Active Hearing Protection - Looking

[Bidah]

Ok, I am looking for thoughts and opinions/anecdotes on the active electronic hearing protection. They have to be a minimum of 25dB. I shoot action sports (3 Gun, USPSA) and High Power, so I would like them to work for all three. I already have hearing issues (hereditary), although my work helped it along. If I am wearing my normal passive stuff (mostly plugs), I cannot hear when we are scoring, so I am constantly taking on/off whatever I am using.

What ever I do decide to get, I will need 3 of them  That is what you get when you have your kids involved with you.. 3x the expenses. My wife has deemed that if I need them, so do they.

[MikeBjerum]

I have Wildears, and love them!

They are made in Minnesota, and the owner is a friend of my boss' husband.  I have seen them used by many hunters and shooters on the shows, and recently Rob Pincus started using them.  However, I have not seen the Wildears name in the promotions much, and Zach told me that there are so many looking for freebies and cash to endorse they do very little in order to stay in the black.

Check them out!

http://www.wildear.com/hearing-protection-enhancement/

[TAB]

I have a set of pro ears and peltor.  I forget the model.  I like them both very much and can't tell the difference in volume, but I like the pro ears knob up high.  Easier to adjust. More so if your at the bench.

[alfsauve]

Wow.  Did I ready that right?  Wildear is around $1K.

Back on planet ~$50 earth.  I saw Gabe using the Howard Leight and bought myself a pair.  They are very thin which makes them more usable on rifles and shotguns.  They also have an input jack for external devices like radios, scanners and iThingys.


http://www.howardleight.com/ear-muffs/impact-sport--2

[PegLeg45]

Wow.  Did I ready that right?  Wildear is around $1K.

Back on planet ~$50 earth.  I saw Gabe using the Howard Leight and bought myself a pair.  They are very thin which makes them more usable on rifles and shotguns.  They also have an input jack for external devices like radios, scanners and iThingys.


http://www.howardleight.com/ear-muffs/impact-sport--2

I was also going to recommend the Howard Leight unit. I've been using them for several years after trying a pair at my friend's range while they were practicing for a long-range match. I like the thin, compactness, and they are comfortable for all-day wear. They also work well on a variety of head sizes.

I bought mine from Cabelas for around $60 plus shipping. I have bought several more for family and found back at Christmas that Amazon had them for $40....they have them now for $46 (with free shipping).


http://www.amazon.com/Howard-Leight-R-01526-Electronic-Earmuff/dp/B001T7QJ9O/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1393695684&sr=8-1&keywords=howard+leight


**The ONLY thing that would eliminate these from your consideration is that they are a few db lower than your 25db reduction rating at 22NRR.
To that I will say, that they work really well for me when I shoot my .308 A-Bolt with BOSS muzzle brake, and that thing has quite a bark.[/i]

[Sponsor]

[MikeBjerum]

Wow.  Did I ready that right?  Wildear is around $1K.

Back on planet ~$50 earth.  I saw Gabe using the Howard Leight and bought myself a pair.  They are very thin which makes them more usable on rifles and shotguns.  They also have an input jack for external devices like radios, scanners and iThingys.


http://www.howardleight.com/ear-muffs/impact-sport--2

My top of the line was $725 two years ago.  They were in the low mid range of custom fit electronics at that time.

[ske1eter]

I was also going to recommend the Howard Leight unit. I've been using them for several years after trying a pair at my friend's range while they were practicing for a long-range match. I like the thin, compactness, and they are comfortable for all-day wear. They also work well on a variety of head sizes.

I bought mine from Cabelas for around $60 plus shipping. I have bought several more for family and found back at Christmas that Amazon had them for $40....they have them now for $46 (with free shipping).


http://www.amazon.com/Howard-Leight-R-01526-Electronic-Earmuff/dp/B001T7QJ9O/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1393695684&sr=8-1&keywords=howard+leight


**The ONLY thing that would eliminate these from your consideration is that they are a few db lower than your 25db reduction rating at 22NRR.
To that I will say, that they work really well for me when I shoot my .308 A-Bolt with BOSS muzzle brake, and that thing has quite a bark.[/i]

I, too, am a fan of the Howard Leight's. They work great and are of a fairly small profile so they interfere a bit less with the stock. Plus they use everyday AAA batteries so replacements are easy to find in a pinch.

[Bidah]

If you look at Wildear or SportEar, they are at the $1k mark or well above.  I was actually looking at the SportEar, and getting it tuned to my particular hearing loss since they can do that on some models.  It certainly would have solved a lot of my issues.  I eventually gave up as they were not responsive to requests for information.  Too bad for them since I had the money in hand and was ready to purchase some high end models.  When you pay upwards of $6000 for a set of hearing aids every 5 years, the cost for good hearing protection doesn't seem so bad.

The reasoning behind the 25dB minimum rating is that anything less than that and it will start my tinnitus ringing, badly.  The hard part is those at, or over that rating, tend to be large and do not work well for shooting rifles and shotguns.  The Howard Leights may work out, but I am fairly sure I would need to double plug, at least when I am shooting.  Or I go to a system where I am wearing the active hearing only when I am not shooting, and plug up when I am.

[TAB]

I would still recommend doubling up regardless

[Big Frank]

I agree with Tab because muffs alone usually aren't that good.