Peltor TEP-100 electronic earplugs...
Got a set of these as a fairly cheap trial thing effectively... Brought them second hand, having seen a pair once but never used them. I'm looking for them as a means to keep the noise down a bit around machinery but still being able to chat normally. I doubt that many hunters would have seen them, but they could be a good option for those that are thinking about hearing protection for hunting situations but don't want full size earmuffs.
These are basically an earplug version of the electronic noise cancelling earmuffs. They do the same 'cut off' around excessive noise, minimising the volume they put through into your ear but still enable you to hear with pretty much normal directional hearing ability.
You get a nifty little case, with a USB input or three AA batteries as the power source and a set of recesses that the earplugs clip into to recharge. There's a cord and a charging indicator lights, the case is robust and sealed and looks and feels like it would be a reasonable chock for your quad. Apparently good for 16 hours on a charge, and rated to 22 decibel NRR which is basically the same as 3M foam industrial earplugs. Billed as water resistant too.
I've been trying them out around home and so far they are going quite well I think - was using the chipper for a short time today which is definitely a "must wear" machine for hearing PPE (loud little bugger with it's sheet metal trombone feeding chute). The earplugs basically clipped the noise to the normal volume you would expect for conversation, I could hear the wife talking normally even with the extra volume of the machines 4 stroke engine running.
The plugs are compact, fit into your ears very comfortably (various sizes of in-ear plugs to fit different ears), are easy to switch on and off and seem to work exactly as described. Two volume settings, normal and loud and I'm picking the loud setting could be quite good for hunting as it does magnify ambient sounds quite a lot.
Unsure what these are worth retail (I'm far too cheap to pay retail for this sort of gear) but I would say these are a very good alternative for hunting where a set of full sized noise cancelling earmuffs are heavy, bulky and a pain in the arse...
Only thing I can say so far is that being fully individual and not linked by a cable the earplugs can appear to not be fully synced for noises although it could also be that the noise is passing from one side to the other as well. Overall, while it's early days I think they will be a much better option as a work noise protection thing for me when I go back to work and also have a nifty side order for hunting.
