Anyone know a UK supplier of......

[MrCetrizine]

.... 3M Peltor TEP-100 ear plugs?

 

http://solutions.3m.com/wps/portal/3M/en_US/3M-PPE-Safety-Solutions/Personal-Protective-Equipment/Products/Product-Catalog/TEP-100/?MDR=true

 

Amazon US sells them but I can't find them here.

[MrCetrizine]

I've ordered them from Amazon US. It came to £240 with shipping and import duty.

 

That's not much more than my custom moulded plugs and they are a couple of years old now and starting to not work as well due to ears changing shape with time.

 

Hopefully these are as good as the reviews I've read.

[Chris-NZ]

Multi-flange "fit all" tips like these will not do well on say 20% of ears. This is because some canals are hairy, narrow or tortuous ( or even combinations of these). If the passive seal from the tips is poor, the electronics will be of no value.

 

MrC's comment alludes to this- if the "fit" (seal) is poor, the end result is hopeless. Of my five pairs of custom electronic plugs, two aren't worth using now because the shells are no longer accurate. Luckily these cost me near nothing as they are built from recycled digital hearing aids and I'm "in the trade"..

 

The multi-flanges on these 3M ones are very similar to my orange passive plugs that sit in my range kit as backups. If I'm ever forced to use them, I have to be careful to wiggle them about to get a good seal and this can sometimes take three re-insertions to achieve this.

[MrCetrizine]

One of the things that drew me to these was the modular plug tips. They are available in many sizes and several materials so I'm sure I'll always be able to get tips that fit well.

 

If not, I'll use Amazon's no quibble returns policy.

[Re-Pete]

They're on fleabay for £185 plus £10 shipping from the usa...........you're not really going to shove them in your ears, then if they don't fit, send them back to be sent out to another hopeful punter, are you???

 

H/man

[MrCetrizine]

£185 + £10 + £40 import duty + shippers import duty handling fee (typically £10-£25). I've never been lucky enough to not get hit by customs so I'll stick with Amazon as all fees are listed and paid up front plus I get 2 day tracked delivery.

 

Amazon have a no quibble returns policy. I'd be stupid not to use it if I'm not happy. I doubt they just seal the box and send them out to the next customer. I'm sure they'd go back to 3M for refurbishing.

 

Besides, when I had my custom plugs moulded, the girl said I had the cleanest ears she'd ever seen.

[Re-Pete]

I've returned a couple of items to Amazon that had clearly been used, although the boxes looked OK..................

 

Let's hope you're not the second or third guy to try 'em. As an aside, are the silicone rubber bits detachable?

 

For that money, it might be possible to get spares.

 

I'd not seen them before, and they look to be really good if you can get a snug fit.

 

H/man

[MrCetrizine]

Yes the tips are replaceable and they do several sizes, styles and materials.

[MrCetrizine]

I had a chance to use these today and I'm very happy with them. They come with 4 sets of tips in different sizes and styles so fit now and in the future is no problem.

 

They are very high quality. The case they live in that also doubles as their charger is some kind of fibre infused polymer that's waterproof and feels stronger than a peli case.

It takes 3 AA batteries or can be plugged into USB to charge the plugs. They take 90 minutes to charge and then last 9 hours.

 

The plugs themselves are comfortable enough to wear for several hours without knowing that are there. They have two modes, standard hearing with protection and enhanced hearing with protection.

The standard hearing is just what it says, you hear normally but don't hear loud bangs. With enhanced hearing, they seem to only enhance very quiet sounds so somebody standing next to you doesn't deafen you when they talk.

 

In both modes, what you hear gets a slight tinniness to it but not enough to sound weird.

 

In enhanced mode you can hear some wind noise but it's not enough to be annoying.

 

They are much better than my passive custom moulded plugs and easily on par with the CENS plugs that I had stolen a few years ago but for half the cost.

 

I give them 8/10. They only drop points for having to be imported and for costing more than I'm sure 3M could charge.