Walker's Silencer Wireless NRR25dB Electronic Sound Suppression Hearing Protection Earbuds for Shooting

NOTE: As with any review, the item must be reviewed with the understanding that most things have limitations. That’s why despite the wind noise issue I still give these buds a 5 star rating.I have been a waterfowl and upland game hunter my whole life. I have never been a fan of hearing protection for the same reasons that most hunters shy away from it: It’s too bulky (causes issues with cheek weld with rifles or shotguns), and you can’t hear required ambient sounds of birds on approach etc. When I waterfowl hunt solo, I can control my shots and the noise doesn’t have too much noticeable affect on my hearing (it does,p whether I admit it or not). However, while hunting with my son or in groups, especially in pit style blinds, adjacent shots can be a real hearing killer.I decided to give the Walker’s Silencer buds a try. The Bluetooth rechargeable versions were interesting in concept, but I really didn’t want to deal with the Bluetooth connectivity, pulling out my phone to adjust, etc. so I opted for these and saved some money.I used them for the first time on a pit blind waterfowl hunt yesterday. They ran great! The simple on off switch and manual volume adjustment knobs were very simple to get used to. The adjacent shots from other hunters were eliminated to a dull puff. They were comfortable in my ears. I wore them all morning without any pain or discomfort. They fit my ears very well and felt secure.As with any electronic hearing protection, wind noise is terrible. I’ve used top end over ear muffs that suffer from the same issue. We had 15 -20 mph winds in the blind and no matter what I did the wind came through, hard. Despite that, the benefit of these buds is apparent. There are many days where there are minimal or zero winds. These will work great those days. I am also going to work on a solution with some sort of tiny baffle from the microphone area. If the wind gets to be too much, a simple flick of the off switch turns them into solid ear plugs.As for battery life. They run off of size 10 hearing aid batteries. I bought a 60 pack of batteries for less than $20 here on Amazon. At less than .30 cents for each battery, the cost is a non issue. I ran them all day yesterday, forgot to turn one off when done and it is still going strong this morning.As a hunter in my late 40’s, I can’t tell you how bad I have been to my ears over the years. I am beginning to pay the price. I will force my boy to wear these from now one.If not these, get something!! Good luck!

Battery is a PITA. The Zinc Air battery starts dying immediately when the air seal is removed, even while the earpieces are off. Therefore, the installed batteries die in about 2 weeks without even being on. I would have hoped for slightly larger, non-zinc air batteries that stop dying when I turn it off. This means every hunting trip I have to replace batteries that are hard to get, super-tiny, expensive, etc. Yes, they are "common" for hearing aids, but you wear hearing aids non-stop every day so replacing batteries every 2 weeks is a routine. For hunting I want to turn them off and forget about them until the next trip in 2 weeks, 2 months, or next season. The battery is tiny, easy to drop, and I'm still not sure if polarity matters, but I can't tell anyway in hunting conditions where it is dark.As for performance, they do not seem to be much better than the $30 analog behind the ear ones I had for nearly 10 years. I think I replaced the battery in them 3 times? I was hoping for some digital magic to reduce white noise, but the hissing and whooshing is still there when dead calm. An airliner flew over at 30000ft and it sounded really weird. I had to take them out to realize it was an airplane miles away. Birds, leaves, and animals sounded robotic too so I am not impressed with the digital signal processing. I need to look and see if there are any settings other than volume that I have not tried, but default shouldn't be like this regardless.Because they are so expensive I am constantly worried about losing them which makes me paranoid to wear them, defeating the purpose. The foam plugs are also too stiff and uncomfortable. Yes I tried them all. dB noise reduction is also less then it should be at this price point.With the behind the ear Walker ones I had before, I could remove the tube from my ear and hear normally, but leave them on my ear with the tube dangling by my head, ready for quick ear insertion. These stick in your ear (processor and foam) so they are all the way in, hanging around your neck, lost on the ground somewhere, or left in my hunting box because they were dead. There is a skinny neck lanyard between them if you choose to install it but when a shot opportunity arises it takes too long to get them untangled from clothes, oriented, and stuck in the ear. I highly recommend getting some cheap ones to try out your field use case. I hadn't considered any of these points mentioned above until I got these so buyer beware. Seems a little unfair to give them a 1 star because they are what you see so 2 stars it is. I wish Walker made a digital behind the ear hunting version with normal lithium coin batteries for $100-$150 a pair.Update: 3 years later, the lanyard pops out too easily so it is hard to not lose them. The small plastic tube that holds the foam buds broke. Now they are completely worthless. Worst money I've ever spent on an outdoor item.