TELEX ANR 850
I fly the Airbus A320 series- a pretty quiet cockpit, or so I thought. I have now used the Telex 850 on two four day trips. It does a great job of blocking the mid level hissing sound created by airflow. The high setting is too loud but low is very good. The set and forget feature works well so I don't have to change the volume every time we are handed off to the next controller. I am very pleased with this headset. I didn't realize how much fatigue is induced simply by noise, this greatly reduces that. I also noticed that I can hear better after a trip. I would recommend this headset.
 
Steve Brittain
US Airways A319/320/321
A very good investment as compared to my company supplied Telex 750; now a 9 hr flight has much less fatigue.

Ahmads
Well I bought the Telex ANR 850 .  I was initially disappointed that it did not cut all the noise out but then again the main reason I got this one was so I could wear it and still hear a conversation in the cockpit.   The more I wear it the more impressed I've become.   I just had a 13 hour plus duty day with over 8 hours of hard time and the 850 is certainly comfortable with its leather ear cups.  It doesn't go completely over the ear and I was concerned with the actual reduction of noise.   It really does make a tremendous difference after a long day.   When I use the Hi setting I get a noticeable hum but the radio vol. can be turn way way down.  However, the low setting is the normal setting and it seems to work great.   I have found one B757 acft so far where the ANR kept cutting on and off by its self acft 921 for those on the US Airways system.   However, I figured out what the problem was.   In some of the acft you have to un plug the hand mike for the Telex ANR 850 to work.  I have needed to do this on a couple of acft and so far its been great.   The fact that you don't need a battery is certainly a plus. The headset size is nice in that it is small and comfortable to wear.   Now, it doesn't cut all the noise out and you can still hear some engine and air-condition noise but the reduction is substantial.   I wish I could have tried a few brands before I bought this one however, I am very happy with this headset and I highly recommend it.    I had a jump seat rider that uses a Sennheiser 25  which is a quieter headset and I let him try on my telex.  He said he thought it cut as much noise out as his. 
 
You will learn to turn your radio vol. way down and it makes it much easier to hear cockpit conversations.   The clarity of the radio is amazing.  The HF radios are better but there is still a lot of static and they still behave like all HF radios so although it’s better you still have to listen carefully to HF communications.

Bob Gaudioso
US Airways 757/767
Very impressed with this headset. I operate B737NG & the noise reduction works very well, & in our a/c works without a hot mic. I've also tested the Bose x which seems to block out slightly more noise than the Telex, but weighing up the size, weight, & comfort of the telex & no need for batteries its way ahead for me. Most notably the radio volume for me use to be around the 3 oclock postion, & now its 10 oclock. After a long day I'm less fatigued & less grumpy too.

David Drummond

I fly the MD80 for Alaska Airlines and found the headset to be awesome.  It is comfortable to wear on long days.  The headset looks like the old 750 with the exception of larger, softer ear cups.  They filter out some ambient noise. The ANR feature works all the time and does a good job of reducing most of the remaining noise.  Although it does not completely eliminate all the noise.  The combination of the two features allow me to turn the radio volume down and I miss a lot less radio calls.  It goes a long way toward reducing fatigue.

No batteries is a huge bonus. 

Pat Shanafelt

I have just bought this headset.
I fly B-737NG, and I have found the cockpit noise to be very tiring. We operate anything from 1/2 hour sectors up to 5 hours.
The 850 has a dual plug and connects to the NG without any problems. The ANR works (Surprise!) with or without Hot Mike.
As you NG drivers know, the flight deck speakers are blocked when you select Hot Mike. Since the ANR works with Hot Mike ON or OFF, this will enable the other crew member to fly with or without headset.
The noise canceling is very good. Reception is also very good and I now leave the volume switch at the 12-1 o'clock position most of the time, as opposed to the 2-3 o'clock position before.
The microphone even has some noise filtering, and the Effoh said he could hear me crystal clear and better than with the old 750 headset.
It's only slightly bigger than the Telex 750, fits well and does not require a battery pack.
Well worth the 415 US$ (check different sites) excluding shipping. It came with a headset bag as well.
 
Thumbs up!
 
Ulf Hay

I currently operate 737NG aircraft for an Australian airline on domestic routes averaging above 750hrs per year. I am age 36 and have started to experience the real life effects of hearing loss such as mild difficulty hearing in loud social environments, greater fatigue, a sometimes grumpy spouse who doesn't like repeating herself endlessly and finally a speech test was required after my year 35 audiogram (alarm!). Years of regional turboprop operations have not helped my hearing, but I find the wind rush/pack noise in the 737 has a short term effect on speech recognition to a greater degree than the whine of a prop whilst wearing David Clark's, so I decided steps to protect what was left of my hearing were needed. After some discussion with colleagues using Sennheiser battery powered equipment I researched the mic bias voltage powered Telex offering and found that reports on the net only related to it's use in Classic 737 and Airbus equipment. I took a punt that the mic would be constantly powered due to the CVR and purchased a pair over the net from the US ( in Australia the cheapest price was about US 660.00, compared to about US 500 including GST/Delivery over the web).


These headsets are a revelation. They work perfectly in the NG and stop most wind/pack noise leaving a low rumble from the engines and a small amount of ancillary systems noise. Higher noise levels as speed increases is noticeable, but simply turning of the the ANR via the switch on the boom-side earpiece shows you what you are missing!  The other crew members voice is slightly dulled  mainly due to the leatherette muffs on the headset ( I wore them without the muffs to compare for a while, ouch) and the echo effect you get with most sets that have a level passive protection (again caused by the leatherette muffs). I gather the leatherette muffs are a new addition and I wonder if Telex has used them to bump the attenuation, If this was a real issue for you, you could use foam muffs from Tandy (radioshack) no problem.  Radio volume settings are much lower than previous. I occasionally have to expose an ear for really quiet guys (and those that brief the side windows grrr) below 10,000', but most lads speak loud enough. Echoing other users whom have reported on this site, you (i.e your ears) take a while to get used to the requirement to have the muffs in one spot all day and sun glass choice may be impacted, I usually wear plastic wraparound shades, but have changed to thin metal frames for comfort. I am noticeably less fatigued after our usual 10.5+  duty/ 6.5+ flight time days and have no discernible short term hearing (I can hear my tinitus just fine now straight after a shift??!!). I let most guys have a go for a while and have a pro forma email with the details of where I got them due to the usual response of "wow, were do you get 'em". The headset is very much like the Telex 750, which some older guys at my airline use (they are their own private sets as the company supplies passive lightweight Sennheisers), some of which have had the same sets for 11 years only needing to replace the muffs (hence the Tandy tip).I have absolutely no connections with any shop or Telex and am passing on this info to this site as repayment for helping me in my purchase decision. Thank-you.

Michael Simpson

Recently I had a chance to use the Telex Airman ANR 850 for several days. This new headset is reminiscent of the Airman 750 that is found as standard equipment in many airline cockpits. The overall look and feel is very much like the Airman 750 with a more substantial, higher quality build. The microphone is slightly larger than the 750 and is mounted on a high quality flexible boom which allows accurate positioning. Microphone gain can be adjusted by the pilot with a tiny screwdriver. ATC reported that my transmissions were loud and clear. The ear pads are a big improvement over those on the 750; comfortable foam padding covered with a leather like fabric. Four ounces total weight, not counting the cord. I wore them eight hours at a stretch without any problem. All in all, a nice incremental improvement to a pretty good product.

The really big news is that the ANR 850 provides 12 dB of ANR WITHOUT BATTERIES. Telex claims that it gets power from microphone bias (active intercom). I was skeptical, and wondered if I would be able to use it in the Airbus where we do not use the intercom. It worked fine. Hot mike on, mike off, it didn't seem to have any effect. I plugged the headset in, flipped the on/off switch on the earpiece, and the noise dropped away. (I did wonder why they bothered with an on/off switch when there are no batteries to run out.) The noise has a different "feel" than what I get with my Sennheiser HMEC 45, but the ANR 850 has at least as much noise reduction as the Sennheiser. This thing is huge! No more having the batteries die just as you get switched over to approach control! No more dropping the battery or the cover while you are changing it in turbulence! NO BATTERIES; JUST QUIET! I swapped headsets around the cockpit during my evaluation, and everyone had the same WOW effect.

Telex has hit a home run with this headset. I wasn't able to come up with any complaints about it; so I will just say that if you are in the market for ANR and you fly a jet this is one you should carefully consider.

When I evaluate headsets I try to just give the facts and not get carried away. But if the management folks who decide to save a couple of bucks when they buy the airplane by getting the bottom of the line headsets were forced to drive around 85 hours per month, we would all have these headsets in our airplanes and they would look to save money somewhere else. This unit is $419 retail. Look around and you can probably buy it for a little less. Even at retail it is substantially less than the competition. This is the best money you will spend. Your choice is simple. Protect your hearing now, or start learning sign language so you can talk with your grandchildren. No one else is going to protect your hearing for you. Here is an easy way to do it, and it is tax deductible in the US. A good digital hearing aid will cost $2000 per ear and last about two years. Medicare won't cover hearing aids. Pay now, or pay a lot later.

Richard Nelson

Beware if you buy this headset, as the ANR will not work on American Airlines MD-80 aircraft.  Unfortunately, since there is no battery pack, the ANR will not be powered unless you key the mike.

I don’t know why or if it works in other types of aircraft, only that it does not work on this one.  It’s a shame, because I like the design.

Rob Steo

(A follow up from Rob gives a workaround for this problem on the MD-80. ed. )

Just an update on the use of this headset in the MD-80.  Actually, it will work but you have to create a hot mike situation by toggling up the interphone transmit switch.  Unfortunately, it tends the upset the system a little bit, causing a lack of feedback.  Still, it is workable, as long as your aircraft has that switch.

If you use this headset, please send your .