The Best Electronic Ear Muffs? The Howard Leight R-01526 Impact Sport Ear Protectors

If you regularly participate in shooting sports, you will know how essential it is to have proper ear protection. Standard ear muffs are required at all shooting ranges, and these combined with ear plugs are sufficient to protect your ears.

Order the Howard Leight R-01526 from the link just to the right.

Of course, wearing these two layers of protection on your ears has one disadvantage – you won’t be able to hear anything else! Electronic ear muffs get around this by letting you hear normal sounds around you, and then they automatically cut off the sound whenever a shot is fired or the sound levels go about a certain point.

If you are looking for the absolutely best quality electronic ear muffs, be prepared to pay a hefty price. Top of the line models such as Peltor can demand a price of up to $150 - $200 for their electronic versions, which can be a major blow if you want to buy a set. Luckily, there is a model that is available that costs 3 times less than this, but still provides high quality ear protection: the Howard Leight R-01526 Impact Sports earmuffs. While I don’t pretend that these models are better than the more expensive models, for the vast majority of people these muffs give high quality noise protection, while at the same time providing a few features that the top of the range models lack.

These earmuffs operate by amplifying external sounds and relaying them to the wearer; a control knob on the side of the unit lets you control the amplification level. Turned up to the max, it can even enhance your hearing, so don’t be surprised if you can hear far away sounds and chatter much better with the ear muffs on. Being an electronic model, the muffs automatically cut off whenever a loud sound - such as a bang is heard to protect your ears, and then the electronics inside instantly return your hearing to normal after the sound has passed so you can continue in your conversation.

The ear muffs are rated at a NRR (Noise Reduction Rating) or 22, which is pretty good on your ears! It will block out sounds that exceed 84dB, which is pretty standard really. If you are on the range you will also want to double up with ear plugs especially if you are in an indoor range - pretty standard practise these days.

Instant Sound Restoration

The cut off on the Howard Leight is instant, and unlike with some of the more expensive models they also instantly restore sound. Some people dislike Peltor electronic ear muffs because the restoration of sound takes a few moments before fading back in, so many prefer the Howard Leight for this reason.

Additional useful features include a built in 3.5mm jack so you can listen to you iPod or mp3 player if you are out alone while wearing them, the units automatically cut off after 4 hours in case you forget to turn them off, saving the batteries, and they also conveniently fold away into a compact size for easy storage.

Comfort

For the price, probably the only downside to these electronic ear muffs is that they are very tight for some people (with big heads!)initially. Over time however, the band at the top will stretch for a more comfortable fit, so it’s not really a big issue.

Battery Life

The top left of the headset has a sliding panel that reveals the battery compartment. Howard Leight claim about 100-120 hours of battery life which is pretty standard. One good thing about this set is that it only takes 2 AAA batteries. It's a good idea to get a set of rechargeables in any case - you will get your money back after only a few uses.

Overall

For the low price, the Howard Leight R-01526 electronic ear muffs have a lot of features only found in more expensive models that cost 2 -3 times as much. They are obviously not the best earmuffs full stop, but in their price range they cannot be beaten, dispatching rival products such as the Peltor Tac 6S with ease.