Pro-Protect + Gel Cushions Electronic Hearing Protector

Wanted to wait a while before writing a review and i have now owned these for close to 2 years. I like the double aa batteries because if I’m working and they get low i can just put new ones in instead of charging the headphones. Highly recommend rechargeable double a’s if it makes sense for your use case. They still work great. I get many hours on the double a batteries. Never had a problem with bluetooth and I listen to music probably every other time i wear them. I probably use them 4 days a week for reference on how much abuse they get. They've survived several falls at around 6 feet over the last year and a half. The head strap has nicely sized cutouts if you wear a ballcap while you work and i find the ear muffs comfy. The noise amplification is nice, i can hear what sounds my tools are making or people talking to me when i need to and then switch the setting to make everything go away when i don’t need it. I live and work in a warm climate- they get pretty sweaty but the ear pads havent gotten gross yet. It is not an excessive amount of heat compared to other over ear headphones, but i feel that the cooling pads don’t really make a difference unless the air temperature is pretty cool (~60f or lower). Sound quality is super good enough and, honestly, I wouldnt change much. It’d be cool if they were a little lighter and folded for storage but otherwise they are great. Just remember to turn them off so you don’t waste your batteries.

First of all, I work in a storage with a lot of background noise necessitating the use of ear protection, but for a long time it has been difficult balancing using the very basic ear protection available at work with the usage of forklifts (since not hearing your surroundings puts others at risk of collision or bodily injury. As such, this product is perfect for such a work environment. Noise reduction is good, and there are different modes available to adjust to the sound in your surroundings. The microphone quality is great, allowing you to hear your surroundings and lets you easily pick up on conversations in noisy environments, from any direction. You will have to adjust to the noise cancellation making it seem as if sounds that are 20 meters away are right behind you, but that's not an issue. The build quality is probably the best part, as the gel cushion cups withstands wear and tear very well, and the frame is solid and can withstand being dropped on the floor. The battery life is sufficient, lasting me around 1 and a half week with active, work-related use. I'll also praise the size of the cups, as they very snugly fit over your ears and don't cause any friction. They also keep your ears warm, which is a big plus in my book. The usage is simple enough, with two buttons. One to start/shutdown the microphones and noise cancellation, and pause/unpause whatever music/podcast you'd listen to, the other to regulate between the 4 separate modes. Beyond that, you can adjust the head size, and the wires are sturdy enough to not budge from use. I have not noticed much in the way of weight. It's present and slightly heavier than normal earphones, but my neck hasn't hurt from wearing it all wprl day, every work day for weeks on end. So to that end, this is as good as it gets. The bluetooth functionality also lets you take calls, which is an underestimated feature for my work environment. Excellent product, all around.

I've had these headphones for almost a year and I love them. I highly recommend this product, though it does have a few warts that prevent it from getting a 5-star review. Pros: * extremely long battery life (most of a year for my hobby weekend usage) * comfortable to wear for extended periods of time * decent audio quality (I mostly listen to podcasts) * reliable connectivity * the external sound amplification works well. when it's quiet in the shop, it's totally possible to have a conversation as if you're not wearing hearing protection at all. when it's loud, well, nothing can help that. Cons: * the threshold at which the headphones consider outside noise to be "too loud" and cut out the amplification is a bit higher than my preference, i.e. it allows the noise to be louder than I'd like it to be. Sometimes, if I'm running my shop vac, that isn't loud enough to cut off the mic and so I'm getting blasted by the sound. For most of my other tools, it works as expected. * sometimes when first powered on, it will set the phone's volume control to maximum without warning. this is _way too loud_ and very startling, since it happens 5-10 seconds after the audio starts playing! I think it happens only when there's already something playing on the phone when it connects. This is a silly little firmware bug that 3M really should fix. * the external sound amplification setting defaults to the highest level when you power the device on. I wish it would remember the previous setting. I like to keep it on 1 or 2 (of 4). Anything over 2 feels louder than not wearing the headphones at all. * the mic isn't good. people on the other end of phone calls report they can't hear me well, even when there isn't background noise. this is weird, since presumably it's the same mic that is used to amplify external sounds, which sound fine. That might seem like a lot of cons, but really they're all nits. The core functionality of the product -- hearing protection, bluetooth audio, and being able to hear when there isn't background noise (so you don't have to take it on and off) all work very well. I'm happy with the product and would purchase it again. I think, at least at the time I bought this, it's the best BT hearing protection on the market.

These things are awesome I love them so long as you don’t care how u look wearing them. They are by far the best protection for your hearing. They allow sound through so you can hear coworkers or briefs and you get to pick from 4 levels. The music won’t be super loud or super clear but lets face it that’s not what they are for music is just a bonus and it’s enough to make your day a little better and go by faster. Now be aware this is super important if you are REQUIRED to wear eye pro then these will clamp down on your glasses and eventually at the end of the day or even day two you will be hurting from the glasses pressing down on your hear. By the second part of the day I find my self laying the glasses on top of the gel pads rather than having them in it’s not ideal for viewing but it helps with the pain. Also if u work looking down you will be feeling the weight of there’s and will find your self stretching your neck in some discomfort. All this said they are the best at protecting your hearing hands down and the gel pads are super comfy like the ones we use in the military I recommend them just be aware they are bulky and heavy ish.

As muffs the 3M Pro-Protect do fairly decent. NRR and ear comfort are solid but the head comfort is iffy after any length of time without a hat to go under the band. As a bluetooth device they get a zero though. There is an audible hiss/white noise whenever the audio prompt talks or when when playing anything through bluetooth. If you are doing a loud task like mowing the lawn it does get drowned out but doing anything without a consistent noise in the background this becomes annoying quite quickly. Even worse though they refuse to connect to my newer devices. Both my pixel 6 and 6a just give a "can not connect to device" message despite both phones working just dandy with other bluetooth devices both newer and older than these muffs. While they will still connect to my one older phone I'm not going to swap back to my old phone everytime I want to listen to some hissy music while working. I'm neutral on the pass through. Under my use case it didn't see much use but at least it doesn't have the same hissy quality that the other audio sources have. One thing i don't get is the criticism about using AA instead of a built in lithium pack. Takes like 3 seconds to swap in some new eneloops and they last way longer than whatever cheap lithium pack they would have included anyway.

These are not meant to be noise canceling headphones, these are ear protection muffs that have an added Bluetooth feature for convenience. Noise canceling earphones work by playing the sound waves captured by the mic in reverse so the sound gets canceled. These earmuffs use sound isolation to reduce noise, this is pretty much just using materials that cover the ear to block sound naturally, plugging your ears with your fingers would be considered noise isolation. Noise isolation earmuffs or ear plugs have a noise blocking rating in "dB", this is just a measurement of noise. You can find charts online that describe what sounds your dB rating could block, these have 26dB. Passive sound is just a feature that lets outside sounds captured by the mic to be played through the speakers. You still get the noise reduction from the ear cups physically blocking your ears but get normal levels of ambient sound playing through the speakers as if the outside noise was low. Taking calls works the same as the passive feature but you are just listening to a call instead of surrounding sounds. The sound quality on these for music is good enough but this is just and added feature, if you are working somewhere where ear protection is required then you probably wont be listening to music anyways. The build of the earmuffs is pretty decent, the thing i dont like is the plastic pieces that connect the cups to the headband, to me they look like the weak point of the earmuffs. VERY IMPORTANT-One thing that you should check after getting these is that the pads make a good seal. I had to replace the first pair I received because the left pad had an air leak. When you put these on they should feel like they apply pressure on your ears, when you push them towards the ear the pressure should feel the same. With my first pair, the left side had no pressure and felt as if it was not sealed correctly. I further confirmed this because the pads are removable, after switching sides on the pads, the lack of pressure followed the defective pad. The replacement I received has a perfect seal on both sides. Overall the safety earmuffs work just fine, they have useful features like calls and passive sound, the passive sound instantly mutes itself temporarily with loud outside sounds. These do require AA batteries to use the Bluetooth and pass trough functions. Just make sure that the pads make a good seal right after opening them for the best possible ear protection.

How did I survive all these years without these bluetooth ear protectors?!? These work great at dramatically reducing outside noise while providing easy access to the music and podcasts on my iPhone. It was incredibly easy to setup and pair to my phone. There are only two button used to control the headset and they are very intuitive and easy to memorize. I love the fact that this headset has a setting to allow ambient noise into the speakers. This is very useful when I am working on a project and there are people in my surroundings who may need to get my attention. It is also great for safety-- for example, when I am working in or near the street, I can hear a car coming. It is nice that this feature has 4 volume levels and a mute option. Honestly, I use the mute option most of the time, as I primarily use these headphones when I am working in the yard and want to drown out the lawn mower, blower, etc, but want music. In these uses, I don't need to hear ambient sound, so I mute the outside noise (which also provides better clarity for my music. These are great buy and affordable!