The around-the-neck, retractable-earbud-equipped Walkers Razor XV retails for $159.99 but takes hearing protection to a whole other level, including enhancing your hearing and connecting to your Bluetooth-equipped mobile device. So this is not only for hearing protection but also hearing enhancement and even general listening enjoyment. There’s a lot going on in this high-tech, low-profile device.
In its most basic form, the Razor XV protects your hearing with a NRR 31 rating. The device comes with two different styles of foam tips to ensure the earbuds get a snug fit in your ear. Moreover, the earbuds extend and retract from the headset (or is it a neckset?), allowing you to wear it around your neck, which is very comfortable and out of the way of virtually any weapon you’re firing. Of course, other earbuds can do all that without a neckset. But while the Razor XV can manage this minimal form of hearing protection very well, it of course can do so much more. And for $159.99, it ought to.
Getting to the high-tech features, the Razor XV is a rechargeable hearing-enhancement system as well as a hearing protector. So, while blocking out harmful loud noises such as the report from a fired gun, the Razor XV is picking up sounds from all around you and sending them in to your ears through the earbuds. Now we’re talking. And I mean literally talking, in a conversational way, with your friends at the range. The Razor XV picks up all their conversation (and even some further away), allowing you to hear and speak without removing the earbuds. In the deer stand, where there’s no conversation going on, you’re picking up squirrel chatter, the sound of falling leaves hitting the ground and the snap of a twig as a buck ambles his way toward you (from behind, of course). But you did hear him…
In addition to blocking out harmful sounds and letting in helpful sounds, Razor XV also offers the ability to hear from your mobile device (tunes or phone conversations) while blocking out harmful noises and hearing the sounds around you. So if you want to listen to Mozart — and not be adversely affected by the report of your gun — while you’re on the range, you can. And you can take a phone call. All this happens wirelessly through Bluetooth pairing. And there’s independent volume control for the mic and the Bluetooth feed.
Walkers Razor XV charges easily via AC or USB and shuts itself off after 4 to 6 hours. Retracting the earbuds is as easy as clicking a button; they snap back in an instant. This device does a lot of things well and proves that hearing protection can be far more than just hearing protection.
More info at: www.gsmoutdoors.com
