Walker's Digital Razor earmuffs kinda stink

Goliathan

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I recently picked up a pair of Walker's Razor Digital earmuffs from the BP and I have to say I am pretty displeased with them. First off, the left ear is noticeably louder and more clear than the right ear... and yes, it moves to the other side when I flip them around backward, so save your earwax jokes!

Bigger than that, even, is the way the amp seems to work. Previous active earmuffs I've had "clip off" the louder sounds, so nothing above a certain level gets through, but I can still hear the lower sounds around me. Just sort of compresses and cuts off off the peaks.

These new ones, however, completely shut off the incoming sound, so when a shot goes off they instantly become passive earmuffs. Can't hear ANYthing. That's annoying by itself, but these are also atrociously slow at recovering, sometimes taking two or three seconds after a shot before turning back on at all and when it does the levels are often uneven. On an active range I might as well be wearing foam earplugs... the amp actually never turns itself back on after responding to a shot.

Not thrilled at all, and frankly a little surprised that a name like Walker's would charge $80 for something as junky as this. I reached out to their support people in case there is something I can do to fix it, but I'd be surprised if they bother to respond. I don't have the packaging so returning them to the BP is out. I'm going to have to eat the money, I'm sure.

Anybody else have issues like this? And can anybody suggest an actual decent set of phones?
 
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I have a set of Walkers, maybe the Razor? They are not awesome but do the job to kill the boom and amplify conversation depending upon the volume setting. No delay. My only complaint is that the microphone is nondirectional but for the price that's OK.

Sounds like yours have a defect. Are the batteries fresh?
 
Yup, swapped out the batteries as soon as I noticed this issue, and nothing changed. Seems so bush league to me. I was at a youth shoot last night and actually had to lift one side away so I could hear what the other instructor was saying to me.
 
Agreed. I have a pair of these Walkers and the standard green Howard Leight. The bypass filter and overall audio quality of the Howard Leights blow the Walkers out of the water. I've also noticed the Walkers are prone to feedback at higher volume. I also (subjectively) find the Howards to be more comfortable.

The Walkers look cool with the American flag on them and being slightly thinner, but I'll take the Howards any day over them. The Walkers are the "player 2 gamepad" for range day. They do at least block enough sound to work for the base purpose.
 
I started using the walkers indoors because the leights just didn't have enough db. The leights active sound is much better than the walkers
 
I started using the walkers indoors because the leights just didn't have enough db. The leights active sound is much better than the walkers

I didn't personally notice any real difference. They are rated fairly close at -22db NRR (Howard) and -23db NRR (Walkers), and I look at the Walkers a bit suspiciously because nothing in its construction would suggest it doing a better job than the Howards. Both are just midrange sound reduction though. You can get industrial headsets that reduce to -33db NRR, and because the db scale is logarithmic, that's exponentially more sound reduction.

But a lot of sound reduction at this mid tier is just fit. Find the set that fit the best to your particular head.
 
These new ones, however, completely shut off the incoming sound, so when a shot goes off they instantly become passive earmuffs
odd, may be some defect. i have walkers razor slim model - they act like all others - like you would expect. not a perfect muffs, but, they work for me ok.
any thin muffs do a 20dB at best, no matter the price, from what i saw, so i only kept cheapest ones - zohan and walkers. thick ones at 30dB are difficult to use with rifles.

digital ear inserts types - of all i tried were just a disaster, i cannot get it how people use them, but, may be my ears canal shapes are retarded. :) any models i tried did not work well for me at all.
 
I didn't personally notice any real difference. They are rated fairly close at -22db NRR (Howard) and -23db NRR (Walkers), and I look at the Walkers a bit suspiciously because nothing in its construction would suggest it doing a better job than the Howards. Both are just midrange sound reduction though. You can get industrial headsets that reduce to -33db NRR, and because the db scale is logarithmic, that's exponentially more sound reduction.

But a lot of sound reduction at this mid tier is just fit. Find the set that fit the best to your particular head.
Think it's mostly that the walkers just fit my melon better.
 
I have Sordin electronic ear muffs and I like them. I wear them hunting and on the range and they never get in the way. If I were to buy a new pair, I'd get Peltors.

 
Interesting. I've considered some Walker in-ear electronics but haven't ever pulled the trigger. (One would have to go to teh range more often to make it worth it.)

My old . . . . . Oh gosh I forget the brand - Dillon used to rebrand them as Dillons - clipped all sound. This is 20 years ago. Some guys would go BONKERS over this. I really didn't care. Then I got some Leight's. I'm not rabid about it, but it was a noticeable improvement that ALL of hte sound didn't go away, just the highs. (That and Leight's just don't fit human heads well. Great electronics. Bad muffs.)
 
The technology is compression vs. stop gate. Old and cheap muffs use a stop gate, which essentially turns off the amp when a loud sound is detected, then turns it back on when the sound is no longer detected. On/off switch. Compression, on the other hand, is a signal processing thing by which the peaks are flattened out but everything below the set level is still audible.

The are specifically the Walker's Razor Digital Pro... $79 at the Bass. I don't know what the "digital" bit means in context, but the constant on and off stop gate behavior is unbelieveably irritating. Maybe if I was hunting or something it would be tolerable for the occasional single shot out in the woods, but for range use, forget it. These are no good at all.
 
odd, may be some defect. i have walkers razor slim model - they act like all others - like you would expect. not a perfect muffs, but, they work for me ok.
any thin muffs do a 20dB at best, no matter the price, from what i saw, so i only kept cheapest ones - zohan and walkers. thick ones at 30dB are difficult to use with rifles.

digital ear inserts types - of all i tried were just a disaster, i cannot get it how people use them, but, may be my ears canal shapes are retarded. :) any models i tried did not work well for me at all.

"digital ear inserts", are just like putting in ear plugs. When I put my right ear plug in, I hold it in my right hand, I reach over my head with my left hand and pull up gently on my ear, the plug goes in, I let go of my ear and it's firmly seated.

I wear Peltor TEP 100s for almost all of my shooting. I add earmuffs if I'm shooting indoors and I expect anyone (including self) to shoot 5.56 or greater.
 
Mine work well with no delay.

They do make what sounds like a fake shot sound. Like what a gun sounds like in a movie. (Not sure if that is added or just an effect of playback) but the headphones themselves are playing the sound. Not just a mute
 
"digital ear inserts", are just like putting in ear plugs. When I put my right ear plug in, I hold it in my right hand, I reach over my head with my left hand and pull up gently on my ear, the plug goes in, I let go of my ear and it's firmly seated.

I wear Peltor TEP 100s for almost all of my shooting. I add earmuffs if I'm shooting indoors and I expect anyone (including self) to shoot 5.56 or greater.
i think i tried that
View: https://www.amazon.com/Walkers-Razor-Silencer-Earbud-Pair/dp/B06XMQTWQL
and they kept falling out no matter what. i notice peltors have like a 3 waves of silicon, not sure if i tried that design too, i think i did, but i am not gonna buy $220 plugs anyway.
 
The electronic $19 Champions I got at Four Seasons work better than any Walkers Or Howard L muffs I've tried.
 
i think i tried that
View: https://www.amazon.com/Walkers-Razor-Silencer-Earbud-Pair/dp/B06XMQTWQL
and they kept falling out no matter what. i notice peltors have like a 3 waves of silicon, not sure if i tried that design too, i think i did, but i am not gonna buy $220 plugs anyway.

Funny thing about ear plugs is that the super cheap disposable yellow or orange ones actually provide up to -29db NRR if inserted correctly. I'd definitely use those in conjunction with cans if I were shooting a true rifle indoors. However, I've personally noticed plugs still allow for skull reverberation, which can be problematic indoors. You're literally resonating sound with your head. They are also not as good with indoor reflected sound in my opinion.
 
Interesting. I've considered some Walker in-ear electronics but haven't ever pulled the trigger. (One would have to go to teh range more often to make it worth it.)
I love my in ear ones. in the winter time you can wear pretty much any hat you want and stay warm and in the summer heat they are much cooler to shoot with. I do only use them outside though.
 
I love my Peltors except for the size (the ear cup is deep). I don't remember exactly what model, but I think they were $160ish?

ETA they are Peltor Tactical Pros
 
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