BLUF – For the money these are pretty good hearing protection ear muffs, especially for casual civilian shooters and airsoft players who expect to encounter pyrotechnic noise hazards.
Their general construction quality is not up to Peltor standards when it comes to the plastic outer shells, controls and ear cups, however you can also get the basic version of these for $60 MSRP new and you definitely won’t get Peltors for that money. They’re also generally built well enough to last many years for the recreational user.
I did get this set for free, however I wasn’t sent them for publicity by Walker’s, I just went to a SHOT Show media event with my buddy Kit Badger some years ago and these were being handed out. Hence I have no link to the manufacturer in any fashion.
At a basic level, they do what you want from electronic ear pro i.e. let you hear most of what you need to when there is no loud noise present, but they immediately cut off when a sound is detected that is approaching an unsafe volume. However their biggest fault compared to Peltor and Sordin is that when they detect a loud noise their electronics simply cut of all sound entirely, rather than reducing it.
This means if you are, for example, on a busy firing range and shots are being fired at a consistent rate, you end up essentially going back to wearing a set of ‘dumb’ solid plastic ear pro with no electronics system that is blocking out the conversation in your vicinity entirely. My specific set is around 5 years old so this feature may have been updated, but my pair definitely suffers for it and I’ve almost never actually used them beyond the day that I acquired them.
Metal head band and pad is not bad at all, in fact it even has more padding than some models from the much more pricey brands that often just wrap the metal band in a thin layer of leather or cordura. There’s also a decent range of adjustment build in to size to most people’s heads.
A standard headphone jack is included with this particular model which allows you to play your favourite tunes through your hearing protection if so desired and if you have the right cable.
Walker’s do offer a rechargeable set of ear pro as of me writing this post and that will appeal to some, but personally I prefer disposable batteries for this type of equipment.
If you are someone who knows they will only need to use their ear pro for a few hours tops and will always return home and have the time to recharge a built-in battery between uses, then it will be worth the cost saving as even alkaline batteries are surging in price let alone lithiums. But if you want your ear pro power supply to be instantly renewable with some fresh spare batteries rather than carrying around a power pack and waiting an hour or two, then the old school system is still the way to go.
As mentioned above, for the price these are pretty good and for the recreational or sporting civilian user they represent a very strong option indeed; just don’t consider them for professional usage where you need to maintain your hearing at all times and rugged construction is a bigger concern.
At some point I hope I get to try out the ever popular Howard Leight Impact Sports for comparison to these, as they cost almost the exact same as the basic ‘Slim’ version of the Walker’s Razors. Both seem to represent very good value for the hobbyist.
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