ear protection, whats the latest and greatest??

I like the electronic type myself, the only question is how much you want to spend. Have been using the Impact Pro's from Howard Leight and they have held up well. Nice to be able to hear what is going on around you, helps the situational awareness at the range.

The Impact Pro's are rated at 30 db while the Impact Sport are 22 db if memory serves me right. I sort of like the extra protection of the 30 db ones myself. They do kind of get in the way when trying shoot rifles because of their size. Might pick me up a pair of Impact Sports and just add a pair of foam plugs in my ears at the same time. Amazon has just about the best price on them.

No real reason not to get a set of electronic muffs anymore, electronics has come a long way in this area.

The consensus for muffs seems to be the Howard Leight Impact Sports as the best bang for the buck.

My current setup is those with a set of custom EAR Inc. passive plugs beneath.

According to OSHA, the most effective are the compressible foam earplugs. I double up with foam earplugs and the thinner electronic Howard Leight muffs when shooting rifles, for handguns/lawn mowing/other loud activities I use the foam earplugs and a thicker pair of 30db rated non-electronic 3M muffs with gel ear pads (sold at Lowes for $30.)

Whatever you get for hearing protection...Get the best you can!

I don't wear hearing protection at the ranges...I don't have to!

I'm totally sign language deaf ...I did however have the side of my skull sliced open behind my left ear and a one inch diameter hole dremeled into my skull for my cochlear implant...From there they cut a ditch almost 4 inches long down behind my ear to just under my ear and drilled a hole up into my inner ear where they passed electrodes into my inner ear to line up with my auditory nerves. I have a Cochlear Implant that lets me hear...a little!

It's a ROUGH operation! I was sent home an hour after I woke up and remember at that time wishing I had died on the operating room table...then came the 126 mile ride home from the VA Med Center in Huntington WV.

Sure nowhere near having your real hearing though! If you go deaf they can fix it somewhat...but its about $125,000

Ear Plugs and muffs.....Dirt Cheap!

At the range I just reach up and pull my "HEARING" off because its stuck to the side of my head by a magnet.

I spent many years as a Heavy Artillery Sgt. in the US. Army and fired over 50,000 rounds...Still cant figure out why I lost my hearing?

A number of years ago, as a Police Officer, I was ambushed, behind a large enclosed building. My partner shot his .45 auto so close to my ear that I had powder burns near my inner ear (near the canal). Naturally I lost a substantial amount of hearing. Now getting to the point I have hearing aids that fit into the canal of both ears, both aids will reduce the sound of the shot, and turn off at a certain decimal temporally. In addition to those aids I use the Howard Leight Impact Sport electronic muffs, before I had the Silencio electronic muffs but they didn't always seem to silence the initial report. I do like the quality of the Howard Leight though.

Anybody try these out yet?

http://sportear.com/

I've used the muffs plus foam plugs in the past, now I'm using the fitted in ear plugs with ceramic filter. They work pretty good.

House of Payne, I had a complete demonstration of the Sport Ear, at Front Sight Shooting Academy, however my prescription hearing aids that cost close to $4000.00 (a pair) seem to serve me well. I do believe, that by the demonstration offered, that you can wear them during all your waking hours and use them as a regular hearing aid. The price was pretty good also, so if you have mild to moderate hearing loss I believe they would serve you just fine.