Side by Side Comparison of: Radians vs Howard Leight

I've had my pair for over 9 months! I wear these pretty much every day. I first bought these for my motorcycle. Regular foam earplugs expand out and push on the inside of your ears after several hours it becomes incredibly painful. Since these are fit to your ear they just sit inside. With a full face helmet on these sit flush and don't stick out. I also wear these all day while driving my delivery truck. With the windows open ( No AC) and a loud ass diesel engine, these make the day so much better. You can slightly remove the ear plugs and can hear everything pretty much normally. Even when slightly out there's no way they will just fall out. In the photos, you can see some holes which I tried to drill so I could add earbuds but it didn't work so I packed it in with small pieces of foam earplug.

I purchased two packages to make my own in ear monitors with average earbuds. Huge difference when I mow. The instructions say to use half in each ear I think, and that is what I did the first time, but it was to much. I made a second pair and used about 1/3rd with was perfect. I used a little drill bit in my dremel to create the hold to the ear bud. I used a little burr remover on the dremel to clean up the excess and everything worked fine. If you are going to do in ear monitors pay attention to where the ear bud is placed while the mold is hardening. My first set had the ear buds facing to far back and I couldn't get the hole drilled correctly. The second set was fine.The mold is a soft rubber like mold so I could see them tearing after a while. So far so good though.

these work great.. REALLY great.. as far as sound protection. After a full round of sporting clays, (125 birds) along with the birds my 5 buddies shot, my ears were not even ringing.. they really knock the sound down. BUT, they work so well, it's hard to carry on a conversation.. formation is easy enough.. make sure you mix completely.. and divide the mix evenly.. 1/2.. work it into your ears.. squeeze a small "nipple" out before insertion, in the picture, it points to the right.. and force that nipple into your auditory canal.. then fill up the nickel sized pocket around it.. you do have to endure about 10 minutes of popping and crackling while the stuff sets up, but it's worth it.. done correctly.. you should have to "rotate them to get them into your ears, but once in, you really don't hear much..

I have a heck of a time finding things in my ears comfortable. I can't use most in-ear headphones, so I went with over-ear headphones. When it comes to sleep, however, I have yet to find a comfortable over-ear solution.So I was stuck with in-ear solutions for getting good sleep with my roommate and his girlfriend around at all hours. I started out with some disposable silicon ones from Walgreens that work for a couple nights, and mold to your ears. Those worked wonderfully, but got dirty really quickly and had to be constantly replaced.The Radians earplugs are almost as good as the disposable ones, without any of the messiness and bother! They are made of a non-adhesive material once they are set, and as a result haven't been picking up dust and hair. The earplugs I have are stained a bit yellow on the ends from exposure to earwax, but that doesn't affect texture, fit, or performance of the earplugs. I'd imagine that if you bought that expensive earplug rinsing solution some people use, the earplugs would look better. I just rinse them off with water before I use them, and it works great!

Extremely comfortable, fairly low-pressure, and best of all- they absolutely will NOT fall out while you sleep.As a nurse, I have been working 12 hour night shifts for the last 7 years, and sleeping during the day with a 2 little kids and a wife who likes to vacuum is a bit a challenge. Noises like gardeners and lawnmowers, trash trucks and loud (apartment) neighbors have been constant problems that I have mostly learned to ignore.Over the years I have tried many different solutions including other brands of disposable earplugs, fans, and static brown noise. Frankly, usually a combination of several things helps me sleep. However, I always seem to wake up from either noise or uncomfortable changes when one or both of the ear plugs fall out.I stumbled upon this cost-effective solution and I couldn't be more pleased.Pros: light, soft and comfortable. They don't move around once they're in and I can't think of anything I could use them for where they would fall out. Since they are custom-molded they of course fit like a dream and work very well. Bottom line: these earplugs are better than anything I've ever used and they are 10 times cheaper than custom earplugs made at the audiologist office. I am not ready to invest $150 bucks on something that I am likely to misplace, and these custom earplugs are fantastic. Get some and you won't be disappointed.Cons: These are somewhat minor, and here is how I overcame these issues: Once these ear plugs dry they are stiff and not forgivable. So, if you don't get a good fit with the initial mold, they probably won't work very well, and I imagine they won't be very comfortable either. They comfort of these ear plugs result from a custom fit, not a soft squishy foam, so if you want something soft and squishy these might not be a good product for you. When molding them for the first time just note that it takes a little bit of work to get a deep fit when working them into your ear. I used almost all the material and found that it was a bit too much once it had set. It made the outer surface of the earplug stick out just a little bit over some more of the sensitive parts of my outer-ear, and when I was side sleeping on my pillow it became sore after a few hours, and I had to roll over. This by no means is a deal breaker though, because they are WAY less irritating then regular earplugs, which extend much further past the outer ear, and shift and fall out too. I would suggest that you either use less of the included putty material for each ear (especially if you have smallish ears), or you could do what I did: I wanted to have as much of my ear covered as possible for better sound blocking. I really filled nearly half of my outer ear- just like the pictures show. However, the finished surface was not as flat as in the picture and so after letting it cure for another day or two I pulled out an exacto knife and sliced off some of the outer surface for a more flat, uniform look. This was an immediate improvement in comfort and it looks a lot more professional. I had some 150 grit sand paper laying around and so I ran them back a forth on the paper to even out the surface and they look and feel perfect now. You can see what I did in the pics I uploaded.Before you try and mold these to your ears for the first time I also recommend watching a video (you can Google how-to videos on YouTube and you'll get a great idea of how to do it, or a trip to the official website will work too). You will probably get a better, more comfortable, and more effective fit if you know what you're doing first. just saying. Also, a little research shows that the putty has a shelf-life of a year after packaging and the product comes with a card with a date of production. I ordered mine on Amazon and it had a packaging date three weeks old. Basically, brand new.Final thoughts: If you take your time and watch an instructional video before proceeding you will probably end up with a better result. Also, do yourself a favor and really clean your ear well before starting this process. If you're like me that means you might want to use an ear hair trimmer get rid of anything that might impede a good fit. This review might be a bit overkill for a product as simple as earplugs, but as a day-time sleeper, I felt like I might be able to help fellow night-shift workers get better rest.

I wasn't sure what to expect, but I am very, very pleased in using these with my motorcycle. The goop dried in about 10 minutes, just as promised, and inserting and removing them now is fairly easy - it takes less than 30 seconds per side. My only advice is to somehow mark which ones goes in which ear so you don't get them mixed up.The only bummer I have experienced is that it can be somewhat painful to put on or take off your helmet with these inserted. I got used to it after a few uses, and minimize it by pulling out on the helmet a bit more than I used to, to alleviate that pressure while putting it on or taking it off.

These are great. Inexpensive, never get tired of wearing them, could sleep on my side with them if I wanted. I use them when riding my motorcycle as the wind noise is loud, and this stops that. My only complaint is that I must reach up into my helmet and remove them before taking my helmet off, otherwise they are painfully ripped from my ears.Other than that, 9/10 would highly recommend. Still can talk (it is a bit harder to hear others) but loud, droning noises are eliminated.

Preparation:This product is epic! It really depends on the shape of your ears but I could have used half of each compound to make a pair. Use a bit of rubbing alcohol to thoroughly clean your ears.The compounds were easy to mix. Once inserted to a satisfactory condition into my ears I left it in there for 15 minutes just to be sure.You will notice what seems like an almost bubbling/crackling sensation while it cures! This was a little alarming but totally worth the outcome.Once I got the product out, I left it overnight to cure completely. I wanted a less noticeable finish so I used a pocket knife to trim away the excess. To get rid of the edges and give a uniform look, I then used a nail file and finished the surface. It helps to get a smooth finish while filing under running water.The Fit:Super easy to insert and remove.Perfect because it's a custom mold. You can wear these for an extended period and not experience any discomfort.Hearing Protection:I bought these for Trinidad Carnival, where passing by or dancing next to a moving wall of bass thumping speakers (music truck) can get a little abusive on the ears! These work so well I sometimes thought it got a little too quiet!Usually in a loud environment when someone is speaking into my ear I press on it to hear them better. With these in your ears there is no need ofr that...you hear people speaking to you perfectly.Either way after two days of loud music, you won't go home with that classic humming/ muffled hearing problem!When you're finished, wash with some mild soap and water, let dry and place them back into the same circular capsules. Use a sharpie to label them L & R respectively. Now you have a very discrete, effective and comfortable set of ear plugs that will likely last a very long time.I would definitely get these again.

I'd been having trouble sleeping until I started wearing earplugs at night, but the round foam plugs made my ear canals feel raw and sore after just a few nights of wearing. I bought this kit in hopes of getting a better fit for my small ears and oval ear canals. I read many reviews that cautioned against buying it from 3rd party sellers so I decided to buy directly from Radians to ensure the freshest possible kit.Mixing the compound was very easy and creating the plug using their Youtube video instructions wasn't difficult at all but I feel having a second person to help me out made for a better plug. However, as the plug cured it shrank slightly and I think this resulted in a less perfect fit. They don't block out all the sound the way the foam plugs did, but they block out enough that minor noises don't wake me up.I've also noticed that while they were fairly hard when first cured, they've softened a bit over time. Now I put them in about 10 minutes before I want to go to sleep and after they've warmed to skin temperature I push on them gently and it creates a more snug fit. Since they are still fairly hard, though, laying on the side of my head will still cause them to loosen up but it's a fairly minor problem. I still don't find them comfortable enough to wear every night but they don't hurt like the generic foam plugs.

Purchased these mostly out of curiosity, and not out of any specific need. They were tested at the shooting range along with these earmuffs and perform almost flawlessly.Getting them molded to my ear was no problem. I left them to "set up" in my ears for a full 30 minutes (I think the included instructions say 10 minutes, but mine didn't quite "feel" done in 10 minutes. I would suggest waiting for the popping noise to stop before removing them from your ears initially. You can definitely hear them curing in your ears, and I would think it would be safe to remove after you hear that noise stop.I normally use the standard foam earplugs along with earmuffs at the range and have been pleased, but I am now switching to these. The noise at a fully active rifle and pistol range is akin to popcorn popping in your microwave, and they are so much easier to reinsert if you have to remove them for any reason. They perform plenty well on their own as well (without the muffs) and I would have no issue with using them on their own if my muffs weren't available. The price is hard to beat as well, and all in all I would say a definite buy for people like me who use both plugs and muffs at the range.My only downside is that after 1 month of use, they have be started to shrink ever so slightly and I will have to wait and see if they are still usable in another month. If they are not, then I will update.

After reading the reviews for this from plenty of other users, the only thing I realize you MUST make sure of is that the product is not over a year old when getting it or the mold will not set.Mine was stamped with April of 2013 so I proceeded making the molds. I did one a time just as a precaution. After waiting the 10 minutes they came out perfectly. You will hear some crackling as the air escapes the mold and it sets, but that's normal.Sound wise: My first test was to try these with my drum set, I've played with plugs in before so I had a good idea of what sound to expect. I noticed right away that these take out much more low end (bass) than anything else. My kick drum and floor Tom sounded weak, but on a very positive note: The high end (mids and Treble) has a pretty even reduction across the board. It DOES decrease the sound, but it does it so evenly that things still have a very natural sound. The snare drum and cymbals still have life to them unlike with other plugs. The Second test was shooting a pistol, I bought these plugs primarily for shooting. Works great! Different sound that what I was used to just because the frequency response is different...and I believe more accurate. But over all it still offers enough protection to keep the ears safe from sudden sounds. I plan on buying a couple more kits to give as gifts, and I'm thinking about getting another to make some custom in-ear monitors with.Over all I'm very satisfied!

Please read the whole review Radians redeemed themselves and it will make you think twice about buying these onlineWell if these were marketed as ultra-tacky non-setting ear plugs that were permanent then man these would be great.I had to get a friend that is a doctor to come over and carefully remove the ear plug that has cemented itself into my ear canal. It wasn't placed overly far into my ear canal either, I had used another brand before this many times, but couldn't find it anywhere so I decided to go with these since I needed some new ear pro for shooting, doing loud odd jobs, or for using as custom fit ear bud with in ear head phones.I am really glad I didn't clean my ears to do this, the cleaner the surface of my skin was the more it stuck.It's all over my sink, and I've been scouring it with steel wool...I've never been this dissatisfied with a product in my life.Well I emailed Radians and they had me look into the product date codes, I was sold product that had expired over a year prior to my purchase, Radians has been trying to tell retailers that the product does go bad. Also Radians improved the life and formula a lot. They sent me 3, that's THREE, sets to try out. I got one and didn't let it touch my ears, just played with it, worked flawlessly, audiologist quality. So I'm very pleased with the results.That being said I would make sure you are getting "fresh" product, which is hard to do online, not saying that it can't be done, but make sure you buy from Amazon and not a third party vendor.Radians customer service is amazing, I got such prompt response and their absolute concern for my health and safety was nice to see.

Easy to mold but the plastic is a little too hard. I wish it was softer for side sleepers. I ended up using them at the gun range, although I bought them for sleeping. Works good at blocking out sound.

Works good on adult ears not good for kids ears. Worked ok on my ear but my daughters ear they would not stay in. At her competition shoot we had her ears done by a company onsite with a different manufacturer and it worked great. But pricey.

I love that these are moldable and custom fit. Worked best for me with customizing ear buds. If using for "plugs" product does shrink after final cure so they don't fit snugly and smother noise as well.

My daughter shoots in a shooting league and wanted a custom molded earplug. Because they are so expensive, this was an option we decided to try. The process was a little messy, but fairly easy. Unfortunately, she hasn't had great luck with the earplugs - she said she had hoped they would hold more sound out than they actually do. So, while there is nothing wrong with these, we probably wouldn't purchase them again.

Bought this to try for reducing wind noise while motorcycling. The directions were clear, and the product was easy to use. I wound up using a little less than half of the mixed compound for each ear, and it worked fine. The thing is they do not reduce wind noise much at all. Had much better results with the "shell"-type plugs like eargasm. So while the product did harden fully and form usable plugs, I cannot recommend for motorcycle riding. Also tried them off the bike, and in comparison to standard plugs they do not block as much sound for other activities like mowing the lawn. They are, however, much more comfortable than standard plugs as they do not exert as much pressure on your ear canal.

It works... but does not block sound as well as disposable foam earplugs. I believe this is because these will not go very deep into the ear canal (if you follow the instructions on the box, which I did)But, I'm sure these may be alright for small caliber outdoor shooting. I'll stick to doubling up with disposable foams and over the ears

I followed the directions exactly, the product filled my ear canal, but the noise suppression is no better than the disposable foam plugs. I was not impressed. I gave it two stars because they do reduce perceived noise about as well as the foam units.

I was looking for a long-lasting option for earplugs for sleeping but these did not work well. I finished the steps to form the foam to your ear and everything had cured. I was ready to try it out.First the foam is quite hard after it's been cured. If you're a side sleeper, you feel the hardness pressing in your head and it's pretty uncomfortable.When you do sleep on your side, the shape of your ear changes a little but the foam is so hard it doesn't adjust and thus you have made space for most of the sound to come through defeating the purpose.Even when on my back, it was noticeably worse at blocking noise compared to standard disposable foam earplugs rated for around 30 decibels.

As an earplug material, I would say this kit is OK, but not great. As often, or seldom, as I need plugs, I'm better off sticking to standard foam. After the initial cure, the material crumbled a bit and split while taking it out of my ears, even after leaving it in for 20 minutes (exceeding the recommended minimum of 10 minutes). My kit was manufactured about two months ago, so the shelf life shouldn't have been an issue.I bought this kit for the off-label use as custom sleeves for my in-ear monitors. However, with the way my Shure SE315s are supposed to fit and the fact that my ears and ear canals are kind of on the small side, this use of this kit did not serve me well. I tried different methods and volume of material, and none of them worked for me. I've seen a number of people posting online of their success, but, again, my specific combination of ear and ear canal size and these IEMs did not work well. If you have larger ears, you might do OK, but I question the durability of the finished product. I'm going to wait until I have the chance to go see an audiologist to see about proper molds and custom sleeves. For reference, the small Shure foam sleeves are too big for me to wear comfortably for very long and all the other sizes and even the small rubber sleeves are a no go.

A bit disappointed. Great concept. However not even as good as the squishy Heroes I have been using. One came out better than the other and the one that did not come out that great barely blocks any noise. Too bad I thought this would solve my issues with wearing ear muffs. I have jaw issues and ear muff style hearing protection aggravates my jaw. It would be awesome if this product or type of product was improved to be as good as or better than the squishies and ear muffs together.Hate to give a poor review but just being honest. I followed directions explicitly, clean hands sat and waited 15 minutes for each ear. It is obvious that the one that came out poorly has a very thin tip, but i pushed in and pushed in the product.

After making my first set with all the available material, I realized that they protruded too far out. I was not able to lie comfortably on my side without my ears aching after a while because of the pressure between my head and the pillow. So I decided to carefully cut some excess away with a sharp knife. After doing this I thought my trouble was over, but they are still hurting my ears and I wake up during the night. The material is simply too hard to be comfortable.As long as you do not put pressure on the side of your head they fit perfectly, so using them in an airplane or during meditation could work well.

I bought these to use at night because I'm a very light sleeper and the foam ear plugs only work sometimes and tend to hurt after long term use. I followed the instructions perfectly and while the finished result looked like perfect molds of my ears, the seal wasn't good. I could still hear everything and they weren't comfortable when laying on my side. I may be able to use them at the range but haven't tried them out there yet, so I'm not going to give my hopes up on these being useful at all. Overall, I'm extremely disappointed that they are ineffective.

There isn't a whole lot I can say about this product. The directions indicate you must leave them in your ears for at least 10 minutes after molding them. I left them in for 20 minutes thinking that would be plenty of time. It wasn't. Not sure how long you need to leave them in while it cures, but I bet it is quite a while. I took them out to finish curing and they expanded even more and I could not use them.

It molded okay, but the seal does not stay sealed and they itch after awhile. I wanted these to work to sleep in. THeyre comfortable enough to sleep in, but don't really block noise.

I carefully followed the instructions but I didn't end up with good earplugs. The cheap foam ones are better than the ones I made. You could definitely blame me for this, but most things I make turn out good, these did not. The part about the instructions that is particularly confusing is that you are supposed to press a bunch of the polymer into your ear canal BUT you are not supposed to put too much down your ear canal. You also can't take it out until it's hardened. So, there is no way to tell how much, if any, is in your ear canal. I erred on the side of not damaging my ears and my earplugs suck. one has some polymer extending into my ear the other has almost none. Waste of money and they are not eligible for return.

I bought several pkgs of Radians Ear Plugs. All arrived with good manufacture dates-non expired. The blue color molded fine and produced quality ear plugs. But the orange was of very poor quality!! 1) the color is way paler than it seemed in pictures on Amazon 2) though it mixed up ok, it didn't seem to have the same consistency as the blue. 3) once dried, it produced cracked ear plugs that would fall apart jeopardizing sound protection and risking a piece going into the ear canal 4) the orange was unusable and I ended up throwing out the ear plugs.I was using these for noise reduction for the range along with ear muffs. The blue color produced good quality plugs. The orange was poor and unusable-thrown away-waste of time and money-disappointing. I believe that though not expired, the manufacturing of the orange was somehow different than the blue.

Although it doesn't seem to say this anywhere on the product page, this product is NOT designed to be worn while sleeping. At least not if you sleep on your side. Because if you do, these plugs feel exactly like a hard little object being pushed into your tender ear. Super unpleasant. I also couldn't find the decibel rating on the product page anywhere. If you are curious, it is 26 according to the packaging.

Previous to purchasing these I always used the soft ear plugs that you roll/squeeze flat and they expand to fill your ears. I went through the whole process, cleaned my ears, didn't talk or move my jaw while they set, and overall the fit seemed ok when I put them back in later. When I went to put a helmet on over them I found that they were not snug enough to keep a good fit, the slight jostling of putting a helmet on was just enough to loosen them in my ears, thus not blocking sound well. Note, they do not fall out or anything like that, they just loosen the tiniest bit, which makes them less functional than the cheap squishy plugs.Overall the idea is nice, but they are much too hard to work well, any slight movement is enough to loosen them just enough to let noise in because they cannot squish and expand back to their original location. The only way they seem to work well is if I am holding them in place with my hands. I wore them for about 5 minutes and went back to my old style ear plugs. Unsatisfactory.