Customer Reviews

Radians Pro-Amp Electronic Hearing Protection

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

This is a great product, works as advertised. I can have a conversation with my kids at the shoot range without having to raise my voice. The best attribute of Radians is the customer service. My son broke the headband, I called Radians to have it repaired, and they sent me a new earmuff at no cost. I even offered to pay for it and they would not accept payment, this is a very good product backed by the best customer service!!!

Use for shooting at pistol range.
Comfortable to wear. Cups seal well with safety glasses. Ball cap doesn't get in the way. Light on your head.
Adequate noise attenuation, no better or worse than any non-electronic muff.
Can carry on normal conversation, hear comments from instructors, and commands from range safety officer. Very good directionality. Electronic clamping is not distracting.
I would recommend them highly.

I got two pairs for my wife and I to use at the range. After one use, we returned both pair. Here were our problems:

1) Way overdriven. The "electronic" part of the hearing protection involves turning off / attenuating the amplification of ambient sounds when a loud enough sound (e.g., gunshot) is detected. Unfortunately, even with the volume knob turned to the lowest position, you can not comfortably wear these without additional, in-ear protection, such as these Hearos Ultimate Softness Ear Plugs. The amplification of even quiet conversations in a quiet environment brings the volume to a painful level. It's all well and good to reduce the volume of gunshots to a safe level (via the passive attenuation provided by the foam), but counterproductive to amplify quiet conversation to hearing-damaging levels.

2) Inconsistent performance. Given the problem above, I was forced to wear the in-ear plugs referenced above whenever I had these electronic muffs on. This increased the level of total passive attenuation quite high, so that when the electronic muffs decided, for no apparent reason, to occasionally attenuate conversation and other noises not loud enough to justify the behavior, I was unable to hear anything at all. This entirely defeated the purpose of having electronic muffs at all, since I was not able to hear conversations at all when the muffs decided to attenuate at the wrong time. This happened with both pairs, so it's more likely a product design flaw than a problem with my specific two pair.

Shipping was prompt. The product quality is very good. The electronics work well. I bought these on the recomendation of a range master who stated they used these all the time.

There are few small issues. First, the sentivity on these is high. You can hear the slighest sounds even at a distance when the volume is turned way down. I would imagine these would be good for hunting. They are a bit too sentitive for a shooting range where there is lots of noise other than gunfire. They do block out the bulk of the shot noise and work very well.

Second, the volume controls are a bit stiff to turn on, but I can see that with use the controls are loosing up.

All in all, a good value for the money

I've had my Radians "ears" for several years without any issues. Recently, the small pin that holds the arm to the ear muff broke. I contacted Radians to purchase a replacement part and was informed that they don't offer any parts after the warranty! Can you imagine? So now I'm going to throw away an $80 set of ears because they won't sell me a 35 cent pin!!! YOU CAN BE SURE THAT MY NEW ONES WILL BE FROM ANY OTHER MANUFACTURER THAN RADIANS! p.s. they also make them for Dewalt, Remmington, and Black & Decker

It is extremely important to hear everything at a competition. The constant taking off, and putting back on, conventional hearing protection is a distraction and often painful. These have made a huge difference. The first time I took them to the range, several of the other competitors immediately decided to order a set for themselves. They work as advertised and the price is fantastic. A 45 auto sounds like somebody dropping a phone book from a couple feet in the air and yet you can still hear every word spoken clearly! They are even comfortable with shooting glasses on. There is no excuse to not protect your hearing when these are so affordable. You can spend a lot of money for shooting gear, but if your on a budget (and who isn't) these are the answer to enjoyable range time without a headache.

What a great purchase. I target shoot twice a month with a Glock 9mm. I shoot with four old Army buddy's. I was renting hearing protection from the range, but they didn't work well when wearing safety glasses. I purchased the Radians Pro-Amp protection and wow...they are great! You can still hear range commands and converse with fellow shooters. There are volume controls on each side so you are in complete control. At the moment of truth...the electronics shut the sound out in nano seconds. The guy next to me was booming away with a 45 cal. pistol and it didn't bother me. Great protection at a great price. An Army of One....hooah!

While wearing these, with the mics just turned on, not much further then clicking them on, you can easily hear things that you normally would not hear. Turn the volume up, and you can hear in detail what is going on around you. I bough these for shooting, after recommendations from a few gun forums. These do work well for shooting, but the pad is a bit hard, and doesn't form very well around safety glasses. The area where your ears are to be is also shallow, and if you have larger ears it smashes them slightly, so extended wear is often troublesome. The mics on these have worked great. Just barely turning them up I was able to hear a guy loading his mag from 10 feet away, and hear every click of the ammunition being inserted. I would never be able to hear this without ear protection, let alone with normal earmuffs. That is also the main reason why I bought these, is because of the electronic aspect, while at the range you need to hear whats going on around you,and what everyone else is doing. These earmuffs allow me to do that well, with minimum discomfort.

After months of use I have found these muffs to be great, I have used them on the firing line with others next to me. The level of protection is superb no matter what caliber, all I hear is the report. I found that the noise reduction is better than almost any other type of protection I have used. No "ringing" in my ear after all range conditions even after 50 rounds through my large caliber pistols. In outdoor windy conditions I may have to turn the muffs backwards to reduce the noise, but I can still hear even with the wind noise.

I bought a second pair for my wife and she is warming up to the idea of my .357 because the report is not spooking her (she never even held a gun before last month). She is well pleased with the ability to run through 100 round of small / med caliber ammo per session with no hearing loss or after effects.

I have found that it requires care while installing the batteries to prevent damage to the contacts. I have used a friend's $400 muffs and his batteries are easier to install but the noise reduction is equal to me. But it is not worth $340 difference for me to not be careful :-)
These muffs are electronic devices so I teat them accordingly.

I purchased these several months ago and have had a few good uses out of them. They are definitely better quality in sound and appearance than cheaper variants that have the wires sticking out the sides(you know who you are). I would have given them five stars, but the right ear piece gives off about 50% sound volume of the left, so I actually have to turn the right one up higher to hear an even balance of sound (no I'm not deaf in one ear). Additionally, they don't block gunfire noise quite as well as other brands, so the reports are still a little loud through the muffs. (about the same as a TV turned too loud in the room, not painful or damaging, but noticably annoying)

they amplify noise quite well, too well if you crank them up all the way to the max. I actually tried this out, and couldn't hear conversation five feet in front of me because I was hearing a water treatment plant pipe gushing water from about 3/4 of a mile away. So turn them down to about halfway for the best quality.

They are definitely worth the price listed here.