input - Black

I've had a good experience with the G2. Is it a light speed Zulu? No, it's a 200 dollar headset with added noise cancelling. But in reality, because this is built on a passive headset, it's actually a lot better in a loud GA aircraft than it has any right to be. Because the over ear passive design, I actually find it a bit quieter (and less perceived "pressure" from the noise cancelling) than the Bose A20 in louder aircraft, especially if you're not wearing sunglasses or a hat that will interfere with the seal of the headset. For the money these are great. The sound quality is a little "tinny" but when trying to hear radio calls in a loud airplane that's not a problem. I put about 180 hours on my pair over maybe 100 flights, and the ANR began to fail. I was pretty disappointed, but I emailed Faro, and when I returned my headset to be repaired, they sent me a brand new one immediately. My headset was gone only a few days, and now we're back in action. These are not perfect, but for the price theyre close. If you fly a prop for a living, buy a Lightspeed. If you fly a jet for a living, buy a Bose. If you're like the rest of us, the Faro G2 ANR works great and is workhorse headset that checks the right boxes at the right price.

This was a huge upgrade in functionality, noise cancellation, and comfort from my previous DC knock-off trainer headset. I appreciate having separate volume controls per ear. The battery cover is a little tough to remove, but that's not a bad thing necessarily since you don't want it coming off unless you mean to change the batteries. Battery life is pretty decent - I got about 25-30 hours of flight time before I needed to make my first battery change. Audio quality is clear and easy to hear. I've had no complaints about outgoing audio quality either. And while I love the bright yellow carrying bag, I wish it came with something a little more functional and protective.

I have been flying with Avcomm 747’s, 900’s and David Clark 134 for the last 7 years. I have been looking for a good ANR headset for the last year and have tried several from Bose and Lightspeed and was very happy when I found the G2 ANR for a 1/3 the cost of the others. So I purchased the G2 ANR’s and couldn’t wait to try them out being I had read so many glowing reviews. So on Saturday 9-19-2015 I got a chance to take up the Archer 180 and test the headset. I ran several tests in different configurations that are listed below. In all cases the headset did NOT perform as expected. Test 1 PNR (Passive) mode: - Started the Archer and set idle to 1000 rpms and put on the G2’s with ANR turned off. They offered very little if any passive noise cancelling. In fact as I lifted one ear cup off my ear I could barely tell any difference. I removes the G2’s and put on my Avcomm 900’s, and most all noise was going. Now, I own 2 sets of 900’s and 2 sets of 747’s and 1 set of 13.4’s so I know that the 900 that I bought along for testing are typical of the other headsets I own and all perform about the same. In passive mode the G2 failed horribly. - I removes the leather ear seals from the G2 and replaced them with Gel seal from my Avcomm 900. I than ran the same test. The G2 preformed much better but still not acceptable in PNR mode. I then pushed the G2’s ear cups against my ears (clamping force) with a much high force than any headset I have even worn. The preformed much better. Still well below my 900’s. Test 2 ANR (Active) mode: - I put the leather seals back on the G2’ and turned on the ANR. You can tell the difference with the ANR on. The low base of engine is removed. But, interestingly enough they are still very loud compared to any of my other 900’s 747’s and 13.4’s. So again I remove the leather ear seals again and replaced them with my Gel seals from my Avcomm 900’s. The ANR worked much better with the gel seals “Might be the shape of my head that’s making the difference”. Again I pressed the G2’s against my head with considerable force much higher then you could stand for more than a minute or so. Again the G2’s preformed much better, but still not as good as the Avcomm 900’s. I continued to test throughout the day at different engine power settings as I flew from ATW to PCZ to OSH and finally back to ATW. Summing up: - At the end of the day my concussion were clear. The G2’s with Gel seals “from my Avcomm 900’s” and the ANR turned on in the 1978 Piper Archer 180 only preformed about 70% as good as my existing Avcomm 900, 747 and David Clark 13.4 PNR headsets. They did remove a lot of the low engine sound waves but not to the extended of the reviews I been reading. When I compare the G2’s to Lightspeed Sierra for instance, they are nowhere close to the noise reduction of the Sierras, and in fact the G2’s with ANR turned on are not as quiet and the Sierra’s in passive mode. Now I have a normal size head “or so I think” and feel the G2’s where not clamping as much as they should. This could be the cause of a lot of the noise entering around the ear seals. I also believe there’s no noise canceling insulation inside the ear cups causing the poor performance. This kind of sucks as I was looking forward to buying 3 more sets of G2’s for my plane. Follow up: I receive a call today from Kevin who works for Faro. He called and asked about the sound problems I was having with the new headset. I explained the problems and the tests I preformed and the results of those tests. After some discussion he felt that I may not have given the headset the best chance for success because I was using the gel seals from my Avcomm 900’s with is a standard size and thickness. Kevin said their gel seals were double the thickness and that the headset they sell with the gel seals also has different ear cups. He offered to send me the new headset designed for gel seals at no charge “try that with Bose or Lightspeed” and have me try them for a week. Now this is what customer service is all about and Bose the others could learn a few things from these guys. I’ll keep you posted as I’ll be flying on Saturday… Okay, so here's my update. The new headset arrived on Thursday just as Kevin promised. I had set up some initial testing of the passive capabilities of the headset. Being it was raining I did not go to the airport so I did the next best thing. I went into the garage and started up my 2015 Harley Street Glide and compared all three headsets. As in my previous test the first set of G2's did not block out any of the noise whether it be in passive mode or in active noise cancellation mode. I put on my Avcomm 900's and tested again they blocked out about 80% of the Harley sound but you can still hear a little bit of rumble. I then put on the second set of G2's that I received from Kevin. and they blocked as much of the noise as my Avcomm 900's in PNR mode. I then turned the active noise cancellation on and low and behold all you could hear was a sound of air passing through the air cleaner. The rumble was gone and headset work effectively. I then went out to the airport two days later and flew the Archer, and the G2's work perfectly. The second set that Kevin sent me have have a double density gel ear seals that work much better than the first set. I believe that part of the problem with the first set of G2's is that they also had less clamping pressure then the second set, and the double density ear seals helped tremendously. I can now say with some confidence that I would put these against the Bose and the light speed Zulu 2's as I have just flown with all three sets this weekend. The passive noise canceling of these G2's is on par with the my Avcomm 900's which tremendously better then the David Clark 13.4's that I also own. The passive noise cancellation of this set of G2's will equal anything I have flown with so far. They're definitely better at passive noise cancellation then either the Bose or the lightspeed Zulu 2's. In Active noise cancellation mode I believe they're very close to the Bose, maybe slightly less but definitely on par with the lightspeed Zulus.The customer service and quick response alone Is worth the price of these headsets.

I've been using this headset for the last few months. I have no complaints. I forgot my headset one day and borrowed another pair. It was awful. The ANR for the price can't be beat. The top head band is the old one. The new one has more cushion and I would guess a little thicker to give more padding and grip to keep it from slipping forward or back. The ear cups that come with it aren't the ones pictured. Those are an extra $20, which I may consider getting later. You get the gel cups and they really suck to your head. I think they help keep out more noise than the fancier leather ones. If I ever get a pusher prop, I'll totally sacrifice some noise reduction in favor of possible comfort, but right now that prop wash blasting the windshield needs some extra sound protection. The ANR is a little different from your usual noise canceling headphones. Things that are super loud will get muted down and regular noises won't seem to do much. Certain frequencies are also muted completely. In my tests, below 200 Hz is almost completely reduced and decently reduced up until around 700 Hz. Basically, you're going to lose all the engine noise and the prop noises while that Cessna squeaky toy stall horn is going to be just as loud as you want it to be. I haven't really used the MP3 function much. To be honest I'd rather that be a part of the comm system mounted to the panel. The included cord is really only long enough to stretch from a breast shirt pocket. It's also very thinly shielded and I'd probably buy a thicker cord for serious use.

This headset promised to be an economical way to get ANR. Unfortunately, the unit is just "ok," nothing special, and not that much better than my $120 PNR headset. If you really want ANR and good sound quality, go with the Bose A20 or LightSpeed Zulu 3. I have returned the headset, and am going with a new set of Bose A20s. Pros: 1) The headset is quite comfortable, easy to adjust and feels high quality. 2) The ANR works fairly well (but see below) 3) Auxiliary input is handy 4) Independent volume controls for each ear Cons: 1) Very low sensitivity on the mic. You have to speak extremely loudly to activate the intercom VOX. The User Manual does say you will nee to turn down the intercom squelch to make the mic work, but I found that I had to turn it down so much that the other headsets on the intercom were compromised (including one Bose A20 and a cheap PNR headset). 2) Volume is very low in the ear cups. In order to hear the ATC or intercom, I had to crank up the intercom volume and put the individual ear cup volume controls all the way up. This, however, caused the other headsets to be way too loud (we could compensate with my son's A20s, but the cheap set has no volume control, rendering it unusable). 3) The sound quality is very tinny. The ANR does a good job of cutting the low end, but not so much higher frequencies. Worse, music played on the headset using the aux input is totally ruined; all of the bass, and most of the midrange frequencies are cut, leaving the music to sound like it's coming from a cheap AM radio. I suspect the problem is that the ANR only has in-cup mics and not external. 4) Unless the ear cups are absolutely sealed to your head, the ANR pops loudly. This was a huge problem when wearing sunglasses. I did order the gel ear cushions as recommended by some reviewers, but never used them given the other issues listed here. Overall, I give the headset 3 stars, because they do work "ok" and would be useful if you had a pair of them or were flying solo. The Bose are about 3x the cost of the Faro's, but the features and sound quality of the A20s make up for the pain in the wallet. So my recommendation is to stay with your cheap PNR headset until you can afford the Bose A20s.

Absolutely love this headset. This isn’t my first headset, this is the second personal headset. My first was a hand-me-down college gift from a local pilot. Being humble I wore those uncomfortable things until I could afford to by be something a bit more. After learning to fly and getting to the point where I was alone on flights just racking up hours. I was missing out on music. BEING ABLE TO HAVE SLIGHT BACKGROUND MUSIC WHILE ON A LONG FLIGHT WITH NO AUTO PILOT. Is everything!!! If you are an aviator than you already know the Bose Headset is the “Apple” of headsets being all expensive and awesome. From personal experience and going to an aviation college where I’ve had the chance to try out the Fario headset (I own) and a peers Bose A130 (something like that). You can definitely tell the two separately. Given the fario have a bit more weight. I prefer my Farios because they still have the functions i wanted from the high end aviation headsets, like the Aux capability to allow for music listening, and the noise reduction/cancellation. I fly in a Cessna 172 which most pilot know that they can be fun and not so fun all at the same time as well as loud for what it is. Having had a headset that had no noise reduction or cancellation other than the foam around my ears, it was loud, and at times it was hard to hear the other pilot and also other on the radio. Not to mention the headaches that would take the duration of the flight. The noise reduction is so amazing. You can still hear the humming of the engine of course and most noises as well, they are substantially dampened tho. So when a transmission comes from either from another person in the plane or on the ground it’s like they are in a separate room and conversing with me. I love yo switch the sound cancelling on at home just to hear absolute quiet as well 😂😂

I'm sure these headsets work fine for a lot of pilots, but I would recommend you try them first if you use behind-the-ear hearing aids. I just could not stop the hearing aids Oticon Opn 1 from squealing with this headset (tried with both ANR turned off and on, stereo mode on and off) in a Cessna 162. ASA headset (1/3 the price) works fine, and so do Bose A20 (the price tag is higher for Bose). After 3 flights, the microphone would cut off at its will, making ATC communications challenging. I will trying D/C headset next.

Love noise cancelling but you have to put batteries in!! Even without batteries it was still great. Easy on the ears, not too heavy or tight. Boom adjusts easily. Wish we had bought them much sooner. Good price for the quality. Great bags to carry them in.