Several plane rides ahead - which noise canceling headset to buy?

[papercup]

http://www.amazon.com/Sennheiser-PXC-150...37?ie=UTF8

[Harbourmaster]

These are my faves in the under $100 price range and you can get them from our sponsor! http://eshop.macsales.com/item/MacAlly/PODPRO/

On the last plane ride to Hawaii my wife put them on while I went to the lav, and I could not get them back from her, I had to buy another set when we got home!!

[what4]

As an infrequent flyer, when my old JVC noisebusters broke, I just wore shooter's over-the-ears ear protectors and threaded my iPod earbuds inside them.

That enabled me to listen to the iPod at a reasonable volume, while the ear protectors shut out most of the ambient noise.

Not good for conversation, except with companions half-deaf from shooting skeet.

Are skeet an endangered species yet?

[Mac-A-Matic]

I do quite a bit of flying so keeping my ears happy and my attention diverted for those long hours in an aluminum tube is important to me. I used to use simple ear plugs to keep the noise out but listening to music is difficult.

Early last year, I started out with the small Sony noise cancelling headphones you can buy at Best Buy for about $50. They work decently but since they don't fully cover the ear the implementation is a bit limited.

A number of row mates on different flights had the Bose headsets that were over $300. They raved about them, but that's a bit of change so I did some research. I found, researched and purchased the Solitude Noise Cancelling Headphones (www.solitudeheadsets.com).

Some of the major reasons I purchased these were the reviews and reputation of the company and product. The model I have collapses completely - although I looked at the website and the current model doesn't. That put it head and shoulders above the Bose because I want lightweight and the smallest form factor I can find.

Here are a couple of reviews:

http://www.thetravelinsider.info/roadwar...eadset.htm
http://www.geek.com/hwswrev/conel/solitude/index.htm
http://www.chicagotribune.com/travel/chi...eindex-fea

Overall, I love the Solitude. They're small, compact (if you discard the case) and the universal cable means that I can purchase any mini-jack cable and it will work (unlike the Bose). The one problem I have with the Solitude is that it is slightly bulky on my fat and bulky head. This means that I cannot lie down with my head turned to the side unless I want the Solitude to prop my head up in an uncomforable position.

Of course, this problem presupposes that I will have enough space in coach to lie down - which is an unusual and typically improbable circumstance.

Other than that, I highly recommend the Solitude.