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earpro

Howard Leight Impact Sport Bolt

Howard Leight Impact Sport Bolt: Attack the noise

Hearing protection: if you’re shooting, you’re gonna need it.  Even exposure to certain suppressed guns can accumulate over time to cause permanent damage.  The problem with the most effective methods of ear protection (earpro) is that they’re effective against all sound.  If you’re stalking a deer or listening for range commands, hearing (or not) can be the difference between a great day and a monumentally borked one.  This is why electronic earpro such as the ubiquitous Howard Leight Impact Sport (hereafter just Sport) have gained such popularity: amplifying normal volume sounds, while dampening loud noises.  The downsides being they’re battery operated (Murphy’s Law), provide less of a noise resistance rating (NRR) than passive muffs and are usually uncomfortable with eye protection (without aftermarket gel cups).  With the popularity of the Howard Leight Sport’s, it was with great anticipation that many of us waited for the improved version, the Howard Leight Impact Sport Bolt earpro (hereafter just Bolt’s).

Many have remarked that the images of the Bolt released as far back as 2017’s SHOT Show bore a remarkable resemblance to the elder Sport model.  That’s because externally, almost nothing changed.  On the inside, Honeywell (manufacturer of a great deal of OSHA related workplace safety equipment) opted for a hardware revamp.  Digital compression circuity replaced the outmoded analog circuitry, leading to a much faster “attack time”, or the speed at which the circuitry detects a noise over 82 dB and shuts down the electronic amplification dampening the loud noise.  This digital circuitry comes at a price however, as battery life plummets from ~350 hours with the Sport set to ~150 hours with the Bolt set.

Howard Leight Impact Sport Bolt
The elder on the left, the youngling on the right

Aside from the digital circuitry improving attack time and granting some improved low-level noise amplification (as the cost of battery longevity), the performance metrics are identical to the previous generation.  A 22 dB NRR means the Bolt’s are as effective as the Sport’s for attenuating noise once the circuit is compressed.  Other shared features are “Airflow control technology”, 4-hour auto-shutoff, 3.5mm AUX jack for audio input, folding design, AAA battery usage and recessed microphones.

Howard Leight Impact Sport Bolt: Attack the noise
Cheekweld? Just fine, thanks.

The headband on the Sport was never lacking, but the material used to line the Bolt seems to be a step up.  The ear cups on the Sport were never much good and were replaced with aftermarket Sightlines gel cups to good effect.  The Bolt shares a similar set of ear cups as it’s predecessor, meaning replacement would equal improvement.

Howard Leight Impact Sport Bolt
The exposed internals of the Bolt (left) and my modified Sport’s on the right

I want to pause this review for a moment to tell a little story.  My first experience with electronic ear pro was terrible, but I’ve since come to respect that they have a place.  The location was Nasiriyah, Iraq and the event was the rescue of American POW Jessica Lynch.  We had received a few sets of first-gen Peltor electronic earpro a couple weeks prior, and on that night my squad leader decided to ditch his and I jumped on them.  Shortly after being dropped off by chopper, we made our way into the heart of the city.  The droning of support helicopters overhead and the overly “digital” sound of anything that wasn’t dampened was too jarring and I bailed on the set not a half hour after disembarking the bird.  I never wore electronic earpro again while in the service.

Why do I mention the preceding story?  Well as it turns out, I love electronic earpro.  The first gen Howard Leight Sport‘s are among my favorite, with Peltor also in regular rotation at my range days.  Besides the constant “limiting out” of the issued Peltor’s I used on that mission (which was unavoidable with helicopters in such close proximity), the problem I had was with the overly digitized noise quality I was hearing.  It was like kids stringing wire between tin cans, but only if someone made a poor cassette copy of that game and played it back.  The Leight Sport set has great sound quality, so the Bolt with it’s upgraded audio equipment should be a big improvement.  While the “attack time” is improved, the digital circuitry seems like it’s always one bad turn from shrieking feedback into my ears.  Minute noises are amplified excessively.

Howard Leight Impact Sport Bolt
Bolt stock earcups (left) and Sightlines aftermarket gel cups (right)

The solution is to simply turn down the volume right?  Well, no.  The problem isn’t with my volume being cranked up, it’s the actual compression circuitry.  Turning it down just means the overly sensitive, digitized sound is quieter, along with everything else.  This really negates the benefit of electronic amplification versus simple (and cheap) passive ear muffs.  This leaves me in a tough spot, as the Howard Leight brand has engendered a lot of consumer goodwill with the Impact Sport brand, but has missed the mark with the Bolt lineup.  Perhaps this is why the Bolt was delayed so long?  I know my review set was one of the early ones out the door, and I’ve had it for a while wanting to give it a thorough break in period before the review was up.  Perhaps I got a buggy early model, or perhaps the Bolt came out a bit prematurely.  Either way, I’ll stick with my Sport set until the problems are ironed out, or a new model is released.

Howard Leight Impact Sport Bolt
Again, old and new side-by-side

The Bolt set runs $89.95 on the Honeywell website, and can be found for just a couple bucks cheaper elsewhere.  If you’ve had a different experience with your set of Bolt‘s, sound off in the comments below!

-Rex Nanorum

@Rexnanorum

 


earpro

Choosing electronic hearing protection

Having recently reviewed a set of electronic hearing protection that didn’t live up to the high standard set by it’s predecessor, I set out to get some opinions from around the web on a few good sets of hearing protection to check out next.  One of the videos I enjoyed was from YouTube channel Military Arms Channel, or MAC.

In this video, MAC covers four different sets of electronic hearing protection, with three being muffs and one being of the in-the-ear variety.  Check out his thoughts and let me know which ones you like (and which you don’t) in the comments below!

-Rex Nanorum

@Rexnanorum

Noisefighters Sightlines | Earpro upgrade

Noisefighters Sightlines | Earpro upgrade

After leaving the Marine Corps, Noisefighters owner Neal Brace had more in mind than drinking a few beers and picking up some odd jobs.  He set his sights on inventing and producing upgrades and improvements for a number of different products.  From scope throw levers to improved AR charging handle designs, Neal’s had no shortage of good ideas it seems.  While chatting with him about his charging handle (the Sintercore Tripwire), he asked me to take a look at his Noisefighter Sightlines.  A quick look at what was advertised had me wanting to check these out myself.

So what exactly are Sightlines and why are they different?  Sightlines are drop-in upgrades for your ear muffs.  They aren’t just comfort upgrades or sound-deadening upgrades, they’re also meant to improve the ear-pro/eye-pro/skull relationship.  The top of the gel cups have narrow channels for your sunglasses, shooting glasses or scrips to pass through.  Normally, the part of your glasses that rests on your ears has three choices when you’re wearing earmuffs: rest on top of or under the ear cup, or be smashed between your head and ear pro. All options are uncomfortable.  Both are known to cause headaches.  The latter choices will break the seal on the ear muffs, negating a good portion of your hearing protection.  Many shooters I’ve seen don’t wear eye protection unless forced to by an indoor shooting range (or of course, vision impairment).

Noisefighters Sightlines | Earpro upgrade
The eyeglasses cutout, simple and needed.

Sightlines ear cups are constructed from silicone gel and memory foam before being wrapped in a polyurethane skin.  Pulling the OEM ear cups out of my Howard Leight Impact Sport electronic ear pro, I felt how flimsy the foam used therein really was.  By contrast, the Sightlines ear cups are 412% heavier and 20% thicker.  Extra mass (and better materials used) translates into better sound absorption.

Noisefighters Sightlines | Earpro upgrade
Sightlines (R) clearly thicker than OEM (L)

Installation took about 20 seconds.  The Leight ear-pro uses cups that are held in by little plastic tabs.  Other brands of earmuffs use different mounts, some with adhesive, matching whatever method the factory produced ear cups are attached with.

I replaced the foam cups with Sightlines about half an hour into my range day.  Most of the day was spent testing optics on an unsuppressed AR with a Metallica live album blasting from my vehicle, so the noise was of adequate intensity and variation to gauge performance.  The difference was impressive and immediately apparent.  With the Sightlines cups installed and the electronics in the Leight ear muffs turned off, I could only hear the bass line on the music.  OEM cups?  Bass, treble, vocals… I could hear it all.  Ambient noise was shut off with the Sightlines cups.  It was only dampened with the OEM’s.  Muzzle blast was far more comfortable with the Sightlines installed!

Noisefighters Sightlines | Earpro upgrade

I don’t have access to advanced decibel measuring equipment.  I do have a lot of experience with ear protection.  From passive muffs to electronic circuitry provided by Peltor and Bose used in my capacities as an Airborne Ranger turned civilian helicopter pilot I can say this: inexpensive Howard Leight Impact Sport muffs upgraded with Sightlines can hang with the heavyweights.

So, this is where Sightlines is at.  Recently (the beginning of December 2017) Noisefighters began a Kickstarter funding campaign to get these into full production for the many different models of ear pro these will be compatible with.  They’re one week into the 4-week fundraising timeframe and are well over 50% funded.  So, it looks like the fundraiser will be successful and these will see the free market in all their glory.  While final MSRP will be around $40 (depending on model), kickstarter contributors can get a flat price as well as other bonuses.  Check out their kickstarter here.

–Rex Nanorum


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