Pro EarsPredator Gold - Hearing Protection and Amplfication - NRR 26 - Contoured Ear Muffs - Typhon Medium

After a lot of research for electronic ear muffs I settled on the "Pro Ears Predator Gold". I read a lot of reviews on many ear muffs to get to the point of this particular pair. I even called and spoke to a Pro Ears rep about some of the negative reviews, mostly regarding the muff brackets breaking, and found out that several years back they did receive a batch of faulty brackets. The rep assured me that this had been since rectified and I should not have a problem with them. I stayed on the phone with the rep for about 25 minutes asking many questions and I was pleasantly surprised at how helpful the rep was in explaining the workings of their products. I never felt rushed at all while conversing with the rep and felt fully enlightened on this product. Pro Ears products come widely acclaimed in the shooting world also. Considering them as they are in the mid to higher price point ($249 retail/$170+/- Amazon). I can't say that I have tried many other electronic ear muffs, so I wanted to go with an established brand. The “Gold” series is not a new lineup, it’s been around (just improved upon). I concluded that I wanted the Predator Gold model due to the 26 NRR rating, individual volume control per ear muff, no external wires, and the 3.5 mm jacks with cord for accessories. I was also impressed by the 5 year warranty, albeit it is somewhat limited but as good or better than most. One final reason I liked this particular pair is that it came in Kryptek Typhon (black) which is what my favorite shotgun is wrapped in.So, I received my pair just as I was preparing to go shoot a round of skeet here at the house. (how incredible). I didn't take the time to make any adjustments, I just put them on and went shot. To say the least, I was impressed. I tried them in passive mode and turned on at various levels of amplification. I had been shooting with a passive set of earplugs rated at 30 NRR which worked fine. The only problem with passive ear plugs is that they can become uncomfortable rather quickly and you have no situational awareness around you, hearing wise. That is why I pursued getting a pair of electronic muffs. Sometimes my wife (lovely assistant) needs to get my attention and with these it’s as simple as speaking in a normal tone of voice to me. That’s better than throwing sticks in front of me! (ROFL)I wear prescription glasses and these muffs seal well around them. I did find these muffs to fit snugly on my head and around my ears but not to a point of discomfort. I can't say that I forgot I had them on, but I also can't say that they bothered me.I was amazed at several things when I shot. 1) the process of these muffs to compress the immediate blast of the round to a safe level and how fast they recovered and allowed me to hear the remaining "safe" report of the shot. In other words, they compress the initial breaking of the sonic barrier but recover as soon as the remaining report drops to about 82 db and below. So what value is that to me? It protects my ears from anything over about 82 db but makes sure I clearly hear everything else under the threshold. That becomes important when situational awareness is important. So when the "bang" of the shot happens, I can still hear someone speaking to me. That, I believe, is the major difference between "compressing" and "clipping". Compressing the sound is much more realistic and useful than simply clipping. (Google clipping vs compressing of electronic ear muffs). 2) I was astonished that while standing 25 + yds from my Champion Wheelybird 2.0 thrower I heard it go through its entire firing sequence. Before, I could barely here the release of the trap. With the Predator Golds turned on I heard when the trap arm started moving, when the clay came off the arm, and when the next clay fell on the arm for the next shot. Not ever hearing this before I was actually surprised at how loud it was. And the muffs were still at the factory low preset and I had the volume at about 1/2 of the full volume.Speaking of factory presets, the Predator Gold model amplification can be adjusted. Under the foam insert in the muff itself next to the batteries are the dip switches. You can re-align (or program) these switches to accomplish several things, 1) to increase the gain for amplification, and 2) align the amplifier so that it is directed straight to an external sound source. All of this is within the manual that comes with it.1) Increasing the gain just means you can make the external sounds louder, up to 82 db. For someone like me that has tinnitus and poor hearing, it works great. For normal hearing and use, the low factory setting is plenty good enough. Note that when you increase the gain to the High setting, you will hear some “whir” like when the window is down a little on your vehicle while driving. So this setting should be used for specific purposes.2) Aligning the amplifier directly to the sound source with these dip switches (pins) allows music to stream from say your cell phone without cutting out on the high notes. Aligning the dip switches actually bypasses the compression circuit. But, if listening to music on a slow day and a bird flies by, go ahead and fire. The compression component is still active and will compress any sound over 82 db. There or other external devices you can connect these to, but I haven’t tried them yet. And if you do connect an external source, the muffs have to be turned on to hear it. Once the muffs are turned on, the volume is strictly adjusted by the source you are attached to. The volume knobs on the muffs are of no consequence at this point other than to turn the muffs on/off. Whenever you remove the jacks from the muffs, volume control returns to the muff knobs.I also wore these muffs outside just to hear what the morning bird serenade sounded like. WOW! I could barely hear some of the bird species before but with these on, they all sounded like they were right in front of me. I heard my neighbor’s bobwhite quail whistle in his yard which is about 100 yds from me. I turned my head toward it expecting to see the quail in my yard (LOL). These muffs really do amplify normal sounds and make them stand out very well…..simultaneously compressing any noise above 82 db.Last note: When trying to wrap my head around the “attack time” on these muffs, I wondered just how fast the 1.5 milliseconds really is….I mean like, can any portion of a sound above 82 db get to my ears. I can attest to the fact that no portion of dangerous decibel levels can get through. The high decibel levels are compressed faster than you and I can even think “bang”, much less hear it. So 1.5 milliseconds is way faster than one can imagine. Plenty fast enough to keep your ears safe.I am really enjoying these Predator Gold’s and if any thing goes haywire with them, I’ll come back and update my review.p.s. Something I didn't see well documented on the reviews of this product was the ability to mount a shotgun without hitting the muffs. I can tell you this, that there isn't a pair of ear muffs made that can't hit your stock. If your ear muffs are hitting your stock when you mount your shotgun, it is because you are having to turn and lower your head too much to finish your mount. Adjustments can and should be made to your shotgun to lower the stock drop and/or lengthen your LOP if possible. A good mount is when your stock comb settles under your cheekbone and you still have a slight space between the top of the stock and the bottom of the muffs. It can be done successfully because I did it. When I mount my shotgun, my head never moves. Only the gun moves up to my cheekbone. I always thought I'd never be able to use ear muffs until I figured out that my gun mount was flawed due to an ill-fitted stock.