Walker’s is known for its hearing protection, and this new headset protects your hearing while enhancing sounds and playing tunes.
Raptor Bone Conductor
The hearing protection from this device is simple — wear earplugs. Foam earplugs continue to be among the best tools for hearing protection. They work so well, in fact, that it’s very difficult to have conversations or hear anything at all when using them, especially the sound of birds flushing and branches twitching.
This headset device further protects your hearing with Walker’s Sound Activated Compression to help actively cancel gunfire reports.
The Raptor also conquers the self-induced deafness and makes your hearing experience much better. It rides over your ears and around the back of your head (which I like because I can wear my favorite hat), but instead of going into your ears, it rests against the bone in front of your ears.
Sounds from the device are transferred to your ears through your bones (and vice versa) and are unimpeded by the foam earplugs.
This type of headphone has become popular in the last few years among gym-goers. With the integrated Bluetooth connectivity, you can listen to music from your device and even answer phone calls.
The raptor does one big step better, however, by offering stereo audio enhancement, similar to what’s included in many of the Razor and other earmuffs. You can hear the small sounds around you, like conversations, leaves rustling, steel ringing, and brass tinkling.
Remarkably, you can adjust the volume of your music/calls independently of the volume for hearing enhancement. You could turn up the hearing and turn down the music or phone notification sounds while hunting. And the enhancement is in stereo so you can tell from which direction sounds originate. It’s also weather-resistant.
The Raptor includes onboard buttons for volume control, but you can also have more controls using the (recently re-designed) app on your phone or tablet. They have a rechargeable battery and include a USB-C charging cable.
These are useful at the range, in the field, and even at the gym. MSRP is $299, and the Raptor Bone Conduction headset is available now.