Recommendation for Electronic Ear Muffs

[Richard Flanders]

I have Starkeys too, with the 4 levels adjusted with a tiny push button, which gets bumped a lot. If you put them on high sensitivity you can't wear them while walking through the brush or cattails as it's just wayyy too loud, and when/if an airliner goes over at 35,000ft it sounds like they're flying through your head. And when folks start blowing on their dog whistles you have to jerk them out of your ears immediately if they're close. The only real use I find for them is for sitting in a nice silent deer stand and listening for those subtle footsteps in the dry leaves, but there can't be any planes flying over.... I have Starkey regular hearing aids also and have kept them going for 9yrs so far and they're still fine and I really like them. As for headsets, I use the older high-profile Peltors with the single volume control and love them. I've borrowed and tried their low profile muffs also and liked them just fine. Some don't like the high profile for rifle/shotgun shooting because the hit the stock but I don't find it an issue. I definitely don't like the dual volume controls on the low profile model. I can tell you that the in the ear units are not near good enough at an indoor range if there are other shooters. I went to a full-auto shoot in Denver last fall and had to jump back out of the range and put muffs on over my foam plugs when the shooting started. It was wayyyy too loud for foam plugs alone. And just for the record, the only foam plugs I use are the pinkish-orange H Leights. Nothing else comes close. They are the perfect foam ear plug and will fit any size ear canal well. The yellow cylindrical EAR brand are too big and 'stiff' and caused my ear canals to swell shut once and I ended up in the emergency room in Nome. I won't touch those.