New eyewear-friendly gelcups for Howard Leight (and other) muffs

[0uTkAsT]

Cool new product on Kickstarter right now that I thought I'd share, company is called Noisefighters and product is being called SightLines. Construction and materials seem similar to the Peltor gel cups, with a channel on the upper portion to alleviate the pressure points from eyewear and maintain sealing, but the best part is they're going to be available for Impact Sports and many other muffs with far less OEM or aftermarket accessory support than 3M or MSA.

ETA: having a hard time getting pictures to work...





Link: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects...?ref=discovery

As a full-time glasses wearer and longtime user of Howard Leight muffs, I'm excited these are becoming a thing but it's worth noting that I'm not affiliated with the manufacturer in any way, and I was even denied a preproduction sample by the owner for T&E (hey it never hurts to ask right? ) so I have no skin in the game, just a really cool product that should hopefully eliminate the pain of wearing muffs all day with eye pro, shades or glasses.

[darr3239]

That is an interesting solution. I've always tried to find sunglasses with the thinnest stems so the ear muffs would have the best possible seal. I wonder how many folks don't, and end up with a slight gap they aren't aware of.

[SteveL]

My only gripe against the HLs has always been the lack of gel cups. Given how popular they are I'm really surprised nobody has offered a good set already.

[0uTkAsT]

Yeah, my wife and I both use Impact Sports and the muffs still make visible impressions with the legs of the eyepro in the side of her head after just a couple of hours, and her shooting glasses even have ultra-thin legs.

Side note... I posted on TOS and people are already complaining that they cost about as much as the muffs themselves. Comfort must mean nothing to those dudes, and they've certainly never bought $60+ gel cups for Peltors before.

[itsmcgavinson]

The only thing I hate about shooting is wearing my spectacles with ear pro. Man, that stuff gets real painful after a long day of blasting away.

[0uTkAsT]

So shortly after posting this thread I was actually contacted by the owner and he sent me a pair for T&E. I got them yesterday after I was already back from the range but I installed them last night and wore them around the house for a bit. I looked like a moron but I was excited to give these a go.

First impressions are that they are very soft and almost "liquidy" feeling like the high-end Peltor gel cups. They are flexible and highly conforming, so much so that I could immediately tell that they seal around my ears better than the old foam cups, which should result in better sound attenuation. The only thing I didn't like, at least initially, is that the eyewear channels sit higher above my ears than I thought they would... probably at least an inch higher than where my glasses typically sit on my ears. When I put my glasses in those channels, it just felt weird to me. Not uncomfortable, just weird. I am a full-time glasses wearer though, so for someone else who just wears sunglasses or eye pro whilst shooting, it may not feel so odd. I also felt like I was looking out of the top third of my prescription lenses because they were tilted downward slightly, but I will need much more time with them to see if that will be an issue or not. I was indoors, it was dark out, and I only had 15 minutes or so to play with them last night so this is very preliminary feedback. On the bright side, the new gel cups are so soft and conforming that I had absolutely no discomfort wearing my glasses on my ears where I normally do for the short period of time I had them on, and they seemed to seal up around the legs of the glasses quite well - MUCH more so than the OEM pads - so even if I don't end up using the channels, I still gained a significant amount of comfort with the SightLines.

I'm really looking forward to giving these a good workout next weekend!

[26 Inf]

Okay, I'm an idiot. I couldn't find anyplace to order the Howard L's that are apparently in stock.

[0uTkAsT]

Okay, I'm an idiot. I couldn't find anyplace to order the Howard L's that are apparently in stock.

You're trying to order these gel cups or the Impact Sport muffs themselves?

[26 Inf]

You're trying to order these gel cups or the Impact Sport muffs themselves?

These gel cups. My daughters already have the muffs.

[0uTkAsT]

These gel cups. My daughters already have the muffs.

They're only available through the Kickstarter right now, link in the original post. The campaign ends sometime later this month but says "ETA March '18". I'm not sure if that's for the Howard Leights or other models, but all the details are on Kickstarter.