There is certainly no shortage of electronic hearing protection out there in the market. But, I’m a big fan of capitalism and competition in the marketplace so when a new company joins the ranks I’m totally okay with it.
A recent example of a company who has just announced a new set of electronic muff-type shooting protection is Ready Up Gear. If you didn’t know, Ready Up Gear is a part of the ConcealedCarry.com family, and is owned by the same people.
Roger 22 Hearing Protection
The Roger 22 is your standard, battery-powered hearing protection with one exception: They’re available at a lower price.
That price is $39.99 as of this writing, and I can say that they do a good job of muffling the sound down to acceptable levels. They can be used as passive ear protection if needed, and the microphones do a good job of picking up the sound.
I’ve turned into a bit of a hearing protection snob over the past few years after developing some pretty bad tinnitus (ringing) in my ears that never goes away.
So in order for something like this to get my stamp of approval it has to be good.
Let’s take a look.
Roger 22 Fit
The Roger 22 electronic hearing protection fit my extra-large sized head well, and the padding that comes on both the ears and the head band do a good job of keeping me comfortable for hours on the range.
In fact, my last range session saw 3 – 4 hours of straight range firing several different guns to include two different 9mm handguns and a 40 S&W CMMG Banshee with a muzzle brake.
The time before that, I used them when I was putting lead downrange with an AR-15, and the fitment of the muffs was such that it muffled the sound down to acceptable levels.
They even performed well while wearing my glasses which is a huge plus, and a problem that other muffs tend to have.
During the times I’ve had them out at the range they were never uncomfortable for me.
As all other muff style hearing protection has, you can adjust them to fit over your ears correctly with relative ease, by just sliding the muff up or down.
For a point of reference, these fit my head about the same as my Walker Razors do, but much better than my Peltor. That’s right, these fit my head better than the muffs that cost more than twice as much.
Also for reference, the Peltor’s muffs are much more comfortable on my head. I’m not sure what’s going on here, but I’d rather have a tighter fit with moderate comfort that the Roger 22s provide.
Other important stuff
The Roger 22 takes two AAA batteries that seem to stay a live for a while. I’ve used them on a few different occasions and haven’t had to swap batteries yet.
The knob works well to turn them on and off, and offers up a tactile “click” when you get to the on/off switch. As an added bonus, the knob is also textured which helps you to know for certain that you’re turning it. This is important to note, as we move into the next section.
I compare the Roger 22 muffs to four others in what I’m calling the best electronic shooting ear protection.
Roger 22 improvements
Keeping in mind that these electronic hearing protection muffs are supposed to be budget hearing protection and not meant to feature high end features, I do think there are some aspects I’d like to see improvements over.
I’m nit-picking here, however.
For example, I said above that the knob is textured which helps you know that you’re moving it. This is important because when you first turn them on and the volume up, nothing seems to happen.
The microphone doesn’t seem to pick up sound right away. It’s almost as if they need a moment to get fired up. But that’s not quite it, because the sound didn’t seem to come in until I was turning the knob up for a while.
One thing I like on certain hearing protection I own, and I have several, is that the volume knob has an audible beep the louder or quieter it gets. This helps to understand where I’m at if I need to use them outside of the gun range.
But again, I do feel as though I was being nit picky there. Over all, these are a good set of hearing protection and I don’t think you could go wrong.
Conclusion:
The Roger 22 electronic hearing protection is a good option for someone who is budget minded but still wants a high quality set of muffs. When you buy it, make sure you add the hearing protection belt clip, as well.
It’ll make your life on the range a lot easier.
