Is anyone making a reasonably priced, good quality "inside the ear" hearing protection product these days? I know there are some great ones that cost several thousand per pair....but those are out of the price range for most hunters.

The only reasonably priced ones I've seen are made by Walker's Game Ear, but they seem to have very mixed reviews.

I have been using the Walker's Razor ear bud style. They work great while shooting a rifle since there is no interference with a good cheek weld. Have used them at an indoor pistol range and have no issues.

I tried the walkers razor. The right ear piece would not work. Sent them back and got another pair. This time the left ear piece didn’t work. Gave up and got a refund.

I have no idea what he used.
A late friend, elk hunter got some
type and nearly blew his ears out
with the first shot.

Me, being mostly deaf from shooting,
hot rods, trucks and dozers without
mufflers.
I just either open the battery door
on this pair, or wish the hell they
had the noise cancelling feature the
last pair of: Phonak's had.

The big loud stuff I put plugs in and
muff's on. For typical .38's and such
just the H/A's. Yeah, they cost mucho
bucks.

No matter what, my best advice is to
PROTECT your hearing, I sure miss mine.
(so do the folks I try talking to)
George

I am not sure how well these devices work. The realities of sound attenuation are most of the ratings of inside ear devices including foam plugs hold true for continuous frequencies, like industrial noise, not high impulse, like firearms. In fact the experts are still divided after all this time as to whether we can measure gun sound properly yet, let alone prevent it, and how much such devices protect from it.

Even with the best hearing protection, or two sets, the most you can reduce is about 35-40 Decibels. This is because even with the auditory canal occluded( earhole blocked) sound still gets in via bone conduction through the face, teeth and bones around the ear. Earmuff types, with high clamping force have a better chance or reducing this, or rather may be closer to their true rating for attenuating gun noise.

When you consider guns can run to 160-170db , with hearing protections of 21-35db, there is still margin for damage. ITs why I am against kids shooting anything larger than a 22LR. Their skulls are 5-10db more sensitive than ours according to experts. Hearing is too precious to have lost some or developed tinnitus before 18. After that they can make their own choice.