UK Used Pilot Headset & iPad Price Guide

What to check before buying a used headset

• Ask for the serial number before paying, and ask the manufacturer's support team about it if anything feels off. A missing or scratched-off serial is a reason to walk away.
• Test the ANR properly. On an A20, A30 or Zulu, noise cancelling should cut in with a noticeable drop in low-frequency hum. A unit that only sounds "a bit quieter" may have a failing control module.
• Match the plugs to your aircraft. Most UK club aircraft use twin GA plugs. A 6-pin (LEMO) headset needs a panel socket or an adapter, which adds cost and one more thing to go wrong.
• Budget for ear seals and a head pad. They wear out, and a genuine replacement set is a routine cost on any used headset.
• Passive headsets hold value differently. A David Clark H10-13.4 has no electronics to fail, so an old one in good order is often as good as a newer one.

Choosing an iPad mini for SkyDemon

SkyDemon on iPad needs a GPS fix, and on an iPad that means a Wi-Fi + Cellular model: Wi-Fi-only iPads have no GPS receiver. That's why we track the cellular 6th-generation mini specifically rather than "an iPad mini". A Wi-Fi-only unit will look cheaper on eBay, but you'd need an external Bluetooth GPS to use it for navigation.

Before relying on any device, check SkyDemon's own current device requirements, as supported iPadOS versions move on over time.

How these prices are worked out

Once a month we pull completed UK eBay sales for each item and filter them by title, so the median only includes the item named:

• Variants are kept apart. A Bose A20 with a helicopter (U-174) or XLR lead is a different product to a twin-plug GA one, and a Wi-Fi-only iPad has no GPS. Those listings are excluded rather than averaged in.
• Parts and accessories are dropped. Ear seals, cases, leads, "spares or repair" listings and anything priced implausibly low or high for a working unit don't count.
• Only the last 90 days count, and the price is what the buyer paid, including postage.
• No median below five sales. If fewer than five matching sales went through, we say so rather than publish a figure from two or three data points.

Each item links to the eBay UK sold-listings search behind it, so you can check the individual sales yourself. The "new retail ceiling" is the current price from the manufacturer or an authorised UK aviation dealer, with the page it came from. It's the most a used unit is worth, since past it you'd buy new with a warranty.

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