The ability to increase your hea

The ability to increase your hearing to suppressing loud noises such as gunfire or loud machinery is about as important as protecting your eyes. From inexpenive foam plugs to your fingers or the latest in high technology muffs. I have seen more than one person at the range using pistol bullets for ear plugs and appears that 9mm bullets are about the right size for most adults. From foam to $1,000 3M/Peltor military hear through muffs with connection for your radio and voice activated microphone or throat mic there is a lot of technology out there to leverage according to your budget and needs. Except for my miliary electronics have this feeling that especially Walker is about to change models as the Quads are already being discontinued or put on deep discount by most vendors and unless someone sends me some of the new models it may be hard for me to keep up. I already want the newer Walker Bluetooth Ear Buds but have to watch my budget as have guns, ammo, radios, armor and food to buy.

PROTECTING YOUR HEARING IS IMPORTANT

Most should be familiar with foam ear plugs from basic to more ergonomic they all work pretty much the same and give the same hearing protection which is enough to keep you from doing damage. Becasue they are cheap and I take out groups of Boy Scouts and church youth shooting I buy the foam plugs in 500 pir bulk packs and keep one at work along with another case at home so always handy. Most of my life I have always used the Sonic IIs which are two sets shown on right. For most of my life if wearing Blue jeans or any other pants with watch pocket would and still may be a pair of Sonic IIs. They allow enough normal level sound through for situational awareness while clamping down majority of gun fire blast without batteries and were around decades before electronic devices. Surefire makes a product that works with similar technology I see a lot of folks using but have so many pair of Sonic IIs and electronic devices have not purchaed any as I am not wealthy so just can't buy everything. I have a lot of inexpensive combination earbud/PTT discrete kits with cell phone and ham radios on equipment not used enough to have a %1,000 military system. I pull the metal cylinder out of a Sonic II and put them on my lapel/throat mic and ear bud hands free kits as work better than the factory ear buds for comfort and blocking gunblast impulse. Last photo above shows the PTT and ear bud with Sonic II plug replacing what it came with.

SO IS HEARING FOR SITUATIONAL AWARENESS

When the Walker Quads were first released one of my vendors sold me a set for $99 though their introductory "sale" price was $149 then in about two weeks jumped to $199. Since have seen them for years selling in the $129 to $249 price based on who was running a sale and who was getting full retail with $149 to $199 beeing common. Noticed recently (August 2023 a couple vendors running them on sale for $59, some are "discontinued" while some are still asking the full $249 price. If able to pick up a set at %59 they are worth every dime to put in your kit as would assume they have a new model replacing them and it won't be cheap.

Walkers Ultimate Digital Quad Connect BlueTooth Electronic Shooters Ear Muffs are stunning. They have a 24 NRR advanced sound compression amplifier that raises the volume of low sounds up to 9 times normal while it simultaneously limits the volume of dangerously loud sounds. The 4-speaker surround sound system is stuning for optimal situational awareness. Your able to hear everything around you clearly, comfortably and safely. They connect your bluetooth enabled device, including virtually all smart phones and bluetooth enabled two way radios. Just sync the headset to your phone or radio and communicate entirely through the headset, hearing through the speakers in each ear and picking up your voice through a built in microphone.

With Adjustable Frequency Tuning (AFT), you can quickly adjust each ear independently to balance bass/treble to suit the game you are pursuing, or your personal need for differential frequency enhancement. Walkers Ultimate Digital Quads let you know the precise direction from which sound is coming, without needing to move. With two microphone ear muffs, you can tell if the source is right or left but you must turn your head to determine if it is coming from front or behind you. The 4-speaker surround system, each directional mic feeds data into the amplifier so you know precisely from where sound is originating, without the need to move.

Walkers Ultimate Digital Quad Connect advanced digital amplifier circuitry provides the clearest, most accurate sound available in a Walkers electronic earmuff. I can easily link my phone if at the range or shooting in my indoor range at work so if it rings I can pause to take the call without trouble. Same with my Bluetooth enabled ham radios and commercial radios, if in the field with other hams we can talk on our handitalkies simplex or using a local repeater if need long range coverage. While writing this I saw where MidwayUSA has them on sale for $59 with free shipping on orders over $100 so put another pair in my cart with some other items so wife will hve a pair or can be a backup for me.

COMMUNICATING WHILE DOING BOTH IS EVEN BETTER

The Walker Razor Slims uave a noise reduction rating of 23 dB, are much slimmer than the Quads, less money retail and you can buy a "walkie talkie" module that clips onto the muffs. Walker's Razor Walkie Talkie Attachment is designed to integrate with Walker's Razor earmuffs using Voice Activated Transmit (VOX), which allows 2-way, hands free communication up to 3 miles but in hilly terrain with heavy vegitation about a mile is more realistic. Have used aftermarket antennas from my ham radio collection that increase range but give up comfort a a longer antenna sticking a foot above your head while moving through the woods can be an issue. Also a longer antenna has to be removed to stow them away and want mine to be ready when grab them so mostly use the factory antenna. Am looking for an antenna that helps range without sacrificing mobility but not found exactly what I want yet. Most of the time I will be using my cell or ham radio paired to my Quads which is much more effective but requires everyone in a group to be ham radio licensed and have a $1,000 in military grade headset, cables and PTT.

Easy to feel rubber buttons and an LCD screen allow you to operate the on/off, control volume, tune, and select among 22 channels. The walkie talkie unit has a wind-proof microphone and short-range antenna,amd clips directly to Razor Slim earmuffs. I purchased a pair on another introductory deal for wife and I to use and are so handy purchased two more units for loaners. Whether teaching a class or hunting with buddies (especially at night) having an inexpensive option for all to communicate while even steady gun fire is not ringing your ears makes these another handy kit item and must have for a group that comonly hunts together. For the money any group that shoots and/or hunts together often should all have one or two of these setups. Anytime wife and I travel ours go in the truck so if get in road rage runing fight we can put on ear mufs without losing ability to communicate.

WALKER SILENCER ELECTRONIC EAR BUDS

The Walker Silencer Ear Buds have omni directional microphones, full dynamic range speakers that have reasonably clear sound with "Sound Activated Compression" that stops the impulse of a gun shot instantly. They provide stunning comfort with their Secure Fit system and three different sized contoured fins and foam buds for a customized fit. These are a part of my EDC kit and when I strap my pistol on these come with me just like my wallet, knife and keys. Usually just drop the case in the console of my truck but if go into grocery store, doctors office or a vendor I generally power them up and plug them in my ears. Am at the age where have hearing loss and the world has gone loopy so being able to turn up the volume just enough to hear sounds I may normally miss and if had to use my weapon not lose my hearing after the first shot would be a huge tactical advantage. These are first generation and will overmodulate if turn volume too high and are suceptible to wind noise being an issue on a blustery day. Since they have Gen 2 and Gen 3 versions with Bluetooth if could buy every upgraded model I would really like to try the newer models as Walker's history of upgrading and improving my guess is the new models are even better.

LOWER TECH/PRICE COMMUNICATION ACCESSORIES

I have spare armor kits staged in handy locations around home, work and in vehicles. I can't afford to pair a 3M/Peltor or MSA/Sordin headset with PTT and cables with all the spares but have plenty of spare radios plus cell phones can drop in my spares armor kits and LBEs. Have found some under $25 combination PTT, microphone and ear bud kits that work well enough but doubt they would survive a combat patrol in the jumgle. Have now found a better option but its just over $100 so swapping kits one at a time. Icom released a new water resistant remote speakermic for Icom ID 51s and later models. I had two ID 51 D-Star handietalkies then Icom released the ID 52 and many hams immediatly buy whatever is newest and sell off their previous radio to help fund the new. Suddenly good used ID 51s are plentiful and price dropped in half plus only takes cloning a SIM card and sliping into an !D 51 to fully program to personal prefereces so most of my kits now have this radio. The ID 51 speakermic has a port for an ear bud so plug into radio, clip speakermic near shoulder and your working with top quality audio equipment and if want can pluf an ear bud into top of speakermic so its not squaking at everyone in earshot. Will get some pics posted soon.

The Safariland/TCI CIPS (Covert-In-Plain-Sight) Communications Kit with discrete ear piece and microphones you can run down your coat sleeve to cuff or to lapel of jacket are super nice but I only have four CPS II kits which live in my two most worn sport jackets and two suits that are tailored to hide armor, firearms and radios when working security. Mostly work in sport coats but some events (especially personal protection jobs) require suits and good equipment so the Safariland/TCI epuipment is specifically tasked for security work only. If have to work security in high threat environment where an overt kit is appropriate will have a 3M/Peltor headset on.

MORE HEARING & COMMUNICATION EQUIPMENT COMING SOON

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