Etymotic GSP15 Ear Protectors Ear Plugs Electronic Clear

Excellent product. Good protection around firearms. It amplifies well enough but for people who have hearing loss like me, it's just short of what is perfect. Battery life is very good. I highly recommend this product. I've tried 2 other high end electronic ear plugs and these are the best by far.

The images of the product clearly shows the ear plugs are supplied with a hard case. The image is untrue as the product was supplied with a cheaper soft pouch. Not worth returning as it doesn't effect the ear plugs effectiveness but never the less disappointing.

I am a long-time shooter, instructor, and range officer and I was looking for hearing protection that would not interfere while using a rifle. I have used 3M/Peltor Tactical/Sport electronic muffs for several years. They are a very good product, but they, like all of my headsets, would get pushed off my ear by the rifle stock and I would have no hearing protection for that ear. I could, and did, put in foam ear plugs, but then, when not firing, I could barely hear in the ear with the ear plugs and headset muff. In addition, when wearing muffs over Oakley frames (which have larger diameter bows), the bows would sometimes push the muffs just far enough off my ears to let loud noise in. Not to mention sweaty ears in the summer heat. Enough finally got to be enough, and I went looking for an alternative that cost less than $500.I have had the Etymotic GunSport for about a month, and the product functions just as advertised. The hearing protection is at least as good as several of the headset ear muffs I've had over the years. The caveat, though, is that I get that level of protection only when using the foam eartips properly inserted in my ear canal. That means rolling the foam between your fingers to compress the foam before the stem is being inserted, and getting the angle of insertion right to actually be in the ear canal. (I have large hands, and it is a bit harder to do than you might think. There's not a lot of room to work in when inserting the stem.) The 3 flange eartips do not seem to provide the same level of muzzle blast protection.The earplugs are comfortable to wear for several hours at a time. I have frequently forgotten I had them on, and have gone to lunch while still wearing them. (The upside to that is those hideous screaming children at the next table are nicely muffled when in Lo mode.)I'm at the end of my first month, and on the same set of batteries, so I have no information about how long they will last. I have talked with some friends who wear hearing aids, and they say the duration varies a bit by battery manufacturer, with some being a little better than others, but that I can expect about 4 weeks or so of use on a battery. YMMV.The only negative so far is size (see "hands", above). Sometimes it takes me 20 to 40 seconds to find that little tiny switch to go into the 5x (Hi)mode. It might be better if I had longer fingernails, but it is a problem. I generally do not use the 5x mode, although I probably will when I go hunting this Fall. It does work pretty well. There is a different size problem, but it is not a negative in the sense that it comes with the territory for a small device. Putting in those small batteries with large hands and fingers is an experience. I would suggest the first few times you do it over a towel, or something similar, to catch those little puppies when they fall out of your fingers or fail (because of hand size) to be properly positioned to go into the battery holder. Otherwise you're going to be looking for them in the gravel somewhere after they've bounced a couple of times.The summary is that I've used them outdoors with handguns, rifles and shotguns, and they work fine. They significantly reduce noise and muzzle blast, and I can still hear conversation and range commands. They are simple to use (hand and finger size notwithstanding), but get them inserted properly. I would, and have, recommended them to other people.I have not encountered a serious enough "con" yet to warrant removing a star. I'll look at this review again after I have another few months of wear time on these ear plugs.

I like the product overall, only thing I hate is that I cannot get custom molds for them in my area. The nearest place is in Montana. Would like it if it was possible to have custom molds done to it by any audiologist.Edit:Had to take down one star. During extreme cold weather, the hunting mode stops amplifying sounds. It still blocks out sounds though.However, I notice the hunting mode does start working again once the GSP 15 is warmed up.

I brought this back in March 2019 and I really want to give it 5 stars because when it works, it is absolutely perfect BUT even though I give them 5 stars for “noise cancellation”, and “comfort”, I can only give the one star for "value for money" and “overall rating” because of the two I got as a set, only one ever worked even though the one that worked worked perfectly but the other one was a disaster.The defective one buzzed and turned itself on/off like it was running out of battery even though I put in new batteries 4 times and even switch battery with the other one where the battery worked perfectly. Their customer service is also very difficult to contact and you have to wait for close to an hour during which instead of music you keep having to listen to their message which repeats over and over again and is very irritating.Anyhow, I eventually got hold of someone but it took 4 weeks of “discussion” to get a “replacement” piece back which was suppose to be a new one but it had exactly the same problem as the one it replaced. So one ear piece has worked perfectly for the approximately 30 hours I used it – absolutely no problem. The other one was a disaster buzzing every few minutes. It does not matter which ear I put it in as I have switched ear – bad piece is always bad. My conclusion is they either have a lot of problem with their products or they send the same piece back to me.Contacting Etymotic again and they send me a replacement. This worked as good as the other one and I am now a happy camper - change from 1 star back to 4 stars If it had worked out of the box I would give it 5 stars.One thing people should understand is if you need good sound protection, you must use the memory foam plugs as they will allow you to insert them deep inside your ear and give good protection even against centerfire rifle noise and because they are deep, they will not fall out or give you wind noise.Another update – well the replacement ear piece has started to fail. Put it in ear and it’s like there is no battery inserted i.e. no sound. It is not the battery as I can put in a new battery and it makes no difference. Even the battery in the one that works does not help. I’ve resorted to using it so only one ear works. The crazy thing is you put it in and it can work all day. Take it out and the next day it’s dead…Back to 1 star….