Real Steel Headsets at Airsoft Prices

Frustrated by the high price of Tactical Headsets (typically £400+ here in the UK) and wishing for something a little better quality than the far eastern copies of the great and mighty, I did a little research on forums and Facebook groups and decided to purchase a Peltor Pro Tac Hunter headset to act as a back-up headset for MilSims and skirmishes.

Peltor have a good pedigree and manufacture the well known and expensive top end tactical  COM TAC XP range. The Pro Tac is their civilian hunter headset manufactured in Sweden.

This is a sensible work-around compromise that gives me a real steel shooting headset with active ear protection (to protect my lugs from loud bangs like pyro), that reproduces directional ambient sound from two small external "electronic ear" microphones (so I can still hear instructions and movement from those around me) and which allows me to use my radio to talk to my team mates, without an open speaker squawking away and alerting the enemy to my position or received message contents.

How much did this all cost ? - well about £80 excluding the radio.

As you can see from the photo above, it's a simple set-up: the headset, my fist microphone and my radio.

I wear the fist mic on my chest rig shoulder strap or the top of my plate carrier front, so it's quite close to my mouth, but not in the way. With the headset over my ears, I can listen to received radio signals in my left ear. 

I can also hear stereo ambient sound around me via the "electronic ear" microphones. If there are any loud bangs, they pick it up  and before the sound can reach and damage my ears, internal digital electronic circuitry will reduce their volume. The response time is fantastic. If you clap your hands loudly, the noise immediately sounds muted in the "cans". If somebody speaks to you straight after though, it's as clear as a bell again.

There are push-button controls on the side of the right ear shell which allow me to turn the headset on and off as well as adjust the amplification from zero (mute) to maximum in five steps. You hear a beep in your ear when the upper and lower extents are reached. A voice in your ear also tells you when the headset is on, off or your batteries need changing.

R.H. Ear Shell with buttons and Electronic Ear MIC

The Pro-Tac uses two AA batteries which last for around 100 hours. Military Sordin batteries last about 500 hours so this is not brilliant endurance, but you can buy a lot of Duracell's for the price difference.

Changing the batteries is much easier than on Sordins where they are an absolute pig to get out. On the Pro Tac, you just pull the retaining clip down with your index finger, the left ear shell cover comes off (as shown in the photo below) and you change the two batteries - simple.

L.H Ear Shell with battery space and Electronic Ear MIC

If you leave the headset on by accident, it will switch itself off after four hours if untouched.

So what are the downsides ?

Let's face it, there's over £300 difference in price between this and full blown MSA Sordins fitted with a noise-cancelling boom microphone.

There are differences, of course there are.

Sordins seem to enhance your hearing by giving you bat ears. I suspect the Pro Tacs just hear what there is in terms of ambient sound and don't actually amplify very much, if at all. I cant find any figures or data to support this suspicion or amount of amplification; I'm just comparing performance in practice.

When the radio audio plays from the radio, where it goes via the fist mic into the AUX input jack of the headset, the volume in the left ear shell is controlled by the radio volume knob. You can turn it up very loud!

Sordins tend to clip the level so you can't damage your hearing by playing the radio too loud.

The boom mic on the Sordin is excellent quality and allows clear transmission even with background noise. My little Baofeng fist mic is clear but its not noise-cancelling. It's hard to have a conversation with explosions and gunfire going on in the background, but is it that important in a MilSim which uses quieter Airsoft based weapons ?

The size of the Pro Tac earshells are larger than that of the Sordins and you are limited in your choice of headgear - helmets will be difficult. However, baseball caps, balaclavas or just bare headed is fine. Note that the "Shooter" version of this Pro-Tac Hunter headset has even fatter ear-shells (it offers better sound suppression which on a firing range is a good idea but probably a waste for us).

The environmentals are different too.   Sordins will probably take a lot more water and pain, but a headset designed for shooting (outside) should be able to withstand a rain shower.

A footnote here relates to the cable between fist microphone and the headset AUX IN.
Its worth getting a stereo 3.5mm cable - I bought a 30cm one to cut down on excess cable. The mono radio still plays in your left ear so no benefit tactically, but if you want to listen to anything when stood down, its useful to hear stereo music, media etc with your headset plugged into a smartphone etc.

So there we have it -  

Of course, the principle will theoretically work with any headset that has an AUX input jack. The Peltor which is a 3M company, provides a mid priced solution. You can buy cheaper shooting headsets (starting from about £40) or you can even get an MSA Sordin version without a boom microphone for about £160 (all prices correct in the UK at time of going to press).

To put this into perspective, have a look at the Z-Tactical range of headsets. These are specifically designed for Airsoft and produced by a company in the far east. They are certainly not "real steel".

I've never owned one and can't comment on their performance, but their prices aren't that different from the set-up shown here.  Its up to each player to decide how he or she wishes to invest their hard earned in the pursuit of our shared hobby.