Harbor Freight electronic ear muffs $9.99

[Scanr]

Just came back from Harbor Freight and when I checked out they gave me a coupon book. The electronic ear muffs are $9.99 with the coupon, limit 4, Dec 10 through Dec 26. I have not used these, I have heard they are decent quality for the price.

Has anyone used these and are they any good?

 

[TehK1w1]

Harbor Freight has lots of inexpensive thuff that tends to be decent quality, but I personally would NOT trust electronic safety equipment such as electronic muffs, auto-darkening welding helmets, etc from them.

 

[scout26]

I have a decent pair of electronic muffs. However the kids take mine and then fight over them. For $10 each, I'll but one for each kid and give them a try. Just so nobody screams "Child Abuse", we also wear plugs under our current muffs and will continue to do so with these.

 

[g.willikers]

I have a pair from awhile ago; the cost was $30. Sometimes they're fine and other times not. The right ear is better protected than the left. Maybe it's just how they fit, or don't, on my ears or something. I went back to ear plugs.

 

[murph50]

I have a few of the Harbor Freight regular earmuffs that I got on sale for $1.99. They work great--used them today as a matter of fact. I'll have to check out these electric ones though--I could use a few more things that need batteries

 

[st_albert]

The ones I have seem to work OK, though I can't measure the actual noise reduction.

They are monaural, of course.

Albert

 

[joplinsks]

I have two sets and they work great for shooting. They are the exact same electronic muffs that many sporting goods chains sell at the "low end" for $30 to $50. $9.99 is also a great price for them... the lowest I've seen them is around $12.99 or so on sale.

They are monaural, so you probably wouldn't want to use them for serious, all day shooting sessions... but for short sessions at the range they're great

 

[ilbob]

I have a pair. they work ok. even with the electronics turned off they work about as well as regular muffs.

I stopped using them, not sure exactly why, maybe because I did not like the way they fit.

 

[ceetee]

I ran through two days of an Appleseed shoot using them. I had a .223 firing 3' to the right of me, and a .308 firing 3' to the left, and noticed no undue discomfort. Since I've started to make it a habit to use plugs under the muffs, I noticed myself not being able to hear range commands through both plugs and muffs. With the electronic muffs, though, you can easily hear the range commands, while still getting the benefit of extra protection.

 

[B yond]

I have them, use them, and like them. Just make sure your shooting glasses don't break the seal around your ears.

 

[sm]

ceetee,

My experiences mirror yours.
I was also using Harbor Freight Tool Belts and Tool pouches and Nail Aprons.

Rebel I am, and the more I read teh Intraweb, the more I like rebel against what everyone "sez" you gotta have.

See back when, Colt AR were real expensive, $173 for a new one, was a lot of money.

We run what we brung, and had quality lessons shooting on the move, from out of moving vehicles and all sorts of stuff, w-a-y before 3 Gun came to be.

These lessons were used in real life, by real folks, and they worked then.
So wax plugs , with "Shop Muffs", and Safety Glasses from the hardware store worked just fine.

 

[Ed Ames]

I'm on my third pair....

...no, not because any of them have failed. I bought two pairs about 4 years ago now (just after they first came out... they went from $59 to $29 to $19 at which point I bought) and they've been in my workshop alongside the table saw, band saw, power sanders, and so on. They are still used whenever anyone fires up the power tools and are very handy in that roll... you can discuss the work with the tools spinning and they kick in right away once the blades hit the wood. A month ago I bought a third pair to stay in my range bag and it works just as well.

They ain't stereo, don't have fancy brand names, but they work fine. Fine alone, or even better over plugs (though that's not something I did in the workshop) for loud noises.

As for other HF electronic safety equipment (non-gun related) I can't speak for everything but I went through two of their automatic welding hoods.... the older one was fine for heaver arc but would flash when TIG welding. Basically the shield would go more transparent (not really clear but too light) for a fraction of a second and then darken again because the arc intensity was just on the edge of detection. Maybe the sensor was being shadowed or maybe it just wasn't sensitive enough. Not good since most of my welding was TIG. I was about to get a really expensive hood when HF came out with a newer version (smaller blue shell instead of larger black) so I tried that. Works fine even with low amperage TIG. All of them block UV even when clear so it's not a safety problem per se but I'd have paid more if I needed to because flashing to clear while you are trying to watch the puddle is VERY distracting. May seem strange to spend $2000+ on a welder and $50 on a hood but if it works it works.

 

[learn2shoot]

I have it - I liked it most of the time - except when a pager would go off nearby it would pickup VERY LOUD feedback and one day a pager went off and I nearly hurled them downrange just to get them away from my ears. I don't know if I have a bad pair or if they are all like that. I still use it, just with the batteries out.

 

[Zach S]

If it were me, I'd try it. If they dont work well enough at the range I would use them in my increadibly small garage with an increadibly loud air compressor.

 

[wuchak]

The radio frequency interference from pagers is probably common to all of them. I have a pair of the $35 Caldwell electronic muffs and when my BlackBerry gets a new mail or the phone is about to ring they squawk like crazy. The BlackBerry does the same thing with the high end Polycom speaker phones in my office, with my office desk radio, and with my computer speakers.

 

[Gillster]

I have several pairs which are used during all kinds of shooting by myself and my kids. No complaints at all, although I can tell when someone's cellphone is going to ring because of an odd feedback I get. It's not loud, just noticable. Otherwise they work great even around guys shooting comped race guns.

Chris