Ear Plugs - Disposable - Recommendations

Bill VA

Well-known Member
Looking to buy some disposable ear plugs, more in bulk packaging than the small packs one finds at a box store.

Anyone have a recommendation for a decent disposable ear plug and a low cost online source?

Thanks!
Bill
 
Been looking for some too. Cheapest i found in stores was HF. $6 for 50 pair. When I traded in my truck on a Friday, I had about 200 pair in my lower console that i forgot. Went back the next Monday and they had sold the truck 2 hrs earlier.
Need them for shooting, 45 Colt barks pretty good.
 
I find the ones on a string or line, that you keep in the round container are very handy, I keep a set in my left front pocket at all times, never know when you need them, I value my hearing, so if I have to walk out into the steel fabricating shop at work, or for some other unexpected reason, I've got hearing protection with me at all times. One pair will last a long time, though I am not sure what the O.S.H.A rules are on this type in regards to disposal, I had one set I carried for 15 years. Blue on a blue string and a solid design, not the barbed looking ones so common now.
 
I have been buying the large box at Harbor Freight but just noticed the other day that on Ebay there are people selling 400 pair bags for very cheap money. I dont like reusing them, long time ago was told that reuse was a great way to get ear infections, not sure if that holds water? but it has tuck with me.
 

I have found them at my local pharmacy, and also at the farm store in the tool section. I use them and reuse them until they begin falling apart. Never had an issue with ear infections.

A .357 barks pretty loud. 9mm isn't quite as loud, but I still use the ear plugs.
 
You can get large packages from industrial supply companies like MSC, McMaster Carr, etc. I don't know how the price would compare to Harbor Freight or other local companies.
 
I really like the Sparkplug brand. A wall mount pack of 500 is a little more than 50 bucks at various places on the internet. Not dirt cheap but theyre the most comfortable I have found. I wear them almost 8 hrs a day.
 
I used to spend a lot of time in paper mills. My current favorite ear plug is E-A-R Express by 3M. One of my mill buddies recommended it.

They are a mushroom design with a rigid handle. They are easy to insert and do a great job of reducing sound levels. Plus they work instantly unlike the expanding foam plugs.

I strongly prefer the corded plugs, but I know that some people detest them. Both are available. And you can get the plugs in about any quantity you wish.

The link below is to a box of 100 corded.

Cliff(VA)
E A R Express Ear Plugs
 
I have seen large boxes of them in tool catalogs for decent prices, but I just buy the ten pack at Lowes. I use them every day, the small soft ones. I keep them in my back pocket and can put them in and out in an instant. When dirty, I throw them in the washing machine and they come out clean as new, puffed up but they dry back to normal size either inside the dryer or sitting on top. I buy about two packs a year.
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I always got them free at work . I leave them in the little pocket in the jeans and let them go right through the wash . I always have a set -- protect your hearing.
 
I was watching a documentary on Hearing Loss. The info was compiled from a Scandinavian Country. The conclusion was, the area around the outside of the ear is responsible for much of the hearing we enjoy, with most of the sounds being funneled to the sound DECODER through the center of the Ear. I retired in my 40 th year with as a Mechanical Tech. with one employer. We operated and maintained 5,000 HP>25,000 Gas generators, as well as many 2000 HP>9000 HP internal combustion engines. I only used both soft hearing protection as well as Ear Muffs the last 15 years. I am paying for my ignorance. I now wear hearing aids. If you can, consider using both the ear plugs as well as the Ear Muffs.

Have a great week:

Bo..
 
Don't use ear plugs any more but use shooting ear muffs. With ear muffs it takes the noise away but you can still hear noises if something is not right in engine or what ever your doing.
 
I use them all of the time! Go to HF and buy the RED ear muffs that are made by Western safety I think. Item # 94334. They are the best muff type I have found. "Extreme" Now foam ear plugs I like the type with the little cord and wear it behind my neck. Have the foam type and the molded type with the "baffles". Now lastly,, when I was shooting high power rifle you can have custom made full ear plugs. They do cost some money but work so well you can hear your heart beat. VERY quiet. If you are shooting it is a good idea to use foam plugs AND the muffs. The shockwave from the report is what does you in. What always gets me is people who KNOW they have ear damage and just keep right on going without protection. IDOTS! I have seen people so messed up they walk around with their hearing aids whistling and they can't hear that! Many MANY years ago a neighbor ,Clarence Bond, had one of those hearing aids that fits in your shirt pocket. His wife had to make sure he turned it back on before she could yell at him. He he!
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(quoted from post at 17:16:51 08/22/16)
If you wear eyeglasses, most of those earmuff types won't fit tight enough to give the protection needed.

Yep, since the gun range requires safety glasses, you HAVE to wear plugs and muffs if you want to save your hearing.


I've used the yellow cylinders for almost 50 years; first started at a Ford plant. I think the brand is EAR, about half inch in diameter and an inch long. The trick is to roll it into a smaller diameter, insert and let the foam expand to fill your ear.
 
I was using the yellow cylinders and the orange big box soft foam expanding and one day decided to buy them in bulk. Don't remember the brand but got a box of 100 (2 packs) as I recall for about $25 which were green soft foam expanding with a yellow lanyard. Having never used the lanyard before I didn't think much of it. After getting used to having them right around your neck, when you had them out temporarily when not needed...mowing, cut the deck off and headed to another patch to put them back in, turn the deck back on and continue sort of thing the lanyard turned out to be real handy and I will buy the same kind when I run out.
 
Cant remember the brand, but my brother had bought a large box of the foam ones. I use them all the time. Mowing lawn, stalk chopping, and in the shop when grinding or sanding. Anything that is loud or even mildly loud. I like the foam ones better as most of the time for the cost they muffle more noise than the headphone style.
 
You didn't say what you're using them for - but I've found on larger old tractors they're only marginally better than wearing nothing at all.

I've used them for years - foolishly. A good set of headphones offer dramatically better protection.

I've lost a lot of my hearing over the years, and it's no fun.

Overprotect whenever you can.
 
If you get the right shooting muffs you don;t need ear plugs. With the new electronic muffs you don't need plugs but are expensive .
 
I wear glasses and have found cheap muffs don't work well . You have to get into the mid range muffs on up to get ones that fit good with glasses.
 
Orange foam "EAR" brand has worked great for me for years now. I re use them over and over. I've found you can wash them but they lose their efficiency after that. Ear muffs work for a while if you wear glasses, but eventually it feels like your ears are being cut off with a dull knife. Foam plugs eliminate that problem. Torn up pieces of kleenex are better than nothing but not by much.
 
I was a die maker and around stamping presses all the time. The foam style work OK but they can get dirty when reused. I got an ear infection that became chronic. After 25 years I found a doc that finally cured it but because of the scarring and nerve damage from the noise I have severe hearing loss. Earmuff type are better but whatever you use keep them clean.
 
Those work ok but like Mike has said they are a once and done deal. I used them for a while and found I had the same ear infection issues. Nothing permanent for me but had issues every time I reused. I think the only time I use them now is when the technicians put them in me for a MRI.

I keep ear GOOD ear muffs strategically around the shop and even picked up a set of worktunes for mowing the lawn so I can listen to the radio.

jt
 
I second Cliffs recommendation. Worked in machine shops for 24 years and tried every style ear plug and muff available. The mushroom style was the most comfortable and easiest to re-insert. They also seemed to stay cleaner.

I used to but mine from MSC Industrial but they are available elsewhere too.
 
(quoted from post at 04:10:19 08/22/16) I find the ones on a string or line, that you keep in the round container are very handy, I keep a set in my left front pocket at all times, never know when you need them, I value my hearing, so if I have to walk out into the steel fabricating shop at work, or for some other unexpected reason, I've got hearing protection with me at all times. One pair will last a long time, though I am not sure what the O.S.H.A rules are on this type in regards to disposal, I had one set I carried for 15 years. Blue on a blue string and a solid design, not the barbed looking ones so common now.
This is what I do, always with me. Every time I run a tractor, all day in the hayfield, pounding stuff in the shop, they go in. I don't like the foam kind, my hands are always greasy, they are dirty the first time they go in. With the kind I use, sound is muffled, but I can still hear if something is "off" with a tractor or equipment.
 
I bought a pair of ear muffs with built in am/fm radio from building supply company by me and they were really great excellent reception also. used them for shooting also had them for 2 years until I hit a low brand while bush hoging and of course they went right under the bush hog. Unfortunately they don't carry them anymore. gotta check the web for a set.
 

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