Bluetooth earmuffs

[Brian Holcombe]

I like to be 'up' all day and I find music to help with that. I have blue tooth ear buds covered by headphones and I have turned off the noise cancellation aspect of the blue tooth ear buds. I don't want my shop to be silent to me, but I want the tools at a safe hearing level.

I always have my music set at a level that I can easily hear the machinery. I think this is important for many reasons, safety primarily but also if something is going on with the cut or machine I want to be made aware of it quickly and hearing is an important part of that.

[cody michael]

Work tunes here also, I just bought them a few weeks ago but I love them, Even wear them for quieter task because they sound good and are easy to connect.

[Cliff Polubinsky]

I've had good luck with the ION Tough Sounds headphones.

Cliff

[Roger Feeley]

Jim,

Can you tell me what happens when you have the headphones paired with your phone and you receive an incoming call while listening to the FM radio?
That's what I want. I want to put on my headphones and turn on the radio and listen while I work. But, when there is an incoming call, I want to be notified. I don't care if the headphones stream the phone call. I just want to know when I get the call. I'm perfectly happy finishing my cut, powering down the machine, powering down the dust collector, turning off the other radio in the room and then returning the call.

My understanding from the folks at 3M is that the only indication I would get for an incoming call is that the FM radio would drop out. That, to me, is not sufficient.

I use the FM Worktunes all the time in my shop and like them a lot. But what they lack is a way for me to know that I've received a call when running a machine.

So, here's the test:
-- make sure the worktunes are paired with your phone.
-- put them in FM mode
-- have someone call you

[Rege Sullivan]

I've tried a couple brands. Some wired, some bluetooth. I've settled on ISOtunes pro. They work well at noise reduction, sound pretty good and work really well for phone calls even in moderately noisy environments. The battery gets you through a 10 hour day. Only complaint is replacement ear buds are stupid expensive for a small piece of foam.

[David Utterback]

I moved away from muffs many years ago due to noise leakage around the safety glass arms. (I have a severe noise-induced bi-lateral hearing loss from exposure in my youth, most of which was from music.) I just destroyed my ISOtunes Pro with my excessive sweating while mowing the yard. There was a water swishing sound just before they gave out.

The best noise cancelling hearing protection I have found is SensGard which is a passive devices, i.e. no electronics. Their noise reduction performance is much better in actual use than ISOtunes but they are not Bluetooth capable.

For those using the ear pods, do they provide sufficient noise reduction? I have seen some in use, but always doubted their protection factors. If they are not limiting the external noise, the output volume would be have to be greater which would increase the hearing damage.

I've tried a couple brands. Some wired, some bluetooth. I've settled on ISOtunes pro. They work well at noise reduction, sound pretty good and work really well for phone calls even in moderately noisy environments. The battery gets you through a 10 hour day. Only complaint is replacement ear buds are stupid expensive for a small piece of foam.