Range Review - Ryobi Tek4 Electronic Earmuffs
Well I couldn't resist so I went back to Home Depot and plunked down $70 for a set of the Ryobi Tek4 Electronic Earmuffs. (see this link to home depot:
http://tinyurl.com/kumux3). It was a good day to do so as I was headed to the indoor range right after work.
The unit includes
-the headphones
-one battery pack
-one "standard" 5 hour charger
-an audio patch cable
-instructions.
The earmuffs are a funky but fun grey and fluorescent Ryobi Green/yellow combo. Honestly I don't feel all that much one way or the other about the way they look. They have a definite "Left" and "Right" side to them.
Left muff has a small microphone on the front and a screw cap that comes off to reveal the 4 volt Lithium Ion battery pack compartment. It also has a small, rubber capped, audio-in jack where you can plug in an iPod or other audio device for your listening pleasure (a headphone patch cable is included).
The Right muff has a small microphone and also the volume/on/off knob.
One thing I did happen to notice right off is that the battery pack cover is vital to blocking sound. With that cap removed you can hear sound through the left muff pretty clearly. Once the cap is installed both muffs block sound equally well. Ryobi has also apparently gone to some pains to make the muffs feel correctly balanced when the batter pack is installed.
So I put the (partially) charged muffs on and took them for a test run. Let’s be blunt, I have large ears. However the fit and adjustability of the headphones was very good and they were comfortable to wear for the entire session.
First I used them with the power off, just as regular muffs. Sound dampening was quite good with the thick and soft “gaskets” providing a good seal around my ears. I would rate them every bit as good as the top-notch Remington branded muffs I have. Then I turned them on. Sound quality was a bit “tinny” but clear. The circuit seems to play a bit more on the “safe” side than other electronic muffs I’ve worn and they “cut off” very quickly with any loud sound (even the metallic sound of two magazines clashing against each other. Recovery was fast enough to hear the echo in the range. The muffs are “true stereo” with two microphones but I didn’t really get a “stereo location” effect and couldn’t really tell where voices were in relation to me.
The volume knob rotates smoothly with a positive "click" on/off and is large/easy to find. However it’s location may be a problem for right handed rifle shooters trying to get a good cheek weld.
I expected heavy, especially with the battery pack, but it's surprisingly well balanced and reasonably light. I was disappointed by the lack of an "on" indicator light but supposedly these muffs will “auto power off” after four hours so it shouldn’t drain the battery pack too badly if left on.
With included charger it takes 5 hours to charge the included battery pack. That’s just silly. A faster charger is available but I’m not spending the money on it. They say the battery pack is good for a full 24 hours. That actually seems kind of short for a pack this size but I’ll probably never find out the true runtime.
The “iPod” jack is simply a pass-through. It’s not connected to any sort of amplifier, the battery pack, or the volume knob. Using my mp3 player at full volume the music was still pretty faint. I think this aspect is a useless gimmick.
In summary, this seems to be a well built and good quality set of electronic muffs at a pretty decent price. I think they will hold up to range use for quite some time to come and I would recommend them to a friend.
