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78 of 81 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
For the price, excellent; average overall., October 27, 2009
This review is from: Howard Leight R-01526 Impact Sport Electronic Earmuff (Tools & Hardware)
I bought these for my wife. I was originally going to get her a pair of Peltor Tactical 6s electronic earmuffs because I had ALWAYS heard high praise for them--and I use a pair of Tac 7s myself, which I'll never give up--but then I read some of the negative reviews on the Amazon product page (I wonder how many are schills?). So based on the negative Amazon reviews and the meager NRR 19, I opted to pass on the 6s. I'm not sure how I stumbled onto these Howard Leight earmuffs, but they looked good on paper and the reviews were mostly positive, and I'm very familiar with, and confident in, the Howard Leight name, so I figured why not?
Before buying these, my wife had been previously using the Howard Leight Leightning-31 earmuffs (non-electronic, NRR 31), so I was _really_ worried about the drop in NRR with her. We went to an indoor range yesterday and shot a .40SW pistol (the .40SW has a sharp pressure spike, and hence percussion wave, and being indoors amplifies things, so this was a really good test of the earmuff's effectiveness). After we were done she said that she "likes" these muffs, and "has no problem" with them. They're a keeper! She did have one complaint. She says that they squeeze her head too tightly (not uncomfortably, just a tighter, snugger fit than she's used to) and interfere with her eye protection. We both understand that the tight fit is necessary to seal the ear, so that's not a problem in our minds, but she says she "needs to figure something out" w.r.t. the shooting glasses because that bugs her.
Of course, I tried these muffs out also. I gotta admit, for the price they are pretty darn good. The amplification is above average and you can hear normal conversation easily. They cut out when they should, but the recovery time after a shot is slow (that bothers other people a lot more than it does me). Come to think of it, the power-on time is pretty darn slow, too. Regardless, these muffs are another winner in the Howard Leight product line as far as I'm concerned.
However, whenever a review includes the phrase "for the price", that should raise a flag (IMO); i.e. you gotta look at the big picture as well as the niche. Yes, these are excellent hearing protectors for the price, but overall they're not all that great in comparison to other models on the market. They do their job, though.
Since these are not marketed as "tactical" earmuffs, an LED power indicator would have been nice. My wife will eventually get used to having to turn off her hearing protection, but a power indicator as a reminder wouldn't hurt. On the plus side, these muffs have an automatic shut-off feature to compensate for forgetfulness.
The included instructions are minimal and poorly written. Case in point, they tell you to insert the batteries into the battery compartment, but don't tell you how to open the battery compartment! [Slide the lid vertically toward the headband.] A little common sense goes a long way here.
Bottom line: All babble aside, I'd recommend these earmuffs. Based on my wife's input and my short exposure to them, I think they do an adequate job; and yes, the cost-effective pricing is hard to ignore.
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