Lightspeed Tango Headset

Moderators: Kai, Rick, Lance Murray, Mr. Gadget

User avatar
Rich
5 Diamonds Member
5 Diamonds Member
Posts: 4592
Joined: Mon Aug 30, 2010 12:40 pm
First Name: Rich
Aircraft Type: DA40
Aircraft Registration: N40XE
Airports: S39 Prineville OR
Has thanked: 145 times
Been thanked: 1180 times

Re: Lightspeed Tango Headset

Post by Rich »

With the Tango now being my headset, I have cleaned up the center console area nicely. I would get another Tango for the copilot seat, but my wife is easily challenged by electronic hardware. So for now that headset remains wired. Once upon a time this area was further crowded by my Stratus. But that now lives beneath the instrument panel.
Headset Cleanup.jpg
This cleanup also allows easier access for fastening seat belts.
2002 DA40-180: MT, PowerFlow, 530W/430W, KAP140, ext. baggage, 1090 ES out, 2646 MTOW, 40gal., Surefly, Flightstream 210, Orion 600 LED, XeVision, Aspen E5
User avatar
Colin
5 Diamonds Member
5 Diamonds Member
Posts: 2006
Joined: Sat Aug 21, 2010 8:37 pm
First Name: Colin
Aircraft Type: DA42
Aircraft Registration: N972RD
Airports: KFHR
Has thanked: 319 times
Been thanked: 527 times

Re: Lightspeed Tango Headset

Post by Colin »

I have extended my headset wires and the control boxes are velcro'd to the wall of the cockpit, outside of the passenger. There's a little bit of topology trickery with the seatbelt, wires and when you put on the headset, but it has made flights SO much more free of wire tangling.

Still debating the Tango, though.
Colin Summers, PP Multi-Engine IFR, ~3,000hrs
colin@mightycheese.com * send email rather than PM
http://www.flyingsummers.com
N972RD DA42 G1000 2.0 s/n 42.AC100 (sold!)
N971RD DA40 G1000 s/n 40.508 (traded)
User avatar
blsewardjr
4 Diamonds Member
4 Diamonds Member
Posts: 485
Joined: Tue Jul 26, 2011 11:19 pm
First Name: Bernie
Aircraft Type: DA40
Aircraft Registration: N377DS
Airports: KCHO
Has thanked: 118 times
Been thanked: 146 times

Re: Lightspeed Tango Headset

Post by blsewardjr »

I have the new LightSpeed Zulu 3 headset with the Kevlar cord. The cord is better than the previous type but not a large improvement. For Christmas I received a control box holder that I've mounted on the center console. It works best with the box mounted backwards, but has proved to be a good improvement on keeping the cords out of the way.
Attachments
Headset controller holder.jpg
Headset controller holder.jpg (30.63 KiB) Viewed 3739 times
Bernie Seward, IR, AGI
2003 DA40 N377DS
KCHO Charlottesville, VA
User avatar
Rich
5 Diamonds Member
5 Diamonds Member
Posts: 4592
Joined: Mon Aug 30, 2010 12:40 pm
First Name: Rich
Aircraft Type: DA40
Aircraft Registration: N40XE
Airports: S39 Prineville OR
Has thanked: 145 times
Been thanked: 1180 times

Re: Lightspeed Tango Headset

Post by Rich »

The continuing (though reduced) Bluetooth struggle has become essentially moot. I've discovered that with my iPad mounted in its in-flight position above the stick, there is no stuttering at all. The iPad happily uses its 3 BT and 1 WiFi connections and the headset works just fine.

One final bit of rerouting of the right-seat Zulu reduces console clutter to an absolute minimum:
Zulu Headset final reroute.jpg
2002 DA40-180: MT, PowerFlow, 530W/430W, KAP140, ext. baggage, 1090 ES out, 2646 MTOW, 40gal., Surefly, Flightstream 210, Orion 600 LED, XeVision, Aspen E5
User avatar
Rich
5 Diamonds Member
5 Diamonds Member
Posts: 4592
Joined: Mon Aug 30, 2010 12:40 pm
First Name: Rich
Aircraft Type: DA40
Aircraft Registration: N40XE
Airports: S39 Prineville OR
Has thanked: 145 times
Been thanked: 1180 times

Re: Lightspeed Tango Headset

Post by Rich »

After living with this a bit longer a couple of items.

- The BT does still disconnect/reconnect with my iPad at infrequent intervals and short duration. I get a short beep at each disconnect and reconnect. There is no real impact on my normal use of the iPad (various alerts from Foreflight).

- Battery life seems good BUT one cannot rely on the auto shutoff for the panel interface. Always manually shut it off. I've rearranged things a bit so the panel interface box is more accessible in flight.
2002 DA40-180: MT, PowerFlow, 530W/430W, KAP140, ext. baggage, 1090 ES out, 2646 MTOW, 40gal., Surefly, Flightstream 210, Orion 600 LED, XeVision, Aspen E5
xyzbobxyz
1 Diamond Member
1 Diamond Member
Posts: 8
Joined: Mon Feb 17, 2020 9:51 pm
First Name: Bob
Aircraft Type: OTHER
Aircraft Registration: N933A
Airports: KGYY
Has thanked: 8 times
Been thanked: 5 times

Re: Lightspeed Tango Headset

Post by xyzbobxyz »

I have used Tango in my Bonanza for years and love them. I love the BT music function. The button on the non-mic side toggles between constant volume and auto BT reduction when radio comm goes active. Great feature. Also, same side has press to increase / decrease BT volume.

I keep mine on the charger and always recharge between flights.

I have a Sierra for the passenger and old skol hard, heavy extra headsets for use in need. I have been planning to add another high quality headset at Kenosha this year but....

As an aside, safe to assume you cannot use the lightweight, commercial jet pilot headset in the D62?
User avatar
Rich
5 Diamonds Member
5 Diamonds Member
Posts: 4592
Joined: Mon Aug 30, 2010 12:40 pm
First Name: Rich
Aircraft Type: DA40
Aircraft Registration: N40XE
Airports: S39 Prineville OR
Has thanked: 145 times
Been thanked: 1180 times

Re: Lightspeed Tango Headset

Post by Rich »

Today I looked into getting second Tango and discovered Lightspeed discontinued its production last year, though it is still supported and accessories like battery chargers and spare batteries are still available. No word on why.
2002 DA40-180: MT, PowerFlow, 530W/430W, KAP140, ext. baggage, 1090 ES out, 2646 MTOW, 40gal., Surefly, Flightstream 210, Orion 600 LED, XeVision, Aspen E5
User avatar
Rich
5 Diamonds Member
5 Diamonds Member
Posts: 4592
Joined: Mon Aug 30, 2010 12:40 pm
First Name: Rich
Aircraft Type: DA40
Aircraft Registration: N40XE
Airports: S39 Prineville OR
Has thanked: 145 times
Been thanked: 1180 times

Re: Lightspeed Tango Headset

Post by Rich »

Last Sunday I had a problem behavior with my Tango headset that is not described in the manual. I swapped out the battery in the headset for a freshly charged one and the unit immediately started beeping with the headset light flashing mostly green with an occasional red. This despite neither the headset nor the panel interface being turned on. Turning on and off made no difference. Removing and replacing the battery made no difference. Putting the previous battery back in made no difference.

This was I was arranging/pre-flighting the airplane for a flight to KPLU to in turn catch an airline flight to Newark. So I switched to using my Clarity Aloft and left the troubleshooting for another day.

That day was yesterday and I dug into it more. I noticed the "linked" light in the panel interface did not come on when the units were turned on. I cycled the channel selectors in both units by changing both and returning to the original "5". That seems to have cured the problem.
2002 DA40-180: MT, PowerFlow, 530W/430W, KAP140, ext. baggage, 1090 ES out, 2646 MTOW, 40gal., Surefly, Flightstream 210, Orion 600 LED, XeVision, Aspen E5
User avatar
Rich
5 Diamonds Member
5 Diamonds Member
Posts: 4592
Joined: Mon Aug 30, 2010 12:40 pm
First Name: Rich
Aircraft Type: DA40
Aircraft Registration: N40XE
Airports: S39 Prineville OR
Has thanked: 145 times
Been thanked: 1180 times

Re: Lightspeed Tango Headset

Post by Rich »

The response from Lightspeed to my problem a couple of weeks back was that there wasn't a troubleshooting guide that would have helped me out. And I got the impression this was a unique behavior. But I did receive an document describing linking/re-linking a headset with the panel adapter.
2002 DA40-180: MT, PowerFlow, 530W/430W, KAP140, ext. baggage, 1090 ES out, 2646 MTOW, 40gal., Surefly, Flightstream 210, Orion 600 LED, XeVision, Aspen E5
User avatar
Rich
5 Diamonds Member
5 Diamonds Member
Posts: 4592
Joined: Mon Aug 30, 2010 12:40 pm
First Name: Rich
Aircraft Type: DA40
Aircraft Registration: N40XE
Airports: S39 Prineville OR
Has thanked: 145 times
Been thanked: 1180 times

Re: Lightspeed Tango Headset

Post by Rich »

The unit is supposed sound a few beeps giving you a couple of hours to deal with a discharged battery. My experience: A couple of minutes, maybe. Oddly it seem that both batteries went dead simultaneously (or nearly so).
2002 DA40-180: MT, PowerFlow, 530W/430W, KAP140, ext. baggage, 1090 ES out, 2646 MTOW, 40gal., Surefly, Flightstream 210, Orion 600 LED, XeVision, Aspen E5
Post Reply