Caldwell ear muffs

A

azselectfire

Inactive
Hey guys, I have a set of the howard leight (SP?) ear muffs that have worked out pretty well. I was on slickguns this morning and noticed they had a set of the Cadwell low profile muffs on sale at amazon for $18 and was thinking about grabing a pair. Does anyone have a set of these? Do you like them? Should i give them a try or pay a little more for the howards? Here is a link if anyone is interested http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001B8ONZI/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B001B8ONZI&linkCode=as2&tag=b07d2-20&linkId=B3XPJRHKWISNKH4P
 
I wear both ear muffs and ear plugs when shooting centerfire rifles at the range.

The cheek piece lifts one muff some when I aim the rifle.
 
I bought two identical Caldwell electronic ear protection sets about 18 months ago. One is still working fine, the other no longer suppresses sound spikes (I just use that set as ear muffs, no electronics). Their quality/longevity may not be quite up to Howard's.
 
Similar experience, had 2 pairs for about 7 years or so. One pair's electronics faded in and out after 1 year. I didn't feel like learning how to re-solder stuff but I bet I could. The other still works fine. I don't rely on them alone, and wear plugs and muffs. Over time I feel like the foam has hardened some as I suspect they do on all earmuffs.
 
I have a pair of electronic muffs and really like them.

On the specific pair that you are referencing, my first impression is having those wires sticking out like that is just an invitation for them to get ripped out of their terminations. I have seen others where they are more hidden and molded into the frame to eliminate snagging. JMHO
 
The ones you show are only 23 dB NRR, not much unless you wear them over plugs. I'd rather have some 30 dB passives than cheap electronics.
 
plugs

That's what I do, plugs and elec muffs. Generally, I can hear range commands OK with the volume cranked, but have double ear protection

Here's a question Jim.......what is the NR rating of typical plugs when correctly used? And when combined with muffs, does that yield a direct NR total, ie,

Muffs NR.....23
plugs NR....10 (guess)
TOTAL....... 33?????
 
A good plug - and the cheap disposal foam plugs are very quiet - will be around 30 dB, same as good muffs; although you would likely get bone conduction that muffs block.

The NRRs are not additive. I have seen some figures in the range of 5-8 dB added to the better of the two so a 23 dB muff and a 30 dB plug would give somewhere between 35 and 38 dB of attenuation. But that is a log scale so it is reducing the energy to the ear by well over half.
 
I have both the earlier model, and the low profile. Both have worked great. The low profile however has a much better on-off/volume controll. The older model was too easy to accidentally turn on, leaving the batteries dead when I wanted to use them. The low profile switch is much more positive. Now the only time the batteries go dead prematurely is when I forget to turn them off....Duh!
 
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