Travis Olander 12.19.23
We’ve covered noise reduction ratings and why hear protection is so important when you’re shooting: Even rimfire calibers can cause hearing damage after just a short period of time. But wearing hearing protection can be annoying, especially if it’s passive – you can’t hear those around you, and your situational awareness goes down the rain. Active ear pro is the better option for frequent range visits. But active ear pro can get costly, especially the most popular model on the market today, PELTOR’s ComTac V. But ComTacs are some of the most expensive active ear pro muffs you can buy. What if you could get nearly the same performance for much less? That’s what PELTOR’s Sport Tactical 500s are for. Let’s review.
Hearing Protection Coverage on AllOutdoor
At-a-Glance: Peltor Sport Tac 500
The 500 earmuffs provide active hearing protection via two omnidirectional microphones, one built into each cup, facing forward. The 500s also include Bluetooth connectivity for playing music on any typical BT device or smartphone.
Specifications n’ Features: Peltor Sport Tac 500
- NRR (Noise Reduction Rating): 26 dB
- Dynamic Suppression Time: Accommodates indoor / outdoor / echo
- Voice Tracking: Amplifies conversation against background ambient noise
- Power: two AAs or PELTOR li-ion rechargeable pack (sold separately)
- Headband: Rubberized, adjustable steel wire frame
Real-World Noise Reduction: Peltor Sport Tac 500
As we covered in our guide to Noise Reduction Ratings, the real-world NRR of any set of ear pro won’t always provide enough protection when you’re shooting. But in testing the Peltor Sport Tac 500 outside with supersonic and subsonic 300 Blackout from a 10.5″ SBR, I found the 500s provide hearing-safe levels of protection, even when not suppressed. The muffs provide a good seal around the ear, with comfort that feels just about identical to that of the ComTac headset.
The foam is adequate, and the mesh interior doesn’t scratch or chaff. Breathability is mediocre, though, and on hot days, you might find yourself pooling some sweat around the ears if you wear this headset for longer than 30 minutes to an hour. Thankfully, the headset doesn’t pinch or squeeze your noggin, and I found the rubber-and-steel wire headband to be surprisingly comfortable.
The band is contoured well enough to reduce any pinch points, and in spite of its rubber shell, it’s quite soft. The steel wire is springy and thin, with good adjustability – no complaints on fitment overall. I would, in fact, argue that it might even be a tad more comfortable than the ComTac’s headband, which has a bit more squeeze, and can start to feel tight after a while.
Comfort only goes so far, though – if your active ear pro sucks at, well, being active, then you’ll just wind up tearing them off in between every round of fire. But here is where the Peltor Sport Tac 500 headset really does excel. Having worn the ComTac Vs for a few years (quite literally every time I go shooting), I can say the Peltor Sport Tac 500 are surprisingly close in quality on this front.
The directional microphones do phenomenally at tracking voices and ambient background sound. They provide similar amplification, like the ComTacs, affording good situational awareness. Voices come through crisp and, in fact, the 500s have a bit more treble and clarity in covering high-pitch tones, while the ComTacs tend to sound a bit more bass-y but muffled when passing through higher tones.
To be clear, the ComTacs still win when it comes to amplifying hearing-safe sounds. They’ll pick up quieter noises at greater distances. If I had to put a number on it, I’d say the ComTacs are between 35% and 50% more sensitive and capable at safe sound amplification. But when cutting off gunfire and accounting for reverberation, the 500s are practically identical to the ComTacs. They’re surprisingly good, and I struggle to find any difference in their active protection and responsiveness when comparing them to their more expensive partner. The 500s aren’t perfect, though. Observe the one drawback these earmuffs suffer:
The cups on the 500s are notably larger than the ComTacs and, for that matter, many other active ear pro options. Where comfort and sound quality excel, compactness suffers and, because of the cups’ sizes, they tend to run into buttstocks and can interfere with your cheek weld and sight picture.
This isn’t so much of a problem when you’re working with a high-rise red dot, or any other optic. But if you’re craning your neck to sight down some flip-up irons, you’ll wind up having to push your muffs’ cup upward, cramming it against your ear to get proper clearance. This is a minor inconvenience, and you can still grab a sight picture with proper sight alignment, but it’ll get irritating if you don’t invest in some sort of rail-mounted optic or red dot to obtain a more vertical head position.
Back to the good: The Peltor Sport Tac 500 provide great battery life. The chunky earmuffs at least make up for their bulk in this category; two AA batteries provide about 10 solid hours of continuous use – though you’ll shave that number down to about 5 or 6 hours if you decide to blast some music over Bluetooth frequently (as I do when wearing these for lawn mowing).
Though I question why PELTOR didn’t follow the ComTac’s design (compared above), and split the battery compartment into two smaller casings, one located on either muff. This would solve the issue of big, bulky cups and allow for a more contoured fit against the typical buttstock. I’m sure this design is a cost saver; it’s unfortunate, nonetheless.
Speaking of Bluetooth: The controls on the 500s are easy and simple. You get two directional buttons for adjusting the headset’s volume and for turning on and powering off the units (just hold down either button), with the Bluetooth connectivity button in the center. Press and hold until the unit beeps, then the muffs should pop up on whatever device you’re trying to connect to.
The only irritant, here, is that Bluetooth is volatile – each time you power down the unit, it’ll disconnect from and forget whatever device it was connected to. So, each time you decide to connect, you’ll have to go through the pairing process.
If that’s bothersome, feel free to rely on the 3.5mm AUDIO IN jack tucked underneath the plastic cap on the cup. The USB cable is only for charging the lithium-ion battery pack, sold separately by PELTOR.
Final thoughts: Though they’re larger and bulkier than most over “cheap” active ear pro shooting muffs, the Peltor Sport Tac 500 from PELTOR provide performance that’s surprisingly competitive against their flagship ComTac series of headsets. Good battery life and comfort, excellent sound protection and noise amplification with voice tracking, in a package well under $150.
Read our review of the ComTac V Defender headset here.
