A quick review of the Peltor EEP-100 noise cancelling earplugs.
I have had these for about four months now. I have been on a years long journey looking for hearing protection for hunting that I could live with. So many things either didn't work, or were just ridiculously expensive, that I kept going back to just plain foam plugs, which work well on noise, but of course make it hard to hear in the field. While, at ~$200, the EEP-100s are not cheap, they are half the price of many of the other quality electronic earplugs on the market. These are the "blue collar" version of the plugs. 3M makes a "shooting/tactical" version as well, but from what I can tell there are no extra features, other than a "tactical case" and the "tactical" color, that make them worth double the price, and the NRR (23-30, depending on tips used) is the same.
A big plus for me is that these are probably the most comfortable plugs I have found. All other plugs irritate my ears after a while. I have bluetooth plugs that I use on the tractor, but if I'm working for longer periods of time, I switch to my 3M worktunes muffs instead, even though they're not real comfortable either. I've been able to sit for several hours with these Peltors and I pretty much forget they're there.
The NRR does a good job for me. I have found that due to my weirdly shaped ear canals, the standard 23db tips actually seat better and feel like they block more noise than the 30db foam skull screw tips, which both don't seat well for me and also irritate me after a while. A shotgun in the outdoors is no problem for these. Interestingly, yesterday I was sighting in a suppressed AR using my expensive Sordin muffs, then switched to the Peltors when I set up to shoot some rockchucks. The rifle sounded louder through the Sordins than through the Peltors. Through the Peltors, I just hear a "movie silencer pffft" sound.
The Peltors have three levels of sound enhancement. The levels and "on/off" are all controlled by a single button. If I have one complaint, it's the tones used to indicate activation and "on/off". They are all too similar, and I need a quiet location when turning them off to ensure they actually are off and that I didn't just change a sound enhancement level. They hold a long charge. I've gone through a couple of half days of goose hunting in a row with them and they were good to go. The case is the charger, and uses a micro-usb connector.
While there were a good number of negative reviews on Amazon, doing some Youtube review and other research, I took a chance and am happy that I did. A lot of reviewers use these as their range earpro. For me, I will always default to good muffs on the range for long sessions, but I can highly recommend these plugs for activities like hunting. If you don't care about bluetooth, these would be very comfortable plugs for loud work activities like using power tools or heavy equipment. Links to Amazon and a pretty good Youtube review below.
https://www.amazon.com/EEP-100-Rechargeable-Construction-Manufacturing-Maintenance/dp/B07P8YDBZD/https://youtu.be/2g0yH8FNt6c
