Need eye and ear protection recommendations

[Wedge]

I have two issues which decrease my wife's enjoyment at the range. She usually only comes with me 3x a year, but if she was more comfortable I might be able to double that. She DOES enjoy shooting but the eye and ear protection are problematic. I will start with eye protection.

My wife has a small nose...normally a very nice thing to have, except when trying to fit two things on it!My wife wears eyeglasses and cannot wear contacts. When we go to the range it is very difficult for her to keep her safety glasses from falling off her face since the bridge of the safety glasses are nearly on the front tip of her nose. Who makes a decent safety eyewear made specifcally to fit over eyeglasses. Are there any safety goggles that don't look awful? If she looks like an idiot she won't come at all.

Second issue which confounds the first is that my wife has very small ears and ear plugs barely fit in her ear. I am tempted to try cutting one in half, but was wondering if there were other child sized ear plugs available. I want her to be able to wear plugs and muffs at the range. The fact that she will also be wearing muffs means that the safety glasses need to have very small arms so that they are not 1) allowing an air gap for the muffs and 2) are not pressing uncomfortably into her head.

Any ideas?

 

[Bruce333]

The Ear Plug Store has small size plugs. Soft silicone moldable plugs are available at most drug stores.

Rx safety glasses are a good option instead of the fit-overs, more expensive than the fit-overs, but look and fit like normal glasses. IMO all the fit-overs look terrible, even if they fit well.

 

[Sunray]

"...If she looks like an idiot..." Looking silly is better than getting hurt.
If the lenses of her specs are big enough, they'll be fine all by themselves. All prescription lenses are impact resistant. Otherwise, get a set of inexpensive goggles with the elastic strap.
Those wee industrial foam ear plugs will do nicely. They're cheap and easy to find and will fit anybody. Most hardware stores or an industrial supply place will have 'em. Wire temples on her specs are best if she wants to wear ear muffs as well.

 

[CountGlockula]

Just have her wear her perscription glasses at the range. I do.

Maybe those disposable foam earplugs cut in half?

 

[strat81]

www.safetyglassesusa.com is where I got my eyewear from. Good selection and very fast shipping. Look into "Croakies". It is an elastic strap that attaches to the ends/arms of eyeglasses and wraps around your head.

If ear plugs don't fit, buy a set of muffs. Cheap (but effective) ones are >$15 at Wal-Mart and go up from there.

+1 to looking silly is better than getting hurt.

 

[FieroCDSP]

+1 on safetyglassesusa.com. I ordered 4 different ones from there to replace the ones I modified specificly to lock onto my old prescription frames. My new frames weren't compatible. They've got everything there. I picked up clears, yellows (for finding brass and low-light), shades (for bright light) and a set of UV greens for when I use my cutting torch.

 

[Wedge]

Sunray...you see if she looks funny she won't come at all. Lenses on her specs are not big enogh and not safe. So she wears some safety glasses but they don't fit so great and are uncomfortable. So we are trying to find a non goggle solution. I am trying to encourage her to come with me not dicate that you have to wear this or nothing because then she just won't come.

She is perfectly safe with the current safety glasses solution but they are not super comfortable.

She wears muffs, I have like 4 pairs and the only ones that fit her right are my best ones I have. I like for her to wear plugs and muffs but the plugs don't fit so well. The other problem with muffs is that the arms on safety glasses press into her head and hurt.

My goal is to increase her comfort at the range. That includes both in the fit of the safety gear which she already wears (eyeglasses, safety glasses, plugs, muffs, hat) AND her being comfortable in how she looks. She doesn't want to look like some "operator" or anything, she just wants to be safe.

edit to add: I am checking safetyglassesusa.com right now and see if anything would work well. I think we will try the foam cut in half and see if that works.

 

[benEzra]

The lenses of my prescription glasses are thick polycarbonate, which is what safety glasses are made of. They're not ANSI rated, but they are considerably thicker than most safety glasses. The only downside is less protection to the sides than safety goggles.

Personally, the biggest problem I have with "safety goggles" is that I have a very hard time wearing earmuffs with them. (I have a bony head, I guess.) They are painful and vastly reduce the earmuffs' effectiveness.

 

[Wedge]

I may just get her some prescription safety glasses. Can be had for $60 and will fit better than anything else...

 

[pittspilot]

I have found that using active headphones with earplugs has increased my range enjoyment extensively

 

[DBR]

Peltor 7 is arguably the best electronic hearing protection for the money. They were originally developed as a military listening device. I own several more expensive head phones but the Peltor are hard to beat. Foam ear plugs worn under the head phones at max volume let you hear what is going on and still be protected.

Online stores like Duluth Trading have prescription type OSHA rated eye protection at very reasonable prices.

 

[qlajlu]

I may just get her some prescription safety glasses. Can be had for $60 and will fit better than anything else...

I know that "safety glasses" are designed to protect the side exposure to you eyes as well as from the front. I don't like safety glasses designed this way. I had my optometrist place highly impact-resistant prescription lenses in a separate frame (they are also slightly larger around than what is popular today - think police officer style), and I had him color the lenses yellow. The yellow draws light and really clears up the target area, and the added benefit is that your wife will have a second set of glasses if something should happen to her regular pair. The yellow lenses also work wonders when you are driving in poor lighting conditions like fog, smog, rain or heavy snow storms. I am tickled with the way they turned out, but then that may just be me.

 

[10 Ring Tao]

Children's safety glasses.

I love my SilentEar and QuietEar plugs. Rubber shell filled with silicone. Last forever and reusable, and just about the only reusable plug with the same NRR rating as the disposable foam plugs.

 

[Wedge]

UPDATE:

While at Home Depot we looked at safety glasses in the tool department and found a set that fit perfectly over my wifes current glasses and even her prescription sun-glasses.

Also tried cutting an ear plug in half and that worked for the plugs part of plugs and muffs.

She tried the whole system on together and everything fits and is much more comfortable. As an added bonus the hearing protection (muffs) and safety glasses frame are the same color, green, also her favorite color.

 

[raginrednek]

sfty glass

try silenicos from cdnn. they fit tight to the head, have gel pads that decrease slippage on end of arms-$2.49.
i bought 4 pairs, far superior to anything i have bought at any sporting store.
should have bought 10 pair.

 

[hso]

http://www.e-a-r.com/e-a-r.com/roll_detail.cfm?prod_family=PU Ezfit W/C&ind_prod_num=312-1222001

EAR EZ Fit ear plugs are designed for small ear canals.