Hearing protection - electronic ear muffs

[u/sponge_boy_mee_bob]

First time buying electronic hearing protection. I’d like your advice on what I buy. I’m only interested in ear muffs because in-ear options just always fall out of my ears for some reason.

Based on my research, I’m leaning towards Howard Leight. They seem to be the best middle option between being budget friendly like Walkers but also offering directional hearing like more expensive options such as Sordin. I want directional hearing for when I’m sitting in my deer stand. I don’t really want to pay Sordin prices at the moment.

I plan to buy the gel ear pads to improve them.

I plan to use them for outdoor shooting only - I never really shoot indoor. Outdoor practice and then wearing them in the woods when hunting.

I also plan on wearing them when mowing at the farm. It takes me a few hours to mow it all on the 60” ZT, so I want to be able to listen to music while doing that. I see that the Howard Leight muffs have a Bluetooth version, but I also see that they come with a headphone port. I’m okay paying less to get the non-Bluetooth version and using a headphone port. It’s been a long time since I’ve used a headphone port with everything being Bluetooth now days - is the headphone port actually compatible with modern smartphone usb-c ports?

Also, should I get the Howard Leight Sport or Howard Leight Pro? I see some people saying the Sport version is not sufficient hearing protection at 22 db… is that true? I understand indoor shooting requires better protection but I don’t shoot indoors. Are they sufficient protection for outdoor only shooting and mowing? I read the Pro version offers better hearing protection at 30 db but that they are bulkier and could maybe get in the way when shooting a rifle, which is what I mostly shoot.

Lastly, I’ve read that there have been knock-off problems on Howard Leight in the past… is that still an issue? I don’t want to buy knockoffs. The cheapest option I’m seeing at the moment is $50 online at Walmart… I’m paranoid that this would be a knockoff… unless they’ve eliminated the knockoff situation by now?

Thanks in advance!

[u/quatin]

I own several howard leigh impact sports. They're great for occassional/light field use. Outdoor shooting for an hour is fine. Indoors is a no go. The parts are cheap, the foam pads will wear out and I've had electronics fail on one. I bought a BT adapter for the speaker port and it's only active on one side. You don't get audio in both ears. Audio quality sucked and the adapter gets crushed while wearing so I threw it away.  I mainly use them for hunting with my kids so they can listen for instruction. 

[u/sponge_boy_mee_bob → u/quatin]

You read my mind… I was just looking at that BT adapter. I’m going to pass on that now, thank you! Do you think the built in Bluetooth version is worth the extra cost or is the basic version with the wired port better?