Best Electronic Hearing Protectors-Priced <$200

Hi folks,

Has anyone had experience with the electronic Radians Maximus Hearing earmuffs? Their info states NRR rating of 29. They sell for $99.99 at Optics Planet. Peltors appear to have relatively low ratings of 20 or so. I would prefer Pro Ears, but their prices are way up there! I am now using Caldwell, but after a year, they seem to be losing their noise reduction ability. I am not interested in ear plugs -- I find them too uncomfortable. Thanks in advance.
 
Great sticky, helped with my search for hearing protection...

Anyway, I've been using some old, old, old regular (passive?) earmuffs for shooting, but they're rather bulky and I'd guess not as effective as they used to be, so I was in the market for an electronic pair. I just orderedthe Howard Leight Impact Sport Earmuffs from Cabela's web site. I got a gift certificate for $20 from my company to this site where you can apply it towards 200+ merchants, so I put it to use at Cabela's.

Supposed to be in by the 3rd, I'll post a short review in here once they get in.
 
I don't shoot indoors too much, so I'm not going to comment on high end muffs...But, I have found the one of the most important aspects is over-all size/thickness of the units. Get Something as thin as you can afford or you are going to hate them.
 
I have a pair of electronic ones I bought at Four Seasons, they work fine and they were around $40. I just started using a foam ear plug, reusable type and they have a higher rating, 32, than the electronic ones and are so much more comfortable to wear.
 
The S&W muffs are merely NRR 22; this is typical for electronic muffs. That's not enough.

I'll stick with my NRR 33 conventional muffs, thank you. FAR better protection and leather earcups for 1/3 the price. And I'll STILL put foam pads in my ears if I'm near compensated guns or shooting indoors.


Browning Midas Electronic muffs for about $60 have a NRR of 33dB. These are the only muffs my wife would let me use; she has a Doctoral degree in Audiology and is very cautious about what i use for hearing protection. They have worked well for me.
 
I use these for my son and I. What I like is the ability to carry on a conversation with him, or give him some instructions, yet when the big boom comes it kicks in and blocks the noise.

http://www.amazon.com/Peltor-97039-..._9?ie=UTF8&s=automotive&qid=1243362764&sr=8-9

I've had very good luck with them. The only downside is forgetting to turn the damn things off and killing the battery. But now I carry extra batteries in the range bag.

Rich
 
Browning Midas Electronic muffs for about $60 have a NRR of 33dB. These are the only muffs my wife would let me use; she has a Doctoral degree in Audiology and is very cautious about what i use for hearing protection. They have worked well for me.

MJM,
Did you compare the Midas muffs with others? I'm a little bit sceptical abouth 33dB NRR claim: even the best non-electronic ear muffs can't reach that level. I saw attenuation data for one pair of ear muffs which was graded 33dB and actually for almost all frequencies the attenuation was lower than the other muff rated at 30dB
 
Browning Midas Electronic muffs for about $60 have a NRR of 33dB. These are the only muffs my wife would let me use; she has a Doctoral degree in Audiology and is very cautious about what i use for hearing protection. They have worked well for me.

I just ordered these for a similar reason. If they are close enough I'll just add foam ear plugs and let them boost the low sounds.
 
Sordin Pro Xs

I'm starting this as a Sticky Thread for the purpose of keeping info strictly on what the best electronic hearing protectors are out there for LESS than $200/pair (discounted price, e.g. C&R FFL or LEO/Mil).

My motivation for this thread came yesterday when I thought I lost my Peltor 7S muffs! I've since found them, but came to realize that there may be better solutions than the Peltors out there over the past 6 years since I bought them.

Some brands to look at:

  • Browning
  • MSA/Sordin
  • Peltor (aka Aearo)
  • Dillon
  • Remington
  • Maximus
  • Radians
  • Caldwell
  • Pro-Ears

Some models sell for $300-400 and I'm suggesting that we exclude them, as they are well beyond what most of us are willing to pay.

Please use this thread ONLY as a "resource" for all of us on the better products and why they are better. Off-topic replies will be removed without notice as we want this to be a useful thread without clutter. Thanks.

I have a set of these
Sordin Pro X and I use them for just about everything that's loud around the house. As much as they're extremely expensive. You hearing is invaluable.
 
MJM,
Did you compare the Midas muffs with others? I'm a little bit sceptical abouth 33dB NRR claim: even the best non-electronic ear muffs can't reach that level. I saw attenuation data for one pair of ear muffs which was graded 33dB and actually for almost all frequencies the attenuation was lower than the other muff rated at 30dB

Sorry about the late reply[thinking]. I have not compared these to other muffs yet. I do however plan on getting into the sound booth and test these things for real in the near future. I will post the results after i have had a chance to do this.
 
Sorry about the late reply[thinking]. I have not compared these to other muffs yet. I do however plan on getting into the sound booth and test these things for real in the near future. I will post the results after i have had a chance to do this.
Thanx, MJM. It will be very interesting to see the results of your testing
 
Still trying to find out the specs on the Harbor Freight muffs NRR rating??
Would like to purchase something before next weekends trip to the range.
 
OK here are the specs..(Note the words highlighted in RED at the bottom)

From the sounds of it these are not a good choice.

Can someone give me a better opinion on these when it comes to firearm noise??


ELECTRONIC EARMUFFS
The EPA has selected the NRR as the measure of a hearing protector’s noise reducing capabilities.
Harbor Freight Tools makes no warranties as to the suitability of the NRR as a measure of actual
workplace protection since such protection is highly dependent on user training, motivation, and utilization.
A better estimate of workplace protection can be obtained by derating the labeled NRR by 50%.
The NRR calculated from this attenuation data is 24. Improper fit of this device will reduce its effectiveness
in attenuating noise. Consult instructions for proper fit.
The level of noise entering a person’s ear, when a hearing protector is worn as directed, is closely
approximated by the difference between the A-weighted environmental noise and the NRR.
ATTENUATION DATA ANSI S3.19-1974
Test
Frequencies (Hz)
125 250 500 1000 2000 3150 4000 6300 8000
NRR (without
40CFR211
correction)
Corrected
NRR
Mean
Attenuation (dB)
7.6 17.7 24.6 33.3 40.3 34.6 33.1 23.5 28.6
27 24
Sandard
Deviation (dB)
6.7 9.1 5.8 5.2 5.3 4.5 4.8 6.1 5.1
Example:
1.) The environmental noise level as measured at the ear is 92 dBA.
2.) The NRR is 24 decibels (dB).
3.) The level of noise entering the ear is approximately equal to 68 dBA.
CAUTION: For noise environments dominated by frequencies below 500 Hz, the C- weighted
environmental noise level should be used.
The NRR used in the above example was achieved under laboratory conditions.
Although hearing protectors can be recommended for protection against harmful effects of
impulsive noise, the Noise Reduction Rating (NRR) is based on the attenuation of continuous
noise and may not be an accurate indicator of the protection attainable against impulsive noise
such as gunfire.
 
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Blah ..I just ordered a couple.. 35.97 shipped .. If they work ...GREAT!! lol
 
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They are slightly more then 200 new, but the Sordins are what I use for everything. Shooting, chainsaw, weed whacker (old ass loud one), drags, etc. Plus they have the input jack so I can have the race or football game on in the background.
 
Here's a pic of the Harbor Freight muffs with the battery compartment open. Work a screwdriver into the notch near the attachment and the cover pops off. For $15 they work fine.

muffs.jpg
 
Call me crazy, but I have a pair of these Ryobi Tek4 active noise suppression hearing protectors and they work great for shooting (if you can live with the color). From Home Depot I think I paid ~$70? 25 dB, MP4 or Cell Phone jack, water and dust resistant, and they are very comfortable too. Comes with rechargeable lithium-ion battery and charger.

http://www.homedepot.com/webapp/wcs...D25X-_-100671268&locStoreNum=2603&marketID=39
 
I'm in the market for new earmuffs and think I'm going to make the switch to electronic. I'm down to these two:

Peltor 97039 Tactical 7S Hearing Protector

OR

Pro-ears Pro Mag gold http://www.cabelas.com/cabelas/en/templates/links/link.jsp?id=0065879229806a&type=product&cmCat=SEARCH_all&returnPage=search-results1.jsp&Ntk=Products&QueryText=pro+ears&sort=all&Go.y=0&N=0&Nty=1&hasJS=true&_dyncharset=ISO-8859-1&_DARGS=%2Fcabelas%2Fen%2Fcommon%2Fsearch%2Fsearch-box.jsp.form23&Go.x=0


Both claim to use compression technology to actively combress impulse sounds to non-dangerous levels within 2milliseconds.

Does anyone on here use either model? Is it true that the electronic muffs with compression technology effectively lower the impulse sounds? If so, I'm thinking plugs plus the electronic would put put sound exposure in the "normal" range (less than 80db). YOud' think these would be much bigger than they are
 
I just picked up a pair of Howard Leight R-01526 Impact Sport Electronic Earmuffs <$50

I shot my 228 indoors with them and there wasn't must discernible difference between them and my Peltor Ultimate 10...minus the fact that I could hear other noise when not shooting. I'm excited to try them at the next Appleseed or NES shoot. Only complaint was that they were not compatible with the shape of my sunglasses arms. I felt like they pushed them into my head a bit too much. They were very comfortable with my shooting glasses though, so I just need to grab some tinted shooting glasses I think.

Definitely a thumbs up though.

41ShugcEeRL._SL500_AA300_.jpg
 
You just missed out on the overstock sale with bing cash back. Got 2 of the howard leight sports for around $32 each.
 
Everyone still pretty happy with the HF ones? I'm planning to pick some up next time I'm in the store, so I figured I should check in to see if there are any horror stories related to them.[wink]
 
I have a set of Field and Stream pro muffs from Dick's Sporting Goods. Work great, but I believe there is another company out there that makes a set just like em for 20 bucks cheaper. Starts with an "I" I believe?

EDIT: The company is Impact Sports.

These Field and Stream muffs come with a plug for plugging in an Ipod or MP3 if you wish. You can make them ultra sensitive, and the batteries last a while.
 
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Ordered a pair of Howard Leight earmuffs, and I received them today. Went directly to the range to test them out.
Definitely give them both thumbs up!
These two guys a few lanes down were talking about how they really wanted to try out a 1911, so I called one of them over to try a few rounds in my new SW1911SC E series.
After he tried it out, he said "I had no idea you could hear us from over there!" I told him about the headphones and he thought I must have paid hundreds for a pair.
Wrong: Amazon $48
Wish I would have gotten them on that sale, but I am happy with the purchase.
 
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0006968YM/ref=oh_details_o00_s00_i00

I bought 2 of these and they work phenomenal. You can hear everything you normally can hear, and when a sudden increase in decibels occurs (eg. a gunshot) it mutes the sound. So you can talk to the guy next to you while shooting. This is worth every penny of the $189. The review I just gave is vague and silly, but I do not know the best way to put it. These are the best hearing protectors IMO, and I have tried a ton.
 
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