CaldwellE-MAX Electronic Hearing Protection 21-25 NRR - Adjustable Earmuffs for Shooting, Hunting and Range

Electronic hearing protect lets you hear casual conversation while saving your ears in loud environments, such as a gun range.These are in the decidedly middle-of-the-road to cheapo-de-lux range. They do a fine job of filtering out noisy to fairly loud sounds. I can tell you right now I wouldn't wear these at a busy indoor range, at least not without additional protection, such as ear plugs, nor would I let my students do so.I bought these because:1) I was ever so curious, as I've never seen them this cheap,2) I'm a firearms coach, and I like my students to hear what I'm saying. These are cheap enough to be entrusted to semi-strangers,3) Curiosity...yes, I was curious enough to list this twice!I received these yesterday. I created a very noisy environment, then compared these to my older mid-range Peltors, which cost roughly 7 times more.The perceived differences in hearing protection and voice amplification are so minimal I'm not quite certain if they're real or the result of my bias...I never really liked the Peltors. Anyway, unless a blind or truly scientific test is done, we'll have to go off of my word.The voice amplification was ever so slightly better with the Caldwells. Other than that, functionally they were identical. I did not hear a difference between the two when it came to blocking noises out, which is not surprising as they're pretty much the same size. The electronics are much newer in the Caldwells.As far as volume, it isn't impressive, but it isn't bad. If you're wearing ear plugs, you should be able to hear voices at a conversation level, but they'll be a bit faint. In a very noisy environment, such as a packed indoor range, it may not be enough.I really liked the simple, easy, not-high-tech control. One knob turns it on/off and controls the volume. Do you hear that Peltor, Toyota, and other companies that like to make these controls as complicated as possible?!? Yes, the same type of knob that has been controlling electronic devices since radios had tubes and the woolly mammoth invented the wheel. The same type of knob that nobody ever had to read a manual to figure out, that worked every time, and allowed quick and easy control of the device in question.In case you missed it, I like simple controls for simple devices.Peltor is operated by buttons, one for power and two for volume. It beeps loudly in your ears whenever a button is pressed. It is very easy to inadvertently leave them on. While it isn't too difficult to figure out which button does what without looking, it still takes forever compared to the Caldwells, and needlessly so. They add cost. To be best of my knowledge, none of the other manufacturers feel the need to use this system.As a side note, the insulation covering the cords on the Peltors has rotted away, despite their very light use and protected storage. Obviously I haven't owned these long enough to compare, however I have owned others longer, and no such issues have cropped up.As a side note to the side note, Peltor is a medium to high end brand, and as such, one tends to expect higher quality.To be fair, the Peltors still function properly, despite the dangling wires and silly button controls.Obviously these aren't high end, however they're easily as good as the Peltors, and you can buy several of these for the same price. Will they last as long as the Peltors? I'll let you know in 10 years or so. Frankly, even if they don't last as long, I feel you're still better off with these, assuming of course you're looking at fairly mild hearing protection. Oh, it may cost you a few bucks more eventually, like, in 5 years or more, but just the ease of use is a big enough bonus to make it worthwhile. You also won't worry so much about theft or loss.I'm going to shoot this weekend, and I'll give them a serious test then. If I feel any changes are in order, I'll edit this review.

Compared to a iPod / hi-fi headphone, these are tighter both left to right and from top to bottom.There is no adjustment for length top to bottom, but the muffs rotate in all directions.The fit will tighter than hi fi phones.Depending on whether most hi-fi phones fit too tight or too loose should determine how you will like the fit of these.If many hi-fi phones are too loose, then this device might be a perfect fit.If most hi-fi phones seem too tight, these will feel even tighter and may not be comfortable.Many persons (mostly women) have 'big hair' and the tight fit will mess up the hairdo. For them, the tiny foam plugs are the best way to go.There is no right to left adjustment on these. So if one of your ears hears much stronger than the other you won't be able to adjust your way out of that problem.The volume is very very easy to adjust on these, and will never give a too high of a volume, never blast the ears.But if you are slightly hard of hearing , the microphone system on these might not allow listening to voices that are not loud enough (compared to other shooting muffs which have more volume).I love that because my hearing will never be blasted by outside noises , music and so forth.The tight fit will make these a good solution for wearing at night to block out noises like cars on a motel highway, or dogs barking. The slim profile will make it easy to sleep on your side with a large fluffy pillow.The batteries are super easy to change out, it takes 2 AAA size. Rechargeable batteries work very well in my opinion (although volume will be slightly lower because the voltage is less compared to non rechargeable alkalines.These phones will fit very easily into a regular one gallon size ziplock bag, which will keep them clean.Low profile means easier when shooting trap with a shotgun.If the electronics last for years, this is a great low price solution, and very very satisfactory to me!All of these shooting hearing protectors can loose effectiveness with time, even the expensive ones.Although from reading reviews the costly ones are more rugged and longer lasting.But they cost 10 times as much or more. So I figure these make good throw away protectors (I paid $17 here on amazon for this muff).To adjust right to left hold the top band in the middle and grab both muffs with one and and turn (rotate) them left and right until they are centered, and then place on head.For failsafe hearing protection you can use a pair of foam plugs AND this headset.This will reduce speaking intellibilitiy greatly but gives more protection.Choose foam plugs with a MINIMUM dB protection, and put them in loosely. This way the hearing reduction will be less and wearing these muffs over the top will give tremendous protection and you can still hear conversation (a little bit). You won't hear enough or very well but by choosing the right foam plugs and giving them a loose fit, this idea will work somewhat.Most people will want to only wear the muffs, without foam plugs. That is the whole idea of electronic muffs, enabling you to hear non gun shot sounds.If you want to hear forest noises (deer walking for instance), this is not muffs to buy. They will not amplify the soft low volume sound enough, as compared to higher price muffs.I prefer these over any other muff, and when shooting where I don't need to hear range officer I use foam plugs in addition, everything is nice and quiet and, actually, these muffs are more comfortable to me than any non amplifying headsets I have used or tried out.To me these muffs are a minimum solution and for me that is best.If I buy ten over a lifetime, that is only $160 (if the low price holds up on Amazon).