First Look: Birchwood Casey eKrest Electronic Earmuffs

While the firearm industry has made great strides in the area of hearing protection, the fact remains that being able to hear and respond to ambient noises at the range is not merely a luxury. It's a necessity. So, Birchwood Casey designed its new eKrest Electronic Muffs to enable shooters at the range to have full awareness of their surroundings, enhancing their safety.

The eKrest earmuffs are specifically designed to provide amplification of all noises occurring outside the muffs up to 85 decibels. At that level, the internal system will then work to mute the loud, sharp noises emitted from firearms. The product has an ANSI noise-reduction rating of 26 decibels, ensuring that the noise experienced by the user's ear always remains below hearing-safe levels, no matter what gun you take to the range.

Comfort was a priority in the construction of the Birchwood Casey eKrest Electronic Muffs, which are built with padded ear cups and a padded headband that enable them to be worn comfortably for the entirety of a range day. The headband features an adjustable length that allows users to get a perfect custom fit, regardless of headwear. The muffs are built with two omni-directional microphones, guaranteeing that there are no blind spots in the user's hearing at the range. This enables them to be confident in their ability to hear range commands, even when they're not directly in the sight line of a range safety officer.

If you're out on the range by yourself and have no need to tune into the external environment, no problem! The muffs are built with an easily accessible on/off switch and volume control to save battery and enable consumers to fine-tune the amount of input they want to experience from the outer world. Each pair of earmuffs runs off two AAA batteries, and a built-in LED indicator light reminds users when it's time to change batteries.

Each pair of Birchwood Casey eKrest Electronic Muffs also includes a built-in auxiliary-input jack, so you can pipe your favorite tunes into the muffs while sending rounds downrange. The muffs are available in carbon-fiber and desert-tan finishes and sell at a suggested retail price of $64.50.