NOTE: As with any review, the item must be reviewed with the understanding that most things have limitations. That's why despite the wind noise issue I still give these buds a 5 star rating.

I have been a waterfowl and upland game hunter my whole life. I have never been a fan of hearing protection for the same reasons that most hunters shy away from it: It's too bulky (causes issues with cheek weld with rifles or shotguns), and you can't hear required ambient sounds of birds on approach etc. When I waterfowl hunt solo, I can control my shots and the noise doesn't have too much noticeable affect on my hearing (it does,p whether I admit it or not). However, while hunting with my son or in groups, especially in pit style blinds, adjacent shots can be a real hearing killer.

I decided to give the Walker's Silencer buds a try. The Bluetooth rechargeable versions were interesting in concept, but I really didn't want to deal with the Bluetooth connectivity, pulling out my phone to adjust, etc. so I opted for these and saved some money.

I used them for the first time on a pit blind waterfowl hunt yesterday. They ran great! The simple on off switch and manual volume adjustment knobs were very simple to get used to. The adjacent shots from other hunters were eliminated to a dull puff. They were comfortable in my ears. I wore them all morning without any pain or discomfort. They fit my ears very well and felt secure.

As with any electronic hearing protection, wind noise is terrible. I've used top end over ear muffs that suffer from the same issue. We had 15 -20 mph winds in the blind and no matter what I did the wind came through, hard. Despite that, the benefit of these buds is apparent. There are many days where there are minimal or zero winds. These will work great those days. I am also going to work on a solution with some sort of tiny baffle from the microphone area. If the wind gets to be too much, a simple flick of the off switch turns them into solid ear plugs.

As for battery life. They run off of size 10 hearing aid batteries. I bought a 60 pack of batteries for less than $20 here on Amazon. At less than .30 cents for each battery, the cost is a non issue. I ran them all day yesterday, forgot to turn one off when done and it is still going strong this morning.

As a hunter in my late 40's, I can't tell you how bad I have been to my ears over the years. I am beginning to pay the price. I will force my boy to wear these from now one.

If not these, get something!! Good luck!

Update (2 months later): So, the surefire defender earplugs silicone attachment broke on me. So, I found cheaper and more effective ear replacement attachments. Turns out they are size 2mm ear silicone attachments; the same ones that fit the westone style. Only about $6 for these replacement silicone ear attachments.

These are low costing, and more durable around the tube area for the ear canal compared to the surefire ones. I may even use my spare pair of attachments for the surefire earplugs. Sometimes when I turn on the earbuds I hear a noise canceling or irritating sound. Turns out its time to change the batteries. I realized the batteries that come along with the earbuds are very short lived; idk maybe cheap batteries or old stock. But, I ordered my own replacement duracell batteries which are working nice. I still don't know the battery life on that one yet. But, I can tell you I have the enhancement dial turned up to the max.

I changed the foam earbud attachments with the plastic surefire defender earplugs. I am a size small for the earbud size.

If one side sounds louder than the other; that means the surefire silicone attachment needs to be readjusted and needs to be fitted more snug in my ear. I thought one side was defective compared to the other; not at all.

When talking with the electronic earbuds turned on; my voice will cut out or become dampened electronically. If talking with someone I will turn down the dial or turn off the electronic hearing to make it easier for me to speak with someone.

I needed a electronic hearing protection for hiking/hunting in hot weather. My head would hurt after hours of having headphones pinching on my head. I like the headphones for a short amount of time such as at the range; but, not out in the wilderness from sunrise to sunset.

I tried these out in 90 degrees during a dry, stagnant wind, and sunny day. I had the earbuds in for the whole day from sunrise to sunset. My head did not ache from pinching of my walkers headphones. A lot more comfortable now; since I am already dehydrated and possibly near heat stroke.

Picked these up for a shooting school and they have performed very well. The NRR is as promised and the shots were cut off as described but I could still hear conversations and instructions from the range master. The tips are a bit awkward to insert but if you reach across the top of your head and lift your ear while also pulling rearward, the tip goes in and seats correctly just like regular foam plugs. Once the foam expands, the sounds outside are nicely deadened to where you can barely hear anyone talking. I flipped the switch on the left-ear piece first and adjusted the volume after hearing the chime tones. Then I turned the left-ear piece off and adjusted the right ear-piece the same way. Then I turned both ear pieces on and made minor adjustments to balance the sound. The case and included tool plus two batteries were a very nice touch. The local Walmart has these batteries on the rack, so they are pretty easy to obtain.

There have been complaints about the batteries dying after a few hours use, but this hasn't been my experience. My batteries were still going strong after the four-day class. Each day was 7 to 8 hours in length (28 - 32 hours use total). These were the batteries that came with the ear piece set. I checked the ear piece about 10 days later. Although the switch was off, the batteries were dead, so the 80 hour lifetime is probably pretty good estimate. The key to good battery life is to activate the batteries correctly before installing them. Do one ear piece at a time. Remove the plastic sticker by peeling it off then let the battery sit of at least one minute to fully activate. Insert the activated battery into the battery holder and close the door. Then reinstall the silicone ear hook and the foam ear piece. Repeat on the other ear piece. If you do not do it this way, the battery will not work properly and will probably die after a few hours.

Returned, I wanted Bluetooth not battery

So, there are a lot of reviews for this already that cover a lot of pros and cons. For the most part I will just say that I agree with these things.

There are a few things that need to still be addressed.

First, the batteries used in these die in air. Basically you activate them by removing a sticker. Once you do that they start working. And they stop working in a given amount of time. Doesn't matter if you use them or not. Unfortunately most people are going to use this incidentally. Which means you are going to get new batteries for just about each use. Unless you use them multiple times in the same week. If you want to save some money on batteries go to any bulk store or any local store and get some. I say that because you want to always check the expiration date of your batteries.

Second, these are a little tricky to get into the ear canal. The trick I found works the best is to sort of push on the back of the housing instead of the middle. This helps it slip into the canal at the correct angle.

Third, they have a wind problem. If you are hunting on a windy day you will hear nothing. The noise cancelling basically cuts out all gusts of wind at any decent speed. I've been looking for something to cut that down for a while now. So far I haven't settled on a solution. I'm thinking of buying microphone wind muffs and cutting them to the correct size to either fit over the housing or, probably, my ear. I've also been toying with the idea of getting some fuzzy ear warmers and giving that a try. If that doesn't work I might try sewing some of the fuzzy material over the ear warmer.

I have a couple other insights. I think they sound different in the car because they tend to knock out the sound of the car or tires. So things sound a little muffled in a car. Once you get out things get much more clear. I can only think it's just repetitive loud noises.

Overall I love these things. When they are working properly you can hear just about everything you would want. And if your buddy shoots next to you unexpectedly you don't lose your hearing. You can talk in whispers to each other and hear clearly. They truly are fantastic at what they are designed to do.

If I can just deal with the wind issue. To be fair, all pin hole mics have that same issue. So, this isn't really specific to this product. I only knock the 1 star here because the manufacturer designed these for outdoorsmen who will inevitably deal with wind.