Re: EF-5 Brush Brute\'ing & Ear Protection
Reds - I've only been researching the noise reduction headsets for a couple weeks, but it's been a busy couple weeks. I've listened to three different kinds of active ("electronic") headsets, as well as compared them to passive types (plain old "muffs" and ear plugs), and I don't think anything else out there comes close to the Pro-Ears.
Here's another anecdote to add to my earlier review: Yesterday, during the land clearing project the pictures I posted yesterday were taken of, I was wearing the Pro-Ears and all of a sudden, when pushing a particularly large pile of dirt/brush/logs and climbing a pile of the same kind of stuff at the same time, I noticed a rumbling sound. So, I backed out of the pile, and looked everything over - I looked for a loose plate vibrating, stuff like that - but didn't find anything, so I went back to work. As soon as I started though, I heard the rumbling again, so I took the Pro-Ears off and then I couldn't hear it - or at least I wasn't sure I could still hear it. I thought maybe it was something strange about the Pro-Ears themselves, but I was certain I hadn't heard the rumbling sound earlier. So, I checked everything again - nothing. Went back to work, but it was still bugging me, so I stopped again. This time, I opened the hood, and started listening very carefully, cupping my hands over the microphones in the Pro-Ears, just like you'd do with your ears. I distinctly heard the sound more clearly and it was coming from the direction of the muffler, but I didn't see anything wrong. A very careful inspection revealed that a piece of flexible stainless exhaust pipe that provided the connection between the turbocharger and the muffler had pulled out of the connector it was fitted into - there was a 1/16" gap between the end of the flex and the connector. The really strange part was that neither of the other two folks who were working with me, including the one who took the pictures I posted, ever heard the rumbling sound. Suffice it to say that I'm sold on the Pro-Ears.
The other thing I noticed was that after wearing them for about 3 hours straight, when I jumped on the tractor to load it on my trailer, I decided not to put them on, because I'd only be running it a couple minutes. I couldn't believe how loud it was, and even more so, that I've been using it for more than 80 hours and didn't really think too much about it. I was really tempted to put the headset back on for just the minute or so remaining while I loaded it. The Pro-Ears are now standard equipment, and so is an extra set of the 4 "N" batteries that it takes, even though they're supposed to last 250 hours - I want to be sure I'm not without them on the job.
By the way, I've gotten the info on the TBN deal John at Shooter's Safety Products has worked out, and I'll post it in a separate message, and in the Safety Forum, too, I think.
