9kBud

Can't beat the comfort, but reliability is iffy in my experience in day to day ops. First one lasted only 1000 hours and had one of the wires short out. They replaced it under warranty and the new only lasted another 1000 hours when the wire going to the opposite ear shorted out. I really like Clarity Aloft as a small company and the product works great, but I have since moved on because I need something more dependable, and I am not particularly hard on equipment.

Mjm8710

I'm thinking I may wait a little and just spend the extra money on the A20s. I did some more research and found quite a few people saying their CA pro fell apart after less than a year, and I am concerned about the ear buds being bothersome. Thanks for the reviews guys/gals..I think my mind is made up.

WillFlyForSpam

I have both the clarity aloft and the A20 and I like the clarity aloft way more. Yes, it does start to fall apart but that only happened to me after about 1300 hours of use. Clarity aloft is pretty good about repairing it so you just send it in and they give you a quote for the repair. I used it in the caravan doing 6-8 legs a day and my ears never started to hurt. The A20 on the other hand is heavy and can be a pain by the 5th leg.

Majerus

I have the A20 and will be buying the Clairity Aloft. I can't do longs days with an over the ear headset. I can't stand the clamping even if it is the best over the ear headset out there.

Maingear

I've used the CA for about 2500 hours on C-172, PA-28, PA-44, DA-42, E-145, and now E-175. The ONLY complaint I have is that on the 145, it picks up a lot of wind noise and depending on the air-frame, has some NAV/COMM2 bleed-over when the mic is on. I've flown with people who have the TSO CA on the 145 and the bleed-over is really bad with that version. The non-TSO, not so much. Ironic much?

I love this headset. It's cool on hot days and I can wear whatever sunglasses I want.

I also have the Telex 850 and it not only hurt my ears on long flights, but the altitude alerter is so loud that it's painful. I can keep the volumes down very low with the CA. Good for my hearing.

Dashdog

Similar experience here. Long time CA Pro owner. It's very comfortable, but a bit fragile for commercial use IMO. I am on my second pair. The first needed replacement twice, then ran out of original warranty. They offered me $300 off my second pair (maybe $400, can't quite remember). Now one of the speakers is cutting in and out on that one. I'm very careful- keep it in the hard case, and never pull or pinch the wires, or wrap them around the headset. I don't recommend it until they come up with a sturdier design.

RedGuy

I've got over 10,000hrs on my Bose X's and still using them. I had them overhauled at 7,000hrs when one of the yokes that hold the ear cup on broke. The A20's look abit better built than my X's so I would expect at least a similar life span, blue tooth would be nice too.

dash8driver

I've used the non TSO'd version for 3 years in the Q400. Don't have any issues with it shorting out of with the wiring. I did have one of the plastic pieces around the earbud pop off but used some super glue to reattach it. Most comfortable headset I've ever owned.

Also I purchased some Etymotic Research ER-38-18CL Clear 3 flange Eartips. They're $14 on Amazon, washable (the foam ones get soiled after about a month or so with earwax) and block out noise better than the foam eartips from CA.

Riverside

Isn't there a pro plus?

Atomized

I switched from the CA tso version to the Bose A20. I liked how lightweight the CA were, but that's pretty much it. The cons for the CA are: foam ear pieces needing replacement fairly often. Hurt my ears on longer flights from the ear buds and from the wire hangar design. Mic design doesn't allow for a swivel, so if you need to move the mic to eat, sneeze, etc it's more time consuming to adjust the mic back in front of your mouth.

I feel the Bose has better mic, my transmissions sound clearer. I don't really care that it creates a little flat spot in my hair. It takes no time to put it on and take it off. No squeezing the ear buds and waiting 10 seconds to see if you have them in a comfortable spot. Only other downside to the Bose that I can think of is the cost. If you use the cases that they each come in, they both take up the same amount of room in your bag. Bose uses batteries, CA doesn't.