If you have ever bought a pair of electronic earmuffs without spending a fortune, you have probably worn Howard Leight. The brand’s Impact Sport muff is the one you see on more firing lines than any other, its MAX foam earplug is one of the best-selling earplugs on earth, and between them they have protected more shooters’ ears than almost anything else made. Here is who they are, what they make, and what is worth buying.

Who Howard Leight is

Howard Leight is a hearing-protection brand founded in 1972 and now owned by Honeywell. It makes electronic and passive earmuffs and foam earplugs, and it is best known for the affordable Impact Sport electronic muff and the high-attenuation MAX earplug.

The company was started in 1972 by Howard S. Leight, and it built its name on a string of firsts in hearing protection — pioneering banded ear protectors in the 1970s and pushing foam earplug design forward through the 1980s. The throughline was always the same: make genuinely protective hearing gear that ordinary people can afford. That is still exactly where the brand lives.

Today Howard Leight is a Honeywell brand, sold as “Howard Leight by Honeywell,” which gives it the research and manufacturing muscle of a global safety company behind a name shooters already trust. It sits squarely in the value tier — not the most premium hearing protection you can buy, but very often the smartest money on the rack. When someone asks for a first pair of electronic muffs without a big budget, this is the brand that gets named.

What Howard Leight makes

The Impact Sport electronic earmuff

The Impact Sport is the product that made the brand a household name on the range. It is a slim, low-profile electronic muff (NRR 22) that amplifies quiet sounds like range commands and conversation while instantly clamping down on the muzzle blast of a shot. It folds flat, runs on two AAA batteries, has an AUX input for audio, and comes in a small rainbow of colors and camo patterns. For the price, nothing has been more popular.

Impact Pro and higher attenuation

When NRR 22 is not enough — indoor ranges, big-bore rifles, braked guns — the Impact Pro steps up to NRR 30 in a larger electronic muff with the same hear-through electronics. It is bulkier and heavier, but it turns the volume down a lot further, which matters when the gun is loud.

Passive earmuffs

For shooters who never need to hear anything and just want quiet for less, the Leightning passive muffs deliver solid attenuation with no batteries to worry about. They are the simple, durable, set-and-forget option.

Foam earplugs

This is where Howard Leight is a genuine heavyweight. The MAX is a single-use foam earplug rated at NRR 33 — among the highest attenuation of any disposable plug made — and MAX-Lite, Laser Lite and SuperLeight cover smaller ear canals and bulk packs. They are cheap, effective, and exactly what you want to double up underneath a muff for the loudest setups.

Build quality and where Howard Leight fits

Howard Leight’s gear is engineered to a price, and it is honest about that. The Impact Sport will not feel as plush or sound as refined as a $300 Peltor, and the headband padding is basic. What it does is deliver the core job — real, rated hearing protection with hear-through electronics — for a fraction of the cost, reliably, year after year. The foam earplugs, meanwhile, give up nothing: a MAX plug at NRR 33 protects as well as anything on the market. That combination of dependable value muffs and class-leading plugs is why the brand is everywhere from public ranges to industrial floors.

How Howard Leight compares

The most direct rival is the Walker’s Razor, the other budget electronic muff you see everywhere — the two trade blows on price, and many shooters give the Impact Sport a slight edge on build and sound for the money. Above them sits Peltor, whose Sport Tactical and ComTac muffs sound better, last longer and cost a lot more. Axil and ISOtunes compete on the in-ear side. The honest summary: if you want premium, buy Peltor; if you want the best protection-per-dollar and a muff you will not cry over if it gets dropped in the mud, Howard Leight is the answer, and its earplugs are best-in-class at any price.

Who should buy what

First electronic muff on a budget: the Impact Sport (NRR 22) — the default recommendation.
Indoor ranges and loud rifles: the Impact Pro (NRR 30) for more attenuation.
Maximum quiet, no batteries: a Leightning passive muff.
Disposable protection or doubling up: MAX foam earplugs (NRR 33).
Outfitting a family or class: a bulk pack of Impact Sport muffs and a box of MAX plugs.

Look elsewhere if you want top-tier sound quality and directional hearing — that is Peltor territory and you will pay for it. Howard Leight is the call when you want reliable, rated protection without overspending.

The Howard Leight philosophy

Howard Leight has always treated hearing protection as something everyone deserves, not a luxury. The design priority is the protection and the price, in that order, and the company has spent fifty years proving you do not need to spend big to save your hearing. That democratic streak — good protection, affordable, for the range and the job site alike — is the whole personality of the brand.

How to choose your Howard Leight setup

Decide first whether you need to hear while you shoot. If you do — to follow range commands or talk on the line — buy electronic, starting with the Impact Sport and moving to the Impact Pro if you shoot indoors or run loud guns. If you only want silence, a passive Leightning muff costs less and never needs batteries. Match the NRR to your environment: indoor pistol bays and muzzle brakes are brutal, so reach for the higher numbers or double up. And always keep a few MAX foam plugs in the bag — they are cheap insurance, a spare for a buddy, and the second layer under a muff when things get truly loud.

The muff on every firing line

It is hard to overstate how common Howard Leight is at the range. Walk any public bay on a weekend and you will see Impact Sports in black, green, pink and camo on shooters of every age, with a box of orange MAX plugs on the bench for the loud stages. The brand earned that ubiquity the simple way — by making protection nobody had to think twice about buying. Fifty years on from Howard Leight’s first products, the mission has not changed: keep the volume down, keep the price down, and keep more people’s hearing intact.

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