Hello,

I'm looking for some in ear electronic ear pro. I have had a set of custom molded ESP's in the past. They were super expensive, finicky and made it difficult to use a duck call when I hunted with them. Another thing that sucks about custom molded ear plugs is your body is always changing so they are only good for so long. Your ear canal changes with weight fluctuations and age.

I have lost one of my ESPs and the other doesn't fit so well anymore. So I am on the search for something better. What do you guys use for clays and/or hunting? I like the idea of electric plugs so I don't have to remove them to hear people I'm shooting with on the way to the next station. I ran across Tetra Alpha Shields. They look interesting. They are not custom molded which solves the the issue of ear canal changing over time. Any thoughts?

Pay once cry once, ESPs.

I honestly thought the ESPs sucked. I had to send the left one back 3 times for repair. The sound quality left a lot to be desired also. Lots of crackling.

The Westone defend ear aka cens offer the electronics in a replaceable package. This allows you to replace the silicone ear PCs independent of the electronics. Helps with body/ ear canal changes due to age or weight change. Also If you decide you can sell them as other people can buy ear pieces for their ears.

Can be ordered through a audiologist.

Interesting. I'll check them out. Thank you!

Best protection and speech hearing solution at present is also one of the cheapest. Plain old foam plugs for best protection. For hearing speech get the Walker’s Raptor bone conduction amplifiers. They send the moderated sound through your face bones, not into your ears, so that the sound doesn’t get blocked by the ear plugs. And the sound is moderated to eliminate the dangerous levels. The combination costs under $200 and it REALLY works.

Get 33-34 NRR foam plugs for almost no money. Learn to roll them into tight cones to go deep into your ear canal and swell up to fill it and block the sound effectively. Then you are protected. The Raptor will do the rest. You owe it to yourself to try this relatively new approach.

Cheaper bone conduction devices are available on Amazon. I just can’t speak to their quality.

Oh, and the Raptors don’t touch the gun. No fouling like with muffs.

I have seen those. I only read a few reviews which seemed very mixed. Maybe I should look into them a little more. Would you say these are best for hearing speech? I'm guessing hearing trap machines or duck wings from a distance is not ideal.

I will let you judge for yourself. I can hear the machine. I can hear the wheels of my push cart on the ground. I get extremely good noise reduction with my plugs. I was in industry for decades and learned to install plugs as they were designed to be used. I can’t hear anything with my plugs in. Muffs can’t penetrate the plugs. But the Raptors go around the plugs. Most protective plugs with speech amplification can only work because they don’t really block the noise very well. They let the speech in. Properly inserted plugs don’t. So the speech sound has to go around. It can’t go through. Bone conduction is the answer. If you can’t hear what you want with Raptors, you surely couldn’t with any other system.

Thank you for the detailed reply. I also put my foam ear plugs in until they touch my brain so I can't hear anything with them in. Muffs are a no go for me as well. I'll look into the bone conduction a little more.

+1 for the Westone Defendear. I recently got a custom fitted pair of the Digital X3 model. At $1,000 they were $600 less than the $1,600 ESP Elite Digital, with features that seem to fall between the ESP Elite Digital and the $2,100 ESP Stealth. So far, so great. Comfortable, easy to operate with memory that automatically defaults to last settings - even if batteries are removed.

Specs here: https://www.westone.com/store/defendear ... digitalx-3

Good luck!

Not to belabor, but I should also mention the Raptors have Bluetooth for listening to music, etc. and also are rechargeable. No batteries. I just plug them into my power plug in the car on the way to shoot. Always topped off.

Thanks for the replies. I will take a look at all of these.

How do the Westones do with wind noise?

Not bad, but like all microphones with an amplifier it can be present. I have not kept up with the product in the last few years, but some of the programs offered are better than others. They may offer better programs now than they did 6 years ago.

I had my new Defendears out in the wind for the first time today, and didn’t notice any noise from it. I’ve been very happy with them!

Sounds good. Thanks for the input.

I got the Soundgear instant fit when they had a $150 off deal. They are owned by a hearing aid company. They block the gun noise and amplify speech up to 15x

Maybe a silly question.....can any of these nice models be covered by Insurance or anything like that?

Doubt that.

Why not ask your insurance agent?? Instead of here