Howard Leight Electronic Earmuffs

I don't often review or recommend products, but these electronic earmuffs are so good, I had to.

I do a fair amount of shooting in my spare time - mostly pistol and shotgun. When I first started shooting, used those little disposable orange foam earplugs that you buy in packs. They do an OK job, but they get lost, get old, and aren't really that great.

I wanted to protect my hearing more, so I sprang for a set of regular earmuffs. They did a great job of noise reduction, but I couldn't hear any conversations or range instructions. I almost always go shooting with someone, and it's hard to talk when you're both wearing big muffs that deaden all sound. Also, if you've been to South Carolina, you may have noticed that it's hotter than hell. Nothing will make you sweat faster than wearing a set of big, clunky earmuffs in 100 degree heat.

After looking at about a million types of earmuffs, I decided to spring for the Howard Leight Impact Sport muffs. I wore them for the first time to a sporting clays CLE that had about 80 shooters. These muffs are AMAZING.

The trick is that they actually enhance low-level sounds (like conversations) and they deaden all loud sounds. Don't ask me how it works. All I know is that it works. I could hear my shooting partners putting the shotshells into their guns, and the mechanical "clicking" of each shell going into the shotgun was crystal clear, but the shotgun going off sounded like just a little "pop". Accordingly, I didn't have to constantly take them off and put them on. You just put them on - and you forget about them. They also weren't very hot, because they're slimmer than standard muffs. But here's the really cool part: they have an auxiliary jack for you to plug in your iPod.

That's right. You can listen to your iPod in stereo, while shooting. I'm not sure that you would want to do this, but if you were all alone, it would be pretty sweet to be popping off rounds to some tunes. In any event, these are the best hearing protection that I've come across, and I recommend them wholeheartedly to anyone who does any shooting or hunting. They won't break the bank, and they work.

Howard Leight Electronic Earmuffs