One of the voices in the firearm industry I look up to most is Larry Vickers. He’s a living and breathing book of knowledge and information, and always quotable. One of my favorite quotes is, “…if you use a smartphone, you have no excuse to not have electronic hearing protection –- period.” I fully agree and since adopting electronic hearing protection I hate to go back to anything less. Recently Etymotic research provided me with a pair of their GunSport PRO electronic earplugs for test and review.
Why Electronic?
Electronic hearing protection allows you to keep situational awareness at the range, and make it easy to hear commands, like “cease fire”. For gun classes, these are perfect because you can hear and communicate with the instructor. As a media member they’re perfect for shooting and discussing a product while on the range with a company and their product. Once you go electronic you don’t go back.
Etymotic GunSport PRO Specs
The GunSport Pros have an NRR of 25 decibels. NRR stands for Noise Reduction Rating and is a standard in the Personal Protective Equipment industry. An NRR rating of 25dB is actually quite impressive for ear plugs. As electronic hearing protection they do amplify your hearing up to five times. They simply cannot process more than 115dBs, and the protection is instantaneous.
Ease Of Use
The installation of the battery is very simple. Open the door, install the battery, and close the door, it’s that simple. There isn’t a dedicated on and off switch, you simply open the battery compartment and leave it open to turn it off. This isn’t a big deal because Etymotic includes an awesome little container to protect your earplugs. This container is a softish rubber like material with internal foam, so you can leave the doors open and the system off. If the batteries fall out they’ll be in the box anyway.
The Etymotic GunSport PRO earplugs come with just about everything you’d need to rock and roll. This includes numerous different Accu Fit eartips, a few extra filters, a filter tool, a cleaning tool, a healthy amount of batteries and a strong, but thin strap to connect the earplugs.
They have both a low and high mode. Low mode doesn’t amplify sound, and makes normal conversation comfortable. It also allows you to have greater situational awareness. The High mode amplifies quiet sounds, and this is perfect for hunting. Just sitting on my porch and loading mags I could hear my local red headed woodpecker working his feather’s off. There are at least 25 yards between him and I and it sounded like he was right beside me. It doesn’t overcome you, but alerts you to the noises around you.
I could still hear the world around me over the woodpecker, including little noises like a plane overhead, and cars driving by.
Active Protection
When it comes to actual protection the GunSport PRO earplugs rock. If you’ve been paying attention to my reviews it almost always looks like I’m not wearing hearing protection. Well I am, and I’ve been wearing the GunSport PRO Earplugs. This includes shooting my standard 9mm rifles and carbines for the Z Clean, and HTC Vantage reviews. It also includes reviewing the Axelson Tactical ROC muzzle brake for the Loadout Room. That bad boy is exceptionally loud, as most muzzle brakes are. However, the Etymotic ear protection cuts down a big BANG, to a manageable and safe, “pew”. As soon as you pull the trigger everything goes quiet, it is truly instantaneous.
Comfort
The only electronic hearing protection I’ve ever used was the full earmuffs. So these small, insertable earplugs were a complete, but welcome, change. Florida in the spring and summer is basically one long period of suffocating heat and humidity. Earmuffs covering the ears create a nice area that generates and pours sweat. Sweat dripping into your ears is never fun. So I was immediately pleased at the difference in comfort between earmuffs and earplugs.
The wide variety of different tips make a big difference when it comes to comfort and customization. I used some pretty standard polymer tips and they fit perfectly, and comfortably. Wearing for extended periods of times wasn’t an issue and I’d often forget I was wearing them between shooting, and reloading, or setting up shots for the camera.
Downsides
So the downsides are few. The only real one is the battery life of the Zinc air activated batteries. They will last about 9 days of continuous operation, or roughly two weeks if the units are turned off between uses. As soon as the tab is removed from these batteries they’ll self discharge in about a month. It’s good these batteries come in packs of ten. The other good news is even if the batteries die when you’re on the range they still act as hearing protection. That way you’re protected until the line is cold and you can change the batteries.
Nice and Quiet
Overall these are an extremely well made piece of gear. Etymotic really knocked it out of the park with the GunSport PRO Earplugs. They are easy to use, comfortable, and block out gunfire without issue. The GunSport Earplugs are well designed, and easy to use. I can’t wait to have these for Shot Show 2018’s range day. They’ll be perfect for discussing guns, while shooting them.
