Howard Leight Impact Sport

If you are going to do any amount of shooting, good eye and ear protection is a must. The problem with most of the inexpensive ways to keep your hearing, such as earplugs, is that they make it very difficult to hear what is going on around you. But, at less than forty bucks, Howard Leight Impact Sport Earmuffs are the best solution to the problem that we’ve found.

What makes the Impact Sport different front your basic shooting muffs is the built in audio system. Each muff has a microphone on the front that plays to speaker inside. That way, you can hear what is going on in the outside world. Turning up the volume with the wheel on the left side will let you listen quite clearly to squirrels scampering in the leaves around you or the questions of other nearby shooters. This can be a tactical advantage when shooting. But, when someone nearby pulls a trigger, the unit will cut out for a fraction of a second to block the too loud sound. There is also a plugin port to connect a radio, if desired.

The Impact Sport runs off of two AAA batteries. One set of batteries has been enough to last a full day of shooting. The textured black plate on the right hand muff hides the battery compartment.

One of the big advantages of the Howard Leight muffs, compared for example to a similar Caldwell set that we use, is that they are noticeably slimmer. This is a big plus when you are shooting rifles or shotguns and don’t have to work around your hearing protection to get a good cheek weld. The only real drawback that we’ve found to these, and every other pair of muffs that we’ve used shooting, is that they insulate not only sound, but everything else, so that they do get warm inside on hot days. All things considered, the Howard Leight Impact Sport Earmuffs are an excellent value and not only let you protect your hearing, but also safely turn up the volume on the world around you.