Howard Leight R-01526 Impact Sport Electronic Earmuff

Darren Wright

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Brown made a visit today! Well, next week I start doing shooting competitions with a local club. I decided it was time to upgrade my passive ear muffs to the electronic version so I could hear the range officer commands clearly. I chose the Howard Leight Impact Sport muffs as they had 4oo+ 5-star reviews on Amazon and had read very good things about them on the shooting forums.

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They are really light weight and fold up nicely for storage. On each side at the front there is a small black windscreen and microphone (stereo). On the right there is the power/volume knob and a jack for plugging in an mp3 or walkie talkie. The left side is just the battery cover. It comes with the mp3 male to male cable and two AAA Duracell batteries. They are rated NRR 22db, so if unprotected noise at your ears was 92db, you'd be hearing it at 70db. They interrupt starting at 82db.

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I put them on and turned up the volume, I could swear at first that they weren't even muffling anything, I could hear as well with as with out them. So I grabbed some scrap wood and headed over to the chop saw. The moment I pulled the trigger I heard the music in the back ground cut out slightly. As I was cutting the wood, I could actually hear some of the gear noise from the saw's motor instead of the high pitched whine and tinging of the blade as it cut. Second I took a handful of shelving brackets and dropped them on a near by table, still heard them, but the high tinging clash that they normally would make was also muffled. Finally I took a 2x4 and forcibly slapped the flat side on the cement floor re replicate a shot clap, once again, muffled. Yet a half second later I was hearing the birds chirp out in the yard.

They aren't as omnidirectional as un-protected ears, but they are very good quality and can tell if something is off to the right or left. An example, went outside and could hear a bird in the oak off to my left. I was able to pin point his location as well as I could with them muffs off.

I did try out connecting my phone and playing music through the input jack. The jack isn't amplified, the volume on the headset only controls the amplification from the mics. So MP3 or walkie talkie volume is done from the device you plug in. I had to turn the volume almost all the way up on the phone to hear the music comfortably. My regular ear buds only require about 1/4th of the way up on volume.

Oh, almost forgot, they were $45.99 with free shipping: http://www.amazon.com/Howard-Leight-R-01526-Electronic-Earmuff/dp/B001T7QJ9O

I'll put them through the ringer next week and see how they do at the range, but so far I'm very impressed with them. I'll probably be picking up a second set to have in the shop. I felt they would be much safer than my normal muffs as I'd be able to hear someone coming in or when something may be sliding off the bench.
 
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Excellent muffs. I've got a couple of pairs of them. I've used them in the shop as well, and hooked up to a music player driving on the garden tractor.

They do work pretty well, but not if you've got a guy right next to you firing an M1 Garande 30.06... Kind of wished I'd either doubled up on ear plugs and the muffs, or just used heavier muffs that day :thumb:

But for most normal pistol/shotgun/small caliber rifle, they work great!
 
They do work pretty well, but not if you've got a guy right next to you firing an M1 Garande 30.06... Kind of wished I'd either doubled up on ear plugs and the muffs, or just used heavier muffs that day :thumb:

Yeah, I plan to still take my ear plugs and passive muffs to the rifle range, may try with the ear plugs and these on the rifle range too. The main one I go to is mostly concrete, steel, and covered; so not much sound absorption provided by the surroundings.
 
Thanks for the review...added to my Amazon wishlist. :thumb: I'm currently using a pair of Peltor Optime 105 passive muffs (30db NRR, same ones I've got in the shop), but I've been considering getting some passive muffs to be able to hear other things better when I'm wearing them. I like that the ones you have fold up so compactly. Makes for more room in the range bag.
 
Darren do you have a planner. I would love to know how they work with something like a planner or a router at high pitch. I have been wanting a set of ear muff type protectors as opposed to using plugs but a few things concern me.

Back in the day when we wore those big headphone that covered our ears, i always found that they pushed on the side of my head way to much for comfort. Pressure applied by those old headphones left a great deal to be questioned.

I feel this same way just seeing the sound reducing ones in the store. Especially the ones that dont take any external inputs and are just mufflers.

Are these adjustable in this respect and can you try them on the planner and see how they do give us some further feedback.
 
Can do, but will be this weekend, probably Sunday. I think I read they were 2.4 lbs of side pressure, but hardly notice they are on...very comfortable...and I have a big head.

Darren VIA tapatalk
 
Volume up high. I have very poor hearing in one ear and worse in the other.

I do wear the ear muffs in the shop at times. They work great for routing/sanding and more.

My wife wants me to get a hearing test. I say "why, I know i cannot hear."

Note: Hammering in the steel target bases can be as loud as a pistol shot at times.
 
I got to go test out the ear muffs on the range last night. Had 7 other guys around me at the same time, all shooting 9mm to .45 cal. They worked great.

Rob, will be probably sunday before I am able to get the routing done that I need to do, so will let you know the results of that later.
 
Cool...glad to hear they worked well for you. I ordered a pair a couple of days ago, along with a few other goodies. ;)
 
Alright, did a little routing this weekend and they worked well. They seem to have a good range of frequencies they cut out at. Will be picking up a second pair in the future just for the shop.
 
I just got another pair of these for the shop and for mowing, didn't want to forget to put the set I had back in my range bag. I kind of wish there was a bluetooth version to be able to listen to music without the cord, but I tried them out on the mower this weekend with music going and worked just fine with the phone in my shorts pocket. The cable was long enough to reach without tugging when standing up.

Edit: I didn't have the external mics turned up very high with the mower running, just high enough to hear things around me well enough to hear where a noise was coming from. I could hear dogs barking around the neighborhood, but still could listen to music at a reasonable level.
 
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