Posted: 12/9/2010 11:06:15 AM EDT
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I thought I'd post this in the Texas forum to save me having to tell all you guys separately every time I see you. This product really is THAT good I felt the need to share. Like most here I'm sure, I've been shooting for a long time now. During that time I've had many different ways of approach to try and protect my hearing. The best way, without doubt is the standard UK/USA NFA route.  But lets assume you don't have one of those, or you are at a range with non-suppressed guns. I've had foam inserts, normal defenders, electronic defenders and even 'made to my ear' shotgun in-ear plugs. I find that the over ear defenders were the best to moderate noise, but it meant you had to strain to hear people talk. Then I went onto electronic muffs, these were good, but the cheaper electronic ones cut out too much and for too long, meaning you can't hear people talking whilst others shoot. The more expensive electronic muffs have a high cost ($200) and have great noise reduction, but these always end up hurting the outside of my ears after an hour or so because they have to fit tightly to correctly moderate the sound. The shotgun plugs that are molded to your own ears were then the best product, because of the mold they fit without falling out, they are cheap ($15) but they are large and ugly. If you have to wear a helmet, try and use a cellphone or even wear glasses (so then pressure changes on your ear canal) they are not that great. they are cheap, but you have to mold them yourself by mixing the resin, and they do not allow you to hear normal conversation as they completely block the ear canal. The next iteration/level up is a moulded plug but with a small canal so sounds can pass through. These are better than standard moulded plugs but generally only used by shotgun shooters and as such they are huge orange ugly things because for some reason shotgun shooters like to make everything orange. Again this also presents a problem when using them with a helmet or in active environments with lots of movement. This is where Surefire ear pro come in. If you've seen the Magpul Art of tactical %insertname% DVD then you've seen these in use. They fit inside your ear bowl so they present no profile outside of your ear, perfect for helmets, active use etc and are held by your ear bowl itself, so its a very secure fitting.  As seen in the above picture they come in clear, and you can also get black. They are generally unnoticeable in most environments, both to the wearer and observers. The real plus point is that they work for normal level conversations due to the channels built into the patented earpiece, and give a NRR of 24Db (average). The audio tubes have been designed so that the louder the sound, the more it is blocked, which is perfect for shooting and still conducting normal conversations.  So for me, it means I can shoot without uncomfortable over ear units pressing down on my ears, and I can actually get a good cheek weld on rifles. The best part, these are $13 a set! And if you order from surefire now, free shipping!!! http://www.surefire.com/EarProProducts I have a set for me, a set for the wife and I am seriously considering ordering some more just to have spares (They have an estimated 6 month lifespan before the plastic hardens due to use). I highly recommend you check these out. |
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And if you order from surefire now, free shipping!!! http://www.surefire.com/EarProProducts First of all, thanks for sharing. Second, the shipping might not be as free as we'd like. http://www.surefire.com/popup-shipping-promo:
SureFire offers free ground shipping for the Holidays for orders over $125 placed on www.SureFire.com. Offer ends Dec. 31st at 11:59pm. Offer excludes sales tax. I vote for giving Marshall at Primary Arms your money. |
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Quoted: How are they with the big 50. I hate haveing to wear the big over ear muffs when shooting my AR50 but there really the only thing that doesn't leave me ringing afterward. I tried our 50BMG with my EP-3's and that was a mistake. I just bought a pair of the EP-4's and though I have not tried them on the 50 I think they would work ok. |
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I bought a pair and used the right earpiece for the earbud on my remote listening wire thingy on my motorolla shoulder mic on my police handheld radio. works pretty well.
i have a pair of the 160 dollar peltor electronic headphones that i use while shooting and theyre afuckingmazing. In fact my only complaint is that i got an outer ear infection once because they were so comfortable that i would frequently wear them for 6-8 hours on the range without taking them off and the heat and humidity in the ear cups gave me an infection. Now i make sure to take them off every few hours to air out my ear holes. I might pick up another pair of the surefire earplugs and shoot with them to see how the noise reduction is. My problem right now is that i have horrible super bad tinnitis in my ears. They ring hardcore at the end of a long day. I dont think i have any serious hearing loss yet, but the ringing is seriously horrible. |
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Can some of you that have the EP3's and 4's explain the difference? The Surefire site doesn't do a very good job.
All I can tell is that the 4's are made for a bigger ear canal and have the extra flange. I think? 
I'd like to just stop by DFW gun range and pick up a pair of EP3's, but if the 4's are better, I'll just order online. |
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Can some of you that have the EP3's and 4's explain the difference? The Surefire site doesn't do a very good job. All I can tell is that the 4's are made for a bigger ear canal and have the extra flange. I think?
I'd like to just stop by DFW gun range and pick up a pair of EP3's, but if the 4's are better, I'll just order online. The EP3s have 2 little flanges branching off of the bit that goes inside your ear canal, while the 4s have 3 flanges. The 4s will work a bit better, but if your ear canals are a bit small the 4s will have a tendency to try to push themselves out of your ears a bit and stop working as effectively until you push the back in. The 3s seem to stay a place a bit better for me. At $10 per pair, I'd buy one of each TBH, just because they both work well and it's nice to have a spare. |
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At $10 per pair, I'd buy one of each TBH, just because they both work well and it's nice to have a spare. Of course you would, this is arfcom after all. The answer is always, "buy both." 
Thanks. It's more than buying both..these things are tiny, and if you're at all prone at losing shit like I am, the adage "two is one, one is none" has never been truer than with a pair of tiny fucking earplugs. Showing up at the range and digging through your bag to find theres only one earplug in the case, or no earplugs at all is a good way to turn a great day into a miserable drive home. (which is why a couple pairs of electronic earpro live in the range bag now too..learned my lesson) |
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They aren't designed to last forever. Eventually the rubber will get hard. They're "semi" disposable. The EP4's are designed for people with larger ear canals. I wear the medium size and may try the small when these wear out. According to their website, the size difference doesn't designate different canal sizes, it only changes the size of the bit that fits the bowl of your ear. If you find your ears are wanting to 'push out' the EP4s, grab a pair of EP3s and you should be good to go. |