Whipped Cream Difficulties

Pro Ears.

When I first started shooting, I needed ear protection. So I bought a $20 pair of no-name passive ear muffs, and have been using those for the better part of the past nine years.

There were two problems with the passive muffs:

1. They were less than comfortable. I found myself slipping them off (sometimes at very bad moments) to adjust the fit or give my ears some relief.
2. I had problems hearing things, like range officer instructions, when I was on the line. I sometimes found myself slipping off the passive muffs so I could hear the range officer, then slipping them back on and trying to get them adjusted and get my head back in the game before I shot.

After I shot the USPSA match in April, I decided it was time for a change. Karl recommended the Pro Ears line to me, so I ordered a pair. I didn’t actually get a chance to use them until I took Karl’s “Competition Pistol” course at the end of May. Now that I have…

Wow. The difference between the Pro Ears and the $20 passive muffs is like night and day. I had no trouble hearing range instructions; at the same time, the active muffs actually seemed (and this may just be a subjective perception on my part) to do a better job of muffling gunshots. I probably wore the Pro Ears for close to four and half hours without ever feeling the need to remove them.

I won’t say the Pro Ears are perfect. They are not cheap. (The set I purchased was the Predator Gold: link goes to Amazon, and yes, I do get a kickback if you purchase through that link. Yes, I did purchase mine; they were not a blog freebie, and I am not getting anything in return for writing this post. I have no connection with the company except as a satisfied customer.) The only other problem I have with the Pro Ears is that they use “N” batteries, which I’ve had a difficult time finding around town. (Fry’s Electronics didn’t have “N” batteries last time I was in. Odd. Worst case, you can order those from Amazon, too.) I had no problems with battery life over the length of the course, but Murphy’s Law would dictate that you keep one or two spare pairs of batteries in your range bag.

If you’re serious about shooting and haven’t tried active hearing protection, like the Pro Ears, I strongly recommend that you do so. If you’ve had good experiences with brands of active hearing protection other than Pro Ears, you’re welcome to post recommendations for those brands in the comments.

This entry was posted on Monday, June 14th, 2010 at 8:32 pm and is filed under Endorsements, Guns. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.