AM/FM headphones for music and protection.

[CaveCreekRay]

Nice thing about the Howard Leight/Honeywells is, Howard Leight is an acoustic engineer fanatical about hearing protection. His headset will only go so loud. Plenty loud enough for comfortable listening but not so loud that it drowns things outside out. Definitely saves your hearing.

 

[Tallahassee Kubota Man]

Lost track of this thread. Thanks all for your comments.

 

[Ezlife45]

Well I think most are talking about use on their own private property. I use Bose noise canceling headphones and Pandora cranked up!

If your dumb enough to get hit by a loud tractor on topping out at 7mph some would call that natural selection.

I hope people like you don't work where I do.
The way to get safety improved is for everyone to look out for each other. Accidents do happen and most times it's the innocent guy not the guy at fault that gets maimed.

 

[tcrote5516]

I hope people like you don't work where I do.
The way to get safety improved is for everyone to look out for each other. Accidents do happen and most times it's the innocent guy not the guy at fault that gets maimed.

Don't worry I don't work where you work.

The tractor has a noise level of 92 db at 2000 rpm, add the pto and another 700 rpm and that number rolls over 105db. I can still hear the tractor with headphones on. There's nothing you cant hear over headphones that you would have heard over the tractor anyway so the safety concern isn't warrented.

 

[Benhameen]

I just use my ear buds that come with my iPhone and I only listen to podcast. That's basically a radio show on whatever topic you like. I can still hear what's going on with my tractor. I'm going to say that it's not the best thing for my hearing though.

 

[85Hokie]

Good thing you guys werent out on any of my job sites, your boss would be figuring out how to pay the fine. While hearing protection is required on a lot of equipment hearing protection with a radio is a NO NO. Reason is operators become distracted, cant hear the equipment or any one around them, and then,, well you know what happens,, guys like me have to go out and figure out what happend and some poor sap is inthe morg, and the other one has to live with what he did,,,,, Just sayin,,, carry on

Skeets,

I am with you on most all of this!! ANYtime that someone else is involved around you - your attention needs to be 101% in tune - with THEM ! At school, in the shop classes, I get pissed as hell when a kid sneaks his buds in his ear(s) when working......DUE to the fact that he could NOT hear something he needs too or me.....

now if a kid comes up during lunch and wants to stain his project, and is alone.....i really have no problem there.......now he aint goona jump on a band saw and work.....

when I cut grass - I have buds in, home or at school.......my wife gets so pissed cause I can hear her screaming at me !

Time and place for everything..........problem is that some - cannot see the difference between being smart and stupid - and we know - you cant fix stupid !

Anytime someone else is involved.....even kids playing in the yard, common sense should rule........isNT that an oxymoron ............COMMON and SENSE !

 

[Daren Todd]

I don't even wear ear buds at home. My kid would wear them mowing. Wouldn't realize he tripped the safety shut down for the pto on the mower. Used to make two or three passes before he would realize it wasn't cutting used to peg him with a tennis ball when I would catch him

It's a big no no in my shop. If I catch them, it's a warning. Second time it's a trip home and forfeiture of a days pay. I was installing a 1000lb volute before on a high volume water pump and the other guy had ear buds in. i was stuck, couldn't move, and neaded a hand getting it the rest of the way on. Dude got pretty upset when he got beaned in the head with a 5/8 bolt. He helped me out, then he got escorted to the office and sent home. I consider it a big safety issue. It's automatic termination if your caught operating a piece of equipment at work with them in

 

[08quadram]

I have used several varieties of headphones over the last decade and a half. Last year, Homey Depot had a closeout on Howard Leight AM/FM for $44. I grabbed a pair and fell in love with them. The batteries last forever, the sound quality is truly excellent and clear, and they cut out the ambient tractor noise just fine. Very comfortable too.

Loved them so much, I wanted a second pair. GACK! They are $70 online! But then, I noticed the Honeywells looked identical. They must be made in the same factory. Buy the Honeywells as they are a lot cheaper and are the same unit, except red.

amazon.com/Honeywell-RWS-53012-Hearing-Protector-Digital/dp/B00FOBPUUA/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1412167274&sr=8-3&keywords=Honeywell+headphones

Rugged. Easy memory storage. Tap the on-off button and it switches between AM and FM. Hold On/Off down for three seconds and it goes off with a "BEEP." Great reception I am 35mi from the antenna with a mountain in the way and I get awesome FM and pretty decent AM with only an occasional momentary dropout. I really love wearing these while running the tractor. The sound clarity is amazing over all the noise you discover when you pull them off to talk to someone. One of my pairs live on the FEL lever. I wear them all the time.

I have the same pair only in black from home depot. Paid $30. Work great. Only thing I don't like is more noise "leak through" when wearing sunglasses, but that isn't the fault of the head phones.

 

[Ezlife45]

I don't even wear ear buds at home. My kid would wear them mowing. Wouldn't realize he tripped the safety shut down for the pto on the mower. Used to make two or three passes before he would realize it wasn't cutting used to peg him with a tennis ball when I would catch him

It's a big no no in my shop. If I catch them, it's a warning. Second time it's a trip home and forfeiture of a days pay. I was installing a 1000lb volute before on a high volume water pump and the other guy had ear buds in. i was stuck, couldn't move, and neaded a hand getting it the rest of the way on. Dude got pretty upset when he got beaned in the head with a 5/8 bolt. He helped me out, then he got escorted to the office and sent home. I consider it a big safety issue. It's automatic termination if your caught operating a piece of equipment at work with them in

I'm glad to see there are other people that seem to think along the same lines as I do.

 

[Daren Todd]

I'm glad to see there are other people that seem to think along the same lines as I do.

I had an operator almost take off my thumb about 8 years ago. Was hooking a chain around a bucket on a loader so he could lift a piece of equipment on to a trailer. He decided to answer a phone call and dropped his phone. When he turned to the right to get it, he bumped the controls. I was hooking the chain and had my thumb crushed and the tenden sliced in it. Got about 40% mobility in it now.

Having something like that happen tends to change your thinking I don't have a problem if someones out field mowing and wants to listen to music. But if there are people around then they need to be free of distractions and paying close attention to there surroundings.

 

[IDKUBOTA]

Food for thought... If the ear buds are playing music which we can hear over the tractor then aren't we playing the music really loud and potentially damaging our hearing? Earplugs without sound or earbuds set in place not connected to music if one wants to pay attention to their phone are better for hearing preservation in the long run. Just a thought.
IDK

 

[Jeffery L]

I use the 3 also. I even wear them over a thick wool toke/hat. I CA still hear the engine in the background. I would recommend the 3M, if you haven't already bought them.

 

[Tallahassee Kubota Man]

Just wanted to report the 3M's work great; plenty of volume, but you can still hear what's going on outside. Surprisingly it gets very good reception of local stations. I can get my daily dose of ESPN while working.

 

[eddiebob]

I have to agree with Skeets on this one. Hearing protection is a great thing to use. But only as protection not as entertainment. I too work in an industrial environment (Drill Ship) where all types of PPE are required. Lack of attention and focus are the primary causes of injury. I can only speak for myself but the plain old ear plugs or ear muffs do a wonderful job without the distraction.

 

[Tallahassee Kubota Man]

eddiebob, I hear what you're saying and agree for the most part. I should have been more specific on when I wear them, which is on my large mowing jobs in wide open pastures. During the summers that's most of what I do. Boredom can be distracting at times. On other jobs it's not worth the risk and I use the plain old sponge ear plugs.

 

[philztoy]

I have used several varieties of headphones over the last decade and a half. Last year, Homey Depot had a closeout on Howard Leight AM/FM for $44. I grabbed a pair and fell in love with them. The batteries last forever, the sound quality is truly excellent and clear, and they cut out the ambient tractor noise just fine. Very comfortable too.

Loved them so much, I wanted a second pair. GACK! They are $70 online! But then, I noticed the Honeywells looked identical. They must be made in the same factory. Buy the Honeywells as they are a lot cheaper and are the same unit, except red.

amazon.com/Honeywell-RWS-53012-Hearing-Protector-Digital/dp/B00FOBPUUA/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1412167274&sr=8-3&keywords=Honeywell+headphones

Rugged. Easy memory storage. Tap the on-off button and it switches between AM and FM. Hold On/Off down for three seconds and it goes off with a "BEEP." Great reception I am 35mi from the antenna with a mountain in the way and I get awesome FM and pretty decent AM with only an occasional momentary dropout. I really love wearing these while running the tractor. The sound clarity is amazing over all the noise you discover when you pull them off to talk to someone. One of my pairs live on the FEL lever. I wear them all the time.

I have tried two or three different types and so far these are the best ones I have found. Thanks CCR on the tip for the Amazon Honeywell version. I have bought a few pairs of the Howard Leighs at the big ticket price and this will save me some dollars on the next pair.

 

[live_roll]

I have bought a pair from my local Kubota dealer, I believe they are a Stihl product, they have AM/ FM plus a plug in for ipod , as I absolutely hate cords dangling around when I am operating anything I just generally listen to AM talk radio when mowing, but the real reason I bought them isn't so much for noise control, it is to keep from having to shovel out my ears after a long dusty dirty day of mowing!! Especially the first mow of the season, with the winters dirt, dust, old leaves and who knows what else has settled in over the winter, tight safety glasses, ear muffs and wolf snout, of course that is only on the zero turn, on the tractors, it's shut the door, close the windows and turn on the AC!!

Cheers

Roger

 

[nzzshl]

I personally think that wearing most radio headsets while operating machinery is damaging to the ears in most cases. To effectively override the muffled drone, many wearers are turning the volume of the music too high resulting in highly focused noise delivered to the eardrums. Damage thereafter is a risk. While I subscribe to that, my wife purchased a pair of Dr. Dre headphones that feature noise cancelling technology from the ambient environment yet allows a wearer to the use an iPod or cellphone to deliver programmed music at much lower sound levels and still be heard. They aren't cheap but she swears by the effectiveness of the design.

 

[philztoy]

The manufacturers of the decent music/headphone headsets designed for hearing protection claim that the sound levels of the music they deliver are not damaging to your ears. From my experience you are lowering the decibels of the machinery noise and even at full volume radio you aren't getting kid rock concert level decibels. So they seem to be safe for your hearing

I don't think this is necessarily true with ear buds or perhaps other things that may be drowning out the machinery sounds by higher decibel levels.

The noise cancelling headsets work great in aviation but I haven't seen a pair for general machinery use. Does anybody know if that exists?