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Just like the perfect holster, I'm always on a quest for the perfect hearing protection. The latest is the Walkers Razor XV rig:
http://www.gsmoutdoors.com/shopping/Razor-XV-P842.aspx
Retail @ $160, look around and you'll find them for @ $75-90. I tried a set and liked them so much that I just bought another.
I am a fan of electronic hearing protection because I like to be able to carry on a conversation at the range and shooting competitively usually requires that you can hear commands from the RO. I have a couple of sets of Howard Leight over-the-ear muffs and they work great. The downside with over-the-ear rigs is hot weather (ear sweat) and I can't get a decent cheek weld when I'm shooting long gun, especially from the prone position.
So, here's what I'm digging about the Walker product:
- It has a built-in Li-ion battery that recharges via a standard micro USB charger. Battery life seems good, I shot a 6 hour match recently and had plenty of battery life left
- It has a microphone in each ear bud so you get directional awareness
- It has bluetooth connectivity so I can jam tunes or make/receive phone calls by pairing it with my phone. The single bluetooth control button allows you to ff, rw, and pause your music or accept, make, redial phone calls (depending upon the sequence of button presses). There is a mic in the neck piece for making phone calls.
- The noise suppression has two modes: indoor and outdoor. The indoor mode increases the suppression duration to account for the echo indoors
- The blue tooth and microphone volumes are independently adjustable. This is the MAJOR feature as far as I am concerned, let me explain:
Sure , it's cool to have a little background music playing while you're at the range but the biggest benefit for me is outside of the range (which is why I bought two sets). I like listening to music at work but it's difficult at the office because I need to be able to hear my office mate when she talks to me. I enjoy tunes when I'm out walking or working in the yard but won't listen because earbuds kill your situational awareness. Sure, you can leave one bud out but then you only get to hear one channel of the sound and your directional hearing sucks (can't tell where sound is coming from). These things solve all those problems: simply turn up the microphone volume to ambient (or slightly above) volume so you can hear what's happening all around you, then turn up the bluetooth music until it's at an acceptable background level. It's very much like having the music playing in another room so you can hear it but yet you're not missing any of the sounds around you.
There are a couple of downsides I see. The first is that the supplied foam ear buds suck (too hard and uncomfortable). Easy fix:I just ordered up some Shure foamies that fit fine. Second downside I see is the longevity of the cables and retractable mechanism....time will tell.
Bottom line: I give these 2 thumbs up. Check 'em out if you're in the market for some new ear pro.
http://www.gsmoutdoors.com/shopping/Razor-XV-P842.aspx
Retail @ $160, look around and you'll find them for @ $75-90. I tried a set and liked them so much that I just bought another.
I am a fan of electronic hearing protection because I like to be able to carry on a conversation at the range and shooting competitively usually requires that you can hear commands from the RO. I have a couple of sets of Howard Leight over-the-ear muffs and they work great. The downside with over-the-ear rigs is hot weather (ear sweat) and I can't get a decent cheek weld when I'm shooting long gun, especially from the prone position.
So, here's what I'm digging about the Walker product:
- It has a built-in Li-ion battery that recharges via a standard micro USB charger. Battery life seems good, I shot a 6 hour match recently and had plenty of battery life left
- It has a microphone in each ear bud so you get directional awareness
- It has bluetooth connectivity so I can jam tunes or make/receive phone calls by pairing it with my phone. The single bluetooth control button allows you to ff, rw, and pause your music or accept, make, redial phone calls (depending upon the sequence of button presses). There is a mic in the neck piece for making phone calls.
- The noise suppression has two modes: indoor and outdoor. The indoor mode increases the suppression duration to account for the echo indoors
- The blue tooth and microphone volumes are independently adjustable. This is the MAJOR feature as far as I am concerned, let me explain:
Sure , it's cool to have a little background music playing while you're at the range but the biggest benefit for me is outside of the range (which is why I bought two sets). I like listening to music at work but it's difficult at the office because I need to be able to hear my office mate when she talks to me. I enjoy tunes when I'm out walking or working in the yard but won't listen because earbuds kill your situational awareness. Sure, you can leave one bud out but then you only get to hear one channel of the sound and your directional hearing sucks (can't tell where sound is coming from). These things solve all those problems: simply turn up the microphone volume to ambient (or slightly above) volume so you can hear what's happening all around you, then turn up the bluetooth music until it's at an acceptable background level. It's very much like having the music playing in another room so you can hear it but yet you're not missing any of the sounds around you.
There are a couple of downsides I see. The first is that the supplied foam ear buds suck (too hard and uncomfortable). Easy fix:I just ordered up some Shure foamies that fit fine. Second downside I see is the longevity of the cables and retractable mechanism....time will tell.
Bottom line: I give these 2 thumbs up. Check 'em out if you're in the market for some new ear pro.
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