Last week when I went to buy my Remington 870 shotgun finally I decided I needed to buy some new hearing protection. When I was shooting at the IDPA match my cheap ones broke. I saw the Peltor Tactical 6S in the store for around sixty dollars. I had been looking at upgrading to the Peltor brand of hearing protection for a while and these seemed like a decent model. I got a chance to take them out and try them, along with the Remington and will be sharing my thoughts on them today.
Features
- Noise Reduction Rating – 19 dB
- Active Volume Hearing Technology
- Adjustable Volume Control
- Lightweight – 8 Ounces
I like how light the Peltor 6S are compared to my previous ones. They are light and slim and will allow me to get a better check weld when shooting. They fit really well too with the ear muff conforming to the ear. The way that they fold in on themselves makes storage easy. My previous hearing protection was passive, meaning they just used padding to reduce noise. These ones use active volume technology, with a built in microphone to amplify the sounds around you until they pass a comfortable decibel level. This feature is what sold me on these. Before I had a hard time hearing anything with the ear pro on. I was constantly having to take them off to hear anything and risk my hearing. At the IDPA match and other shoots with friends this was a huge hindrance. This past weekend when I went shooting with friends I got to test them out. Hearing with the 6S was not only good but with the volume turned all the way up might have been better than my normal hearing. It made giving direction to the shooter easy. They were comfortable on everyone who shot, since we were sharing. They are also made tough enough to be perfect after a few drops on the ground.
The Bad
There was not much I didn’t like about these ear protection. I didn’t care for the batteries, 2 AAA per cup, they take. I felt space could have been saved with a CR123 or some similar battery. Getting the cups off to insert the batteries was a little frustrating and the instructions were not well written. The method that worked for me was to use the small flathead screw driver on my letherman wave to pop them off. The only other issue I had was the clarity. When the volume is turned up high, the most useful setting, there is a grainy ocean wave sound. When shooting though I hardly noticed it though.
Final Thoughts
For the price point on these, $46 on Amazon, I don’t know what beats them. I do not ever want to go back to passive hearing protection again after these. Being able to hear while shooting is great and so useful for giving and receiving direction. At a class these would be invaluable. If you are still using passive protection I is time to switch to an active hearing protection.
What do you use for hearing protection? Active or Passive protection? Let me know in the comments!
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I like the Howard Leight Impact Pro which are pretty similar to these only in olive green/black. They have a thumbwheel power button and an mp3-in jack for phone/music. Does the job for me. Around $45 as well
impact sport*
I second Howard Leight I bought them on the off chance they were worth the cost savings. They are. My brother has Peltor 5 and I hate the dead time after taking a shot before the sound amplification comes back alive. The Howard Leight come alive faster, and only use 2 AA batteries . My father has a pair o Pro Ear 200 which are better yet, but at 5 times the cost I couldn’t see the cost vs performance was there for me. As far as comfort goes I think the Howard Leight and Peltor are comparable, but the Pro Ears were harder on my head for the afternoon.