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Recommend new ear muffs?

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rutilate

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I have the Howard Leight muffs and my wife complains about the padding being way to thin so her ears hurt. I like to encourage her to shoot with me, so I'm on the hunt for new muffs for her.

I like the electronics to enable us to have a conversation while shooting. I like the low profile of the Leights, but she doesn't shoot rifle very often so I can flex on this requirement.

What might you recommend as the next step up, either with muffs or in-ear protection?


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I was about to say those don't have nearly the NRR that the Leights do, but then checked and discovered they are exactly the same. The Leights aren't nearly as effective as I thought they were. Which explains why I've had to double up with plugs.

I'll add these to the list and hope for something with greater NRR.


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When I was working at a major airline as a tech, I had many ear muffs. My favorite was a pair of David Clark and I got a set of silicon infused ear pads, kinda like the other kind of implants. They are so soft and in cold weather they aren't cold like normal plastic. You can probably find a pair on line to replace the ones on your wife's ear muffs without replacing the ear muffs. http://www.davidclark.com/
 
3M/Peltor makes some replacement pads that are super comfortable called Camelback Gel Rings, they will cost you about $50.00 but are about as comfortable as it gets when it comes to the pads on muffs. Not sure which kind of muffs she has but different models have different padding. Some of the higher NRR muffs have thicker padding.
 
rutilate said:
I was about to say those don't have nearly the NRR that the Leights do, but then checked and discovered they are exactly the same. The Leights aren't nearly as effective as I thought they were. Which explains why I've had to double up with plugs.

I'll add these to the list and hope for something with greater NRR.
Click to expand...

Leight makes some high NRR muffs. The Impact Pro's have an NRR of 30 and aren't overly expensive. ($70 or less) if you want electronics. You can spend more on a pair of Pro Ears Gold, which quite a few think are top of the line. If you want passive muffs 3m/Peltor makes some have an NRR of 30, I picked mine up for less than $20 off of Amazon.
 
I just got the Pro Ears Gold and I'm impressed, and I got them through a retailer on Amazon that has them for a significant discount over MSRP.

As someone said to me a couple of weeks ago, how much is your hearing worth to you?
 
Pro Ears Gold. I have a really early set of Pro Ears, bought them back in the 90's when they first came out. They've served me well. My wife has the Pro Ears Gold. A few weeks ago she took them out of the range bag, went to put them on and the strap snapped. Crap, they're three years old, the warranty's a year... I sent Pro Ears an email, three days later a whole new strap assembly showed up at no charge. It's a good company, a good product, and they sponsor a lot of shooters.
 
I may get flamed for this, but I have a set of 3M's from Home Depot. Cost me about $25. They're comfortable, quiet, and don't break the bank.
 
NickJ said:
Pro Ears Gold. I have a really early set of Pro Ears, bought them back in the 90's when they first came out. They've served me well. My wife has the Pro Ears Gold. A few weeks ago she took them out of the range bag, went to put them on and the strap snapped. Crap, they're three years old, the warranty's a year... I sent Pro Ears an email, three days later a whole new strap assembly showed up at no charge. It's a good company, a good product, and they sponsor a lot of shooters.
Click to expand...

The strap on the pair I have broke about a week ago. I will send them a note too. I check the web site, the replacement part is $17. Thanks for the tip.
 
Which Howard Leights do you have?

I noticed the Sports are on sale for $35 from Amazon and Cabela's today. NRR is kinda low but might be good for outdoors.
 
Those pro ears gold look good. Are they worth $249 ? I could buy them for myself and let her wear them when she comes along... I'm going to look further into the Leight Impact Pro and see if those might work. Anyone have them? Are the ear foams thin and covered by stiff plastic? P


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The Pro Ears Gold are worth every penny. I teach indoors, and I can hear everything the students say. They are super comfortable, I actually hear slightly better with the muffs than without the muffs when the line is cold.

Dwarven1 recommended them and he is 100% correct; you have only one set of hearing and it doesnt grow back.
 
I use the Peltor 6S. Great for outdoors, not as great indoors. Inside I usually double up with the Surefire inserts.

If you are worried about comfort, OC Tactical makes a padded wrap for the headband for both Howard Leight and Peltor.
 
It isn't the headband, it is the ear cups. They aren't thick enough to prevent ear cartilage from hitting the hard plastic of the muffs. If we had thicker foam we might be ok.


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Couple of years ago I got a huge box of the squishy foam ones you roll up a stick in our ear canal, they have a NRR of 32 and they are comfortable too. I hate the traditional ear muffs, especially when shooting long guns.
 

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