Walker’s Razor COMM BT Amplified Hearing Protection Can Answer Your Hearing Woes
Hearing Woes…
Hearing protection is an important part of a shooter’s life. Kind of like holsters, shooters accumulate dozens of pairs of muffs, plugs – any new fangled hearing protection to come down the pike. It’s a necessary evil, but evil nevertheless. Good hearing protection is GOLD.
Say What????
Obviously, the purpose of hearing protection is to protect your hearing – stop the excessive decibel levels and intense pressure waves from damaging the delicate structures in the human ear. This can make communication difficult. Enter the “Electronic” hearing protection.
Many of the more advanced shooting classes I’ve taken have had the requirement of “Electronic Hearing Protection”. Electronic Hearing Protection will amplify ambient noise, but quickly cut the volume when a sound exceeds a pre-set decibel level. These allow a person to easily hold a conversation, while protecting them from hearing damage. In a learning environment with potentially damaging noise levels, Electronic Hearing Protection can be a life saver.
Enter the Walker Razor COMM BT
The Walker Razor COMM BT has a Noise Reduction Rating (NRR) of 23 dB. That’s pretty good protection for a slim profile ear muff, and exceptionally good for a muff with these features. Four microphones allow the wearer to identify the direction of the noise – a wonderful feature when you’re working with groups. There’s a separate volume control for both the environmental microphones, as well as the bluetooth – so you can hear the bluetooth signal without interference from the outside. There is one button on the shell, and this serves as a play/stop button using bluetooth’s device control protocol. The ambient mic volume control is also the on / off switch.
I’m not a huge fan of listening to music when on a gun range – there are things you simply have to pay attention too, and music is a potentially dangerous distraction. I do not use these for music on the range. I do however use them for shooting commands via apps (Bullseye Timer review to come) and shot timers. This way, I can practice my cadence without disturbing others on the range, or even worse, conflicting timers.
Getting a phone call on an outdoor range can be a painful experience. Not with the Walker Razor COMM BT. There’s no need to take the muffs off. Accept the call by hitting the only button, and the internal mics will allow you to talk to your call, while the internal electronics will let you hear the caller. Quality was acceptable for conversation, but these would not be my first choice for phone calls outside of a gun range. Audio quality is okay, but these are far from audiophile headphones. While the Walkers are great for bullseye commands, music will lose some bass and clarity when compared to your favorite listening environment.
These things are very comfortable – the first thing I do with hearing protection is to add a key ring to them so that I can clip them to a belt loop when I take them off. When there’s a break, I’d take my “Ears” off and clip them to my belt because I hate wearing muffs. I find myself forgetting to take these off. They’re that comfortable to me. Conversations are natural and balanced – I’m not yelling at people because I can’t hear – I literally forget that they’re on sometimes.
While they are rugged – having been dropped, stepped on, tossed in the back of the car, and even thrown in frustration, I did lose the knob cap for the main volume knob – minor issue, they’re still 100% funcional.
Final Shot
I love my Walker Razor COMM BT hearing protection – they’re the most comfortable “Ears” I’ve ever owned. Conversations are normal when I’m wearing them, and the bluetooth is a welcome addition. I can train without disturbing other shooters, listen to music while I’m breaking down and even take the occasional phone call. I may try gel cushions from www.Readyupgear.com next, but these muffs are exceptionally comfortable out of the box. I’ve had them for 7 months. I use them every weekend, and I do not remember changing the battery. Battery life is very good. The Amazon price of $72.72 is in the range of high end electronic hearing protection. The bluetooth makes them a bargain. I now wear these when I mow the lawn, run the tractor or process firewood. When I lose these, I’ll buy another set.
About the Author / David Tung lginstruction@gmail.com
Dave has been a firearms instructor / competitive shooter in New England for the past 2 decades. He volunteers training people with disabilities and members of the LGBT community in self defense and defensive firearms skills. He is an NRA Training Counselor and a MA LEOSA instructor. You can contact him at lginstruction@gmail.com
