Initial Product Review: Western Safety Electronic Hearing Protection
I mentioned a deal on them from Harbor Freight on Electronic Hearing Protection. Mine arrived yesterday. No opportunity to take them to the range yet but I wore them around the house a bit yesterday. They amplify soft sounds. For example, I can hear mouse clicks and keyboard strokes on my quiet keyboard and if there are no other sounds, I can hear Junior sawing toothpicks in the background. And they block out loud sounds, the only one I tried was loud hand-clapping. And it blocked that out completely. The Mrs. liked them too.
Only problem was my set didn’t come with instructions so I had to Google up a set to figure out how to put batteries in them. You need to insert a nickel into the slots on the bottom and twist.
My initial impression is they are well worth the $20. I’ll have another report after I get them to the range.
April 4th, 2006 at 1:35 pm
You might also find these at their retail store and avoid shipping. It’s on the left just north of the 640 interchange on Broadway.
April 4th, 2006 at 3:43 pm
I ordered a set after you recommended them. A couple of weeks later I got a postcard saying they couldn’t get any more.
April 4th, 2006 at 3:46 pm
Fred, I got the same thing. But WS has changed brands. The old item is no longer carried, the new item is linked above and they have them in stock.
April 11th, 2006 at 12:31 am
I reordered after your comment and they just arrived.
First impression is negative. I put the batteries in (a bad design in my opinion) and the indicator light turns on. I put it back together and the indicator light won’t turn on. Something seems to be sensitive to the stress when the cup is snapped in. It may be a defect only with this particular set, but . . .
Incidentally, the instructions are wrapped up with the warranty in the bottom of the package. Rather, mine were. They may also have problems with their packaging process.
I don’t know whether I’ll bother to send them back under warranty since I have to pay to ship. I’ll probably just not deal with them again.
April 11th, 2006 at 10:50 am
Odd. Mine worked fine, once I found the manual online.
September 15th, 2006 at 9:05 am
[…] Finally got the $20 electronic hearing protection to the range. Impressions are that they’re not bad. They are definitely not as good as Pro-Ears but are better than standard hearing protection. They amplify soft sounds so you can hear people talk and make out the sounds of folks in other lanes loading magazines; and the block out loud sounds. In comments to the initial review, reader Fred wrote: I reordered after your comment and they just arrived. […]