I’ve been longtime owner of Howard Leight Impact Sports electronic earmuffs. I’ve tested and reviewed many budget price headphones (around $50 or less) and Howard Leights have performed the best for ambient sound quality. I thought it would be a good to find out what was new with Impact Sports, at the Howard Leight booth at SHOT Show.
Erica at the booth showed me options for smaller head profiles and two new color options. They now offer a Bluetooth model which sorely needed as most new smartphones lack 3mm audio ports. Disappointingly, very little has changed with the Impact Sports line. But perhaps that shouldn’t be a surprise because the basic model works as well as it does and has few faults (other than needing a lower pivot point for a tighter ear seal).
As more shooters switch to earbud electronic hearing protection, we will probably see less innovation in the over-ear hearing protection. Still lacking IMHO, is a set of earmuffs that truly offers music performance like the cheapest consumer headset. For travel, working, or just momentary peace and quiet, the Sound Canceling Earphone market has been huge (just look at BOSE, Sony, and Beats). There’s a missed opportunity here for Howard Leight or Walker or 3M to create a cross-over product.
