No, but if you get a pair, let us know how you like them.

cdb

 

I have had mine for a month. I have shot in them a few times. for the money i think they are exceptional.

I also really like using them in my woodshop. I can listen to the radio plain as day, then kick the saw on, then right back to the radio without looking for my ear muffs.

I will say you will need to stock up on batteries.

 

I have not and would not consider them to provide adequate hearing protection. With a noise reduction rating of only 25 (NRR 25 dB) they are about as poor as ear muffs and far worse than $2.00 foam plugs that offer 32 NRR.
Frankly I am not able to understand why anyone would spend this kind of money for something that offers such poor ear protection??

 

I will say you will need to stock up on batteries.

That's great insight, thank you! I've read that batteries are an issue. They use those darn hearing-aid batteries with the little plastic tab on them. As soon as you remove the tab, the clock on that battery starts to count down. It doesn't really matter if you turn the earbuds off, the chemistry of those batteries means that they are discharging any time they're contacting air. I wish Walker's would have gone with rechargeable internal batteries like the more expensive systems utilize. Although if that were the case, these would probably also be "expensive systems" :roll: Thanks again!

 

Well now that I've seen this review... I'm sold!

Seriously though, I ordered a pair so we'll see (or, hear, maybe) how they work out. Should be doing a lot of shooting in the next two weeks; I'll report back to the group after I put them through the paces.

 

I have not and would not consider them to provide adequate hearing protection. With a noise reduction rating of only 25 (NRR 25 dB) they are about as poor as ear muffs and far worse than $2.00 foam plugs that offer 32 NRR.
Frankly I am not able to understand why anyone would spend this kind of money for something that offers such poor ear protection??

There is a lot more to hearing protection than simply decibal reduction. If it was we would all wear foam plugs with muffs over the top. However that would be a very foolish/dangerous choice while hunting in the field. It can also be a poor decision in some shooting situations where you need to be able to hear the range officer. For me I bought these to hunt in. I need to be able to hear my dog, the bird flush, the guys I am hunting with. Foam plugs are a terrible option in that situation. Which is why most bird hunters don't wear any protection. Which is fine most of the time... until that time when its not... and you have permanent damage. Bourjaily has talked about how he lost significant hearing from one morning in a duck blind.

So that is why I spent "this kind of money for something that offers such poor ear protection??" Because I want to be able to hear.

 

Jake I hear ya buddy! duck hunting, especially first light, is all about listening for the wings. such a beautiful sound.

 

I bought a pair 6 months ago, cannot get them to seal. They do not work for me. If any one wants to make a reasonable offer, sent me a PM. They are like brand new. I actually wanted to use them instead of my hearing aids in the field. They will not and do not do that.

Jim

 

There is a lot more to hearing protection than simply decibal reduction. If it was we would all wear foam plugs with muffs over the top. However that would be a very foolish/dangerous choice while hunting in the field. It can also be a poor decision in some shooting situations where you need to be able to hear the range officer. For me I bought these to hunt in. I need to be able to hear my dog, the bird flush, the guys I am hunting with. Foam plugs are a terrible option in that situation. Which is why most bird hunters don't wear any protection. Which is fine most of the time... until that time when its not... and you have permanent damage. Bourjaily has talked about how he lost significant hearing from one morning in a duck blind.

So that is why I spent "this kind of money for something that offers such poor ear protection??" Because I want to be able to hear

Exactly this.

I've got the Walker muffs which work fine at the shooting range but I don't like them much for hunting because I can't get a good seal when I'm wearing a ball cap. I also find that it throws off my calling a bit since it changes the sound (to me). I probably just need to practice calling with my e-pro in more...

 

These, or something like these, would probably be great for hunting. I can recall times about 30-35 years ago when, if I'd had something like this, I would probably be able to hear better today. Sadly, I didn't have them.

But, I can also recall trying a pair of earmuffs with similar noise control features about 20 years ago on the skeet field and they were a huge disappointment... not because they didn't work, but because they worked too well.

I was accustomed to shooting with both ear plugs and ear muffs over the plugs which pretty much blocked out any extraneous noise and greatly reduced the sound of the gunfire. Once I put the hearing/muffs on, I could hear a pin drop from 30 feet away. If someone cleared their throat or told a joke on the front porch of the clubhouse, I could hear it as if I were standing beside them. And, of course, the guys behind me attempting to whisper while I was on the station sounded like someone shouting in my ear. Very distracting to say the least!

It didn't take me long to realize I'd made a mistake in buying these hearing/muffs and they were quickly sentenced to the junk drawer never to see the light of day again. True story.

 

I ended up making a deal with @myflatline to acquire his Silencer earbuds and took them to the range a week or so ago to try them out. I think these earbuds are really good - for their price point. If you want to spend $500+ on the top line systems, that's totally fine, but if you're in the $100-150 range, these are probably your best bet.

I found their packaging to be nice and the carrying case looks really slick. They include three sizes of foam plugs AND ear hooks, so you can customize for the best fit. I typically wear the small sizes for earbuds, but these were counter-intuitive in my case. I found the small foam inserts to be really hard, so I wasn't able to compress them before inserting. The small ear hooks worked great, however. Then I tested the medium and large foam inserts and the largest ones seemed the softest, almost like traditional foam earplugs. That allowed me to squeeze them down and quickly get them into my ear, hold them in place for about 30-seconds while the foam expanded, and then they sealed tight. It's a little bit of a pain to get these inserted into the ear, so I'm going to work on some ways to make it easier / faster. I was thinking about getting some DIY custom foam earplugs and then inserting the Silencers into those, replacing the included foam tips, to see if that works. More to come on that idea!

After that, you have to feel for the little on/off switch, but that's no biggie. The volume dial is a little tricky but I found that once you get it set, you shouldn't have to mess with it. It wasn't all that difficult to put the tiny battery in each earbud, and although I wish they were rechargeable (like the expensive systems), you can get these batteries in bulk for pretty cheap. I'll warn you that these hearing-aid style batteries - with the little sticky tab on them - begin to react as soon as you remove the tab. Even if you turn off the earbuds, the batteries will continue to expend their energy. So don't assume that you can turn them off, and have full batteries when you shoot a couple weeks later. This is science, not a flaw of the earbuds (other than their decision to use batteries over rechargeable). Once they're in your ears, they stay put very well, so I did't use the little tether they include to tie them together, and I haven't had any issues with losing or misplacing them. I am pretty consistent about putting them back in the case as soon as I'm done, though.

The one thing that was driving me crazy - like all electronic earplugs or earmuffs - is that the wind noise can be deafening. I did find that wearing a knit hat or stocking cap over my ears solves this problem, but obviously that doesn't help in warmer weather. I'm thinking that I might be able to jerry-rig some sort of foam exterior to cut out the wind, like the fuzzy cover on a microphone, so I'll report back if that helps.

Anyways, I am a fan and I will continue to use these as my primary outdoor hearing protection. The advertised 25db reduction is suitable for outdoors, but I think they may be a little "light" when shooting at an indoor range, especially if you're standing next to the guy with the Desert Eagle .50 cannon :roll:

 

Glad they are working for you Beau.

 

Quick update on this thread. I ended up receiving a set of Beretta's "Off Shot" active hearing protection earbuds as a gift from my new in-laws. These are like $500 earbuds compared with the $100 Walker versions, so I sold the Walker's to a friend and started using the Beretta's. There was a trade off, though - the sound quality from the Beretta's is much better and there is absolutely no buzzing or humming or other electrical sounds whatsoever like I noticed with the Walker's. The bad news is that the Beretta's are connected by a wire that's permanently installed and it has turned into a bit of pain. It pinches in the back of your neck when you're looking up at your target and then if you move your head it tugs on the wire and pulls in your ears. I think I have a fix crafted to alleviate this issue, but an issue nonetheless.

The bonus with Beretta's earbuds is that they are rechargeable with internal batteries, instead of constantly changing the tiny batteries with the Walker's earbuds. Also, the Beretta's say they offer 32NRR and the Walker's only offer 26NRR.

This all being said, Walker came out with a new version of the Silencer earbuds that are rechargeable and I found them online for about $200. If they have improved their internals by even a little bit, this could be a really interesting offering and price point.

Interestingly enough, Beretta no longer offers the version of their earbuds that I own, only their Bluetooth version. That's a shame because the version I have is omni-direction so you can hear in stereo (great when hunting) while the Bluetooth version is not. I'd rather hear which direction a turkey is coming from than listen to music or talk on the phone, but that's just me :lol:

In summary, I don't think I could justify paying $500 for the Beretta earbuds had I been paying for them. That said, if money is not an issue, then the Beretta's are definitely better products overall. However, if the new Walker's (rechargeable) sound better than the originals, then those could be a winner at about half the price of the Beretta's and with no connecting cable.

 

I've had the Walker Silencer R600's for a week and worn them twice to the skeet range. I got mine from Midway USA for $145.
I like and don't like them at the same time.
Likes:
I bought them because I wanted to be able to hear squadmates during a round of skeet. They do that very well. I now have no trouble hearing even the softest call for a target. Of course, they amplify all sounds. I can now hear just about anything happening on the skeet field.
Don't likes
The first disappointment was that the Walker website says the NRR is 26db. When they arrived, it plainly says on the box NRR is 23db. What the Hell; the manufacturer can't even get the right information on their website.
Further, I am disappointed in muzzle blast attenuation. It is not as good as I'd hoped. The sound isn't painful and I'm not left with any more ringing in the ears than I already have, but still, I thought it would be better.
I didn't think the fit was real good. I've tried both the small and medium tips and think the seal could be better.
What I REALLY didn't like was the totally inadequate "manual" that comes with the device. I had so many questions about the operation of the device that the manual didn't even address. Oh, I figured it out eventually, but I shouldn't have had to.
I used the "contact" on their website to get clarification on all my questions. You think they responded? Hah! Not yet anyway, and it's been a week.

 

I like and don't like them at the same time.

Good feedback, thank you! Sounds like Walker still has some bugs to work out with these earbuds, but at $150, that's such a great price point. Most other options are in the $500 - 1000 range and I just think that's tough for a lot of people to swallow.

 

I've used them to replace my regular hearing aids when hunting - primarily ducks - because they work better for me than muffs for that kind of shooting. While their sound quality is not as good, and wind and other background noise seems to be more noticeable, they work fine for what they're for; at their price point, it's unfair to compare them to high end, programmable hearing aids. Besides, after losing a hearing aid while grouse hunting, I found that the one time only (for each side) replacement fee alone was more than these cost, next time I'd have to pay full price for the replacement aid. Looking at it that way, they're a bargain :wink: .