I have used these for a year in all my classes and in-door range, from 9 .45 to 5.56. They worked great! I have tried GS Extreme 2.0. They are ok but cannot compete with Otto for blocking out sound. Nevertheless, these are the best pair of shooting ear protection I have owned.
The good
rechargeable case
easy to put in your ear
Two modes High and low- I never used High. Either outdoors or indoors.
Easy turn on
Stay in the ears when running
Comfortable - 6-hour class. I forgot I had them in
The Bad
No Bluetooth- I do not care about that, but some due
Tiny and easy to lose
To get a proper seal, I needed to buy different ear-tips, “Comply Professional Noise Isolating Earphone Tips.”
I hope these are worth the price…
I’ve been looking for perfect protection for last 3 years…
Thx for tip on these. I will need to search for reviews…
I Paid 400 for mine. Be warned; most folks do not read the instructions on how to put them in properly. If you shove them in your Ear, they will not work well.
Those are really nice, and I have been thinking about updating my old razors. I live without Bluetooth, but I’m often at the range alone, so I just turn my music on and can hear it through the muffs. My main thing is, I can build another rifle for a little more than those cost … but if you use the metric that I was recently made aware of, that’s only 4 tanks of diesel
Technically, no pun, they sound great but now I understand the meaning of sticker shock!
I’m more of a over the ear, than in your ear, and the cost blew me away! Nice specs though!
I spent over 1 hr watching and reading reviews.
These ear pros seems to be a good product if you follow @Buddha-In-The-Sun’s tip about buying different foam tips.
Every single review I counted as professional and valid to me, pointed to the same problem. Extra $12 for foam tips set doesn’t really change the price.
I saw few other ear pros that Otto was compared to, however these specs are very impressive:
40 dB of impulse noise protection
16 hours of continuous use
There is another product that seems to be good as well - 3M™ PELTOR™ Tactical Earplug TEP-200
Hey Jerzy,
Your the point man this morning, Going to check that one out to. When I have been at the range with my E ear muffs. I’m right handed. My AK kicks my right ear muff off alot while shooting. This is my only one it does it with. Def need to get some in the ear pro
One curious thing I haven’t considered. true or false. My hearing aids automatically block out DBs above harmful levels it says. Mine are a molded fit in the ear. Wonder if they would actually double as ear pro. Think I will check with my hearin proffessionals before taking chance of blowing my ear drums out
I hate muffs. These don’t work well with eye protection and heard the same about shooting the rifle. ( cannot tell, I don’t shoot rifles ). Additionally I look like ET with muffs… and I’m too old to be ET.
All ear pro should work the same, blocking sound with noise higher than 85 - 90 dBA.
The trick is with electronics. Good ear pros cut compress the harming sound to lower level keeping “normal” sounds intact, so you can still hear everything. Cheap product may not work so good, cutting all sounds the same moment… so you may hear quiet gunshot …and nothing else…
For noise reduction… everything is about proper foam inserts. These must block ear canal completely. If they don’t fit and don’t block canal in 100% you will never get proper noise cancellation.
Whenever I shoot alone and don’t need to talk or listen - regular cheap foam inserts (150 pieces for $10) works the best - 33 NRR.
I have some Liberator’s (had to buy the limited edition Multicam Black!), some basic 3M cans, some recently bought Axil GS Extreme 2.0’s and an old pair of issued MSA Sordin’s.
By far the best ear pro from what i have are the Sordin’s. Hands down.
I’d never heard of these OTTO Ear Pro before. I might check them out. i don’t mind wearing over the ear cans, but i’m doing much more rifle and carbine training these days and it’s very easy to knock the earpro with the stock
I do not own any electronic hearing protection. If I understand correctly, most of them have much lower passive NRR than regular hearing protection (mine are 34 NRR and I also use in the ear protection along with them). Most state they will allow up to 85 db before cutting out. So, when a shot is fired, does it still sound like 85 db or does it reduce the sound level below that? Though, like these Otto’s mentioned, have an active 40 db NRR, so if the shot is more than 125 db, the sound heard will be greater than 85 db?
I cannot give data on the DB. But what I can say, in one of my classes we shot through a car windshield with windows up I felt the concussion but my ears did ring nor was it loud. The others in my class had ringing in the ears or they said it was deafening. I know I did not answer the question with real data, I can only give my experience using my Otto. I have been shoulder to shoulder with folks shooting 5.56 indoors and outdoors no issues.
Calculating dB or dBA attenuation is tricky one. It’s not a simple math, like:
150 dB (rifle shot) - 30 NRR = 120 dB… BTW… 120 dB is still too high
Sound level (dB) increases on a logarithmic scale, meaning:
if 0 dB represents silence, then
10dB sound is 10 times more powerful than silence
20dB sound is 100 times more powerful than silence
30 dB sound is 1000 times more powerful than silence
…
When we speak, it’s about 60 dB, plate takeoff sounds at 150 dB, same as rifle shot.
Regular foam plugs are OK… if we don’t need to talk nor listen on the range. These usually cut the high sound levels great, but also lower the level of the voices.
Electronic buds / muffs make all easier for us. These cut (compress) any sound higher than 82 - 85 dB and amplify softer sounds. That’s why using them we can easily hear commands and protect ears from gunshots.
Without digging deeper, the fast formula for getting NRR you need is to use this math:
PROTECTED_LEVEL = [ SOUND_LEVEL - (NRR -7) ]/2
I’ve been using electronic buds (26NRR) for 7 hrs (continuously) and found them as good as foam plugs (32NRR) or SureFire EP10 (30dB) used previously. To hear Instructor’s commands, I had to take out foams and EP10, which was not needed with electronic buds.
Do the math and choose what works for you.
… but if you use the metric that I was recently made aware of, that’s only 4 tanks of diesel 
… too many choices… and too much money… 
). Additionally I look like ET with muffs… and I’m too old to be ET.
