Hearing protection with microphones and input?

[The Heretic]

I have a number of muffs, and some disposable ear inserts, but they are all old school and they greatly decrease my already fairly bad damaged ability to hear anyone talking to me.

I am thinking about getting something like this (probably these):

Howard Leight R-01526 Impact Sport Electronic Earmuff - Amazon.com

Muffs with microphones so I can hear someone talking or giving a range command etc. without taking them off - that is of value to me.

The HL muffs above have the added advantage of having an external input. No I don't want to listen to music while shooting, and I don't think that is what the input is for - I would use the input with a comms device in a noisy environment.

So, I am soliciting feedback and suggestions and experience input.

Thanks in advance.

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[oknow]

I've got a pair and love them and I can hear things that I normally wouldn't hear also.

 

[2gr8dgs]

I have had those exact muffs for a few years now & I love them. they take AAA batteries that seem to last forever. They are the 1st microphone muffs I have owned.
For very loud guns like magnum rifles/ rifles w/a muzzle brake, I would add ear plugs.
for the price I don't think you can do better.

 

[techiej]

+1 on the Howard Leight. Only times I wear plugs underneath them are either at indoor ranges or when firing high powered rifles.

 

[The Heretic]

Thanx

 

[bwchase]

Have the nrr 30 model. Works great, can hear talking and surrounding noise. Nrr 30 ones are not foldable. With plugs shooting handgun inside range is great. No tinnitis episodes following shooting!! Even without plugs, inside shooting is acceptable.
They do bump the stock on rifle. This model will clip off the loud sounds. The more expensive ones attenuate the loud sounds so can still hear everything instead of the clipping for a second or so. Suprized more shooters arent using these! (about 70 bucks)

 

[parallax]

I use walker's alpha muffs. AAA batteries, one on each side. amplified muffs are a good idea for home defense.. you grab your muffs turn them on and all sounds are amplified. but if you have to shoot, you will not damage your hearing, especially important, if your home defense weapon is a carbine or a shotgun. I.M.H.O. Its amazing even when not using them for shooting, how much you can hear with them on. the howard leight look like some pretty good ones.

 

[Doc In UPlace]

Can't speak to the HL ones from experience, but the 3M Peltor SV Tactical Pro are really good, built like tanks, never a problem with them and as mentioned above, you can actually hear normal stuff better than you can with them off. NR is -26dB.

When I qualified this year at the Burien DOJ Training Center my range instructor was wearing them too, but his were more beat up.


I just wish I hadn't waited as long as I did to get the active muffs.

HERE

 

[czechmark]

I've had this model for 5 months and they work great for me. There are over 2,000 positive reviews on Amazon and the price is usually around $40. Still on the original batteries.

 

[cookie]

Once you try electronic muffs you will wonder how you got by with out them.

 

[evltwn]

They work great at Monday nigh Bullseye. You can easily hear range commands.

 

[v0lcom13sn0w]

i got some for christmas. theyre awesome

 

[AMProducts]

I've owned both the peltor sound trap and the HL (after my peltors broke and didn't want to drop $100 on a new set), and while I think the HL is a very good set in many ways (easy to change batteries, no proprietary connector, common on/off volume knob) the peltors do a much better job of controlling the sound level that gets inside. It also seems the HL pass some of the shooting noise through and don't do a lot of filtering. The Peltors, you can clap your hands, and hear the wind moving through your fingers and the only reason you hear the clap is the sound being translated through your body to your ears.

I wish there was some middle ground on this. Please note: I currently own and use a set of HL's because I don't want to spend the coin on the annoying/proprietary connector/difficult battery replace/peltor set.

 

[Mark W.]

Another happy HL user. I even went so far as to pipe my digital music player into them a couple times when shooting alone.

 

[Caveman Jim]

I am very hard of hearing also so I finally invested in the amplified hearing muffs, Peltor Tactical 6. For hunting mainly because I couldn't hear ducks or geese come in when I hunted by myself they worked really well but we're really susceptible to moisture since I hunt during the wet winter months and it's damp out.
I had to take out the batteries after each outing and dry them thoroughly.
I sent one set back under warranty & received a brand new set.
All in all, anything electronic is doomed for failure eventually so take care of them..

 

[Tony617]

I have the Howard Leight Impact Pro earmuffs and they are NNR 30. I also put earplugs in as well. They have an input jack as well but I don't use since I need to be aware of my surroundings at all time especially at the gun range.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B007BGSI5U/ref=mp_s_a_1_3?qid=1396027707&sr=8-3&pi=SY200_QL40

 

[simpleguy]

I own 2 sets of these and I 'm also a double up(ear plugs&muffs at the same time type of guy). But for the first time the other day, I tried to use the feature where you plug your iPod/music device in so you can hear music(podcasts in my case) while shooting. I was less than impressed..........you basically could not hear the music. Maybe it was the voltage output on the Samsung Galaxy S3?? Don't know, just know I couldn't hear anything.

In the end, it doesn't put these on the don't buy list as they are extremely valuable for their price point, it's more of an FYI.

 

[YOURSUPREMECOMMANDER]

I have suffered some hearing loss because I did not wear protection when I first started to shoot a few years ago. I was skeptical about the HL. I was worried that when I was alone in the woods, I would not be able to hear and be aware of my surroundings. Much to my delight - I can actually hear better while wearing these things! I bought mine from amazon, just like your link.

 

[The Heretic]

I have the Howard Leight Impact Pro earmuffs and they are NNR 30. I also put earplugs in as well. They have an input jack as well but I don't use since I need to be aware of my surroundings at all time especially at the gun range.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B007BGSI5U/ref=mp_s_a_1_3?qid=1396027707&sr=8-3&pi=SY200_QL40

The input would maybe be good for e-comms if you have a mike.

So far I have liked mine, the batteries seem to last forever as I have left them on by mistake for days and they still are working when I pick them up. I know they probably weren't consuming much power laying on the seat of my truck in the shop with everything around them completely quiet, but still...

I did notice once when I was power washing that the power washer was loud and then all of a sudden it was quiet. Not sure what was up with that.

I haven't tried them with guns yet - only the chain saw and power washer.

 

[scott_see]

I have those same ones, and they really do work. I have both the folding and the non-folding style. For me, the non folding ones fit my head better. But maybe my head is shaped funny.