Howard Leight Impact Pro R-01902 Review

The Howard Leight R-01902 Impact Pro Electronic Earmuff

The Howard Leight by Honeywell R-01902 Impact Pro Electronic Shooting Earmuffs are a set of hearing protection headsets designed to deliver the highest possible noise reduction without impeding the user’s hearing.

With a noise reduction rating of 30 dB, these monsters make shooting large guns indoors a comfortable and quiet task.

Better still, a microphone in each ear cup allows quiet sounds to penetrate the thick barrier of noise reduction, letting the user communicate and react to their surroundings.

The Howard Leight by Honeywell R-01902 Impact Pro Electronic Shooting Earmuffs are a set of hearing protection headsets designed to deliver the highest possible noise reduction without impeding the user’s hearing.

With a noise reduction rating of 30 dB, these monsters make shooting large guns indoors a comfortable and quiet task.

Packaging

The headsets come secure and neatly folded in a simple clear see-thru blister package. It also comes with 2 AAA batteries for your convenience.

Weight, Feel and External Features

The Impact Pro features two full sized cups attached by a black overhead band. There’s an easily accessible battery compartment at the top of one cup, a volume wheel that doubles as an on / off switch and an audio jack that allows you to hook up your mp3 player. Each cup has a small microphone embedded into the outside, allowing true stereo hearing.

The Impact Pro muffs are tough and durable. Key points on the cups are rubberized to prevent scratching from the butt of a rifle. These earmuffs should hold up well to everyday wear and transit and will last you quite a while.

The cups on the Impact Pro are quite bulky and thick. Despite this, they manage to impede the use of a rifle a very small amount. Many users reported being able to bring rifle stocks to their cheek wholly unimpeded.

The Impact Pro fits easily and comfortably on most users. Unlike many other muffs, which seem to be too tight or too lose depending on the wearer’s head size, the Impact Pro offers an adjustable band that allows it to conform to your head. The padding on the cups allows sensible eye protection to be worn with ease.

The volume switch on the Impact Pro is accompanied by a set of confusing instructions, but it’s fairly simple in practice. The battery compartment’s location allows for quick, tool-less battery swaps, although with 350 hours of battery life this isn’t a major concern.

Finally, the four hour auto-shutoff seems nice, but given how comfortable these muffs are it may wind up shutting off the amplification while you’re still wearing your Impact Pros.

Sound Amplification and Reduction

The Impact Pros offer one of the highest levels of noise reduction found in modern hearing protection. While it’s possible for hearing protection to go a bit higher than 30 dB NRR it’s fairly rare. 30 dB is more than enough to offer full protection during frequent or prolonged indoor shooting with large weapons.

These muffs offer nearly twice as much protection from harmful noise as a set offering 20 dB NRR. The difference is very noticeable.

The sound amplification system on the Impact Pro muffs seems a bit worse than the one on the slimmer Impact Sport. A lot of this likely is due to the extra 10 dB of NRR that the Impact Pros have to provide.

This isn’t to say that the sound system on the Pros is bad — it’s quite good, in fact; it’s just that the Impact Sports have some of the best, clearest sound amplification available.

In practice, the Impact Pros offer easy understanding of speech, great situational awareness and a lack of excessive ducking during loud impulses. These criteria make their sound amplification system excellent for shooting, hunting and any other use where you want to block out loud noises while still hearing quiet ones.

Plugging a mp3 player or other device into the line in turns off the microphones and prevents the Impact Pros from amplifying ambient sound.

Because the Impact Pros offer no active noise cancellation they offer a full 30 dB of reduction off or with no batteries. There’s no difference in their ability to block sound at all with the system off — the only thing they do actively is amplify ambient sound.

Cost

The Impact Pros are about $45 – $60 at the time of this writing. This makes then about four times as expensive as a cheap set of 30 dB earmuffs. The durability, comfort and ambient noise amplification that the Impact Pros feature will make them a better buy for many users. Click here if you would like to purchase the unit now.

Overall

Overall, the Impact Pros are an excellent product — perhaps the best option available for frequent indoor shooters.

Images above are provided by:

Armslist.com

Gunivore.com

Pros and Cons of the Howard Leight R-01902 Impact Pro

Pros:

– Lots of noise reduction — 30 dB — makes them perfect for indoor shooting

– Long battery life, easy to change AAA’s with no tools

– Amplifies outside sound to a hearable level to increase situational awareness

– Comfortable and easy to wear

– Lightweight — 12.8 ounces

Cons:

– Slightly less clear audio than some other models

– Expensive if the audio amplification is unnecessary

– Cuts outside audio when using mp3 player

Manufacturer’s Specs

– Amplifies low-level noise and conversation 4x times louder   

– Extreme hearing protection Noise Reduction Rating (NRR) 30   

– Rugged earcup design Durable rubberized pressure points  

– External battery compartment Cover easily slides on/off  

– Low energy consuming earmuff Includes 2 AAA batteries  

– Audio jack connects to MP3 players, smartphones, and scanner radios Includes input connection cord  

– Single volume control One knob for on/off and volume Soft padded headband Offers adjustable fit and comfort  

– Air Flow Control Technology (AFC) Enables you to hear normal conversation but delivers protection at high frequencies

Warranty Policy

Below is the Warranty Policy according to Howard Leight.com:

There is a one year guarantee against defects in material and workmanship. The guarantee does not cover damage caused by misuse, abuse or unauthorized modifications.

To obtain guarantee, the guarantee certificate must be properly filled in by the dealer and then sent in together with the faulty product.