3M WorkTunes

I run a woodsplitter for three to four hours at a time and mowing my lawn takes an hour and a half. In the past, would use corded earbuds and place hearing protection earmuffs over them, but what would happen over the duration is the buds work themselves out of your ear, and you have to reset them occasionally. Not a big deal, but it gets annoying. So I set out to find something that combines sound and hearing protection simultaneously, and these are it! I like quality sound when I can get it, but lets face it; anyone reading this knows that the moment you need hearing protection in a loud working environment, you aren't going to get an audiophiles experience in any headphone setup! So to get to the meat and potatoes of this product. You are reading reviews because you want to know if they are the ones to buy. In my opinion, they are! • Hearing protection is adequate. While they don't drown out noise as well as some of the other earmuff hearing protection out there (24db vs 30db only hearing protection, no speakers inside), they reduce outside sound levels adequately even when no music is playing. • Sound quality is very good. These are not made by Bose. Don't expect audiophile quality sound here, but do expect very good sound. I saw sound quality complaints in other reviews. I was like, for the price, I'm gonna judge for myself and if they suck, I'll send it back. I still have them, and I feel the sound quality is very good. Again, these are not Bose or Harmon Kardon, if you want that kind of quality sound, spend the money and sit in your living room and hire someone else do the yard work. • Attainable volume is very good. These offer plenty of volume to drown out any ambient sound that may remain. However, you don't really need to turn these up to full blast. After awhile, your ears get used to and adjust to louder sound levels, making you think you need to turn it up more. Remember this when you are using them for long periods of time. These are designed to offer private entertainment within your loud working environment, and if you are cranking the tunes, you kind of defeat the purpose to protect your hearing. • Comfort is good. One thing I noticed and worth mentioning is the headband that rests upon your head may cause a little discomfort over long periods of use. The pad is kind of open and after long term use can press on your scalp. I have shorter hair, so I noticed this. When working in colder weather with a hat, I didn't notice it. • Battery life per use is good. I have never run out of battery and I have run them for 5 hours. By the end of 5 hours of outdoor yardwork and activity, I am spent, so these basically outlast me when started with a full charge. • Bluetooth connectivity is good. I never had a connection issue with these. I use an iPhone 6 that is attached to my belt with a holder. This device never disconnected. So there you have it. For me, this was a good purchase, and I'm glad I got them. I think you will find that too. They do everything that the task requires. As mentioned, the only small gripe, if any, is the headband comfort over the top of my head. I wanted to review this in a way that was realistic and right to the point, and I hope it helps your decision! Now get back to work! :)

It doesn't have quite as good of sound quality that my Samsung earbuds do, but I still get very clear music, which is good enough for me, it just lacks a little bass. (Which if you value your hearing, you probably don't need that) I use these for work, (landscaping) and they work great, protecting my ears from all manner of rock and dirt partials traveling at mach "infinity" without taking a single scratch, and still allows me to vibe with my screeming eager. They fit really well, and probably fit most of not all adult heads. Their seal is my one downside, without glasses or eye pro is feels like you're 20ft underwater, with eye pro, glasses, or long hair to break that perfect seal, they are quite comfortable, and have good sound and build quality.

I needed some hearing protection, as I do woodworking--lots of power tools and other noises that aren't good for one's hearing. Over-the-ear headphones are my favorite setup, so this 3M product drew my attention. In the box, you get a charging cable, the headphones, and some printed instructions. Nothing fancy, but you don't need much to get these headphones up and running. Pairing is super simple; I had these hooked up to my phone in just a moment and, after nicknaming them, it was all good to go. In other words, if you have any experience with Bluetooth devices, these will be familiar to you before you can even open the box. The audio quality is solid. Podcasts come through loud and clear and, though I don't get tons of bass thumping when I play music, I'm satisfied with the quality of my jams. These are not professional headphones for audiophiles; they're good equipment to help protect your hearing while you're working or playing around loud noises. This model doesn't have radio, but I listen to that via a smartphone app anyway, so it's a moot point in my case. If you're looking for AM/FM support, 3M does make at least one model with that feature. Battery life is ridiculously good. When powering on the headphones, you get a battery-life check. I've yet to run them down below "medium," despite not always throwing them onto the charger at the end of my day. I easily listen to podcasts for several hours, come back the next day, and do it all over again without worrying about a dead or super-low battery. These headphones help cancel noise up to 20-something decibels; as a result, the ear cups are going to press firmly into your head. This gets a little uncomfortable after a couple-few hours, but not so much that I want to take off the headphones. Slight adjustments here and there keep the hearing protection in effect, so I do that and get right back to sawing or sanding or mowing the yard. I would love if the headphones folded up for more-compact storage, but this is a small note and not a dealbreaker. Just be aware of the footprint this model has when not in use. Overall, these are great headphones for the price and are well worth the investment if you're looking for the key features they offer. 3M usually does solid work and, in this case, they didn't disappoint.

So far they work really well. FM, AM and Bluetooth work tremendously well. FM works better than other headsets I've used with FM, probably because of the larger external antenna. Noise reduction is very good. I feel very comfortable around noisy machinery. As others have said, they are a bit tight, but not too tight in my opinion. A little tweaking can loosen them up if need be. The adjustment mechanism works great. The reason I did not give them 5 stars is the lack of a Li-ion battery. This is an optional add-on, but is no longer being made. I've tried a third party battery and it died within a month with no refund. This isn't entirely 3M's fault, but it wouldn't be a problem if 3M included a Li-ion battery to begin with, or at least still offered it separately. If you want a rechargeable option I'd suggest NiMH rechargeable AA batteries. Otherwise, a pair of AA alkaline batteries seems to last quite a few weeks.

I have been using this product for about a year and some months and I can tell this is still performing great. The battery last long and also I don't listen too much music since during long usages the sweat build up and I just take them off. The audio is 8/10 the noise cancelling 10/10 and confort 9/10.

I've had these for 8 years now. Bluetooth connects reliably. Battery life is great. Sound is fine. Be mindful of your surroundings with when playing audio of any kind. You really can't hear much with the volume up. The foam pads started falling apart after about 5 years of regular use. I was able to replace them, easily and cheaply.

I really love these ear muffs. I have had them for a few days and have used them in a loud work environment and they cut out all the noises that are associated with hearing loss (loud diesel engines and piercing radio transmissions). I've used a band saw, cement cutter and a chainsaw and can hardly hear them. Voices are dim as well. These do NOT have the feature that allows you to push a button and briefly (10 seconds) hear what's going on in the room or surrounding vicinity. You have to pull the muff off your ear to hear things. I would have liked to have had a button for that feature (maybe on the other side / hint hint to 3M)! I'm very impressed with the comfort they provide. They aren't too tight and they protect the ears nicely. I didn't get the ones with the ear gel, but the surface around the ear is smooth and comfortable. They are adjustable so one size pretty much fits all. I wear a size 8 in ball caps (big melon) and they fit fine. When adjusted for smaller folks (my wife) they are just as comfortable. I would have liked the wires that run from the ear muffs up into the over head strap to be a bit more discreet and out of the way (from getting caught on something) but again, no deal breaker. I have since used electrician's tape on them to secure the wires. I am working in 100 degree temps right now and so far I've not had an issue with sweat in or around the ears or on my scalp. The device came fully charged and so far it's remained at full power after several days' use. I have taken a number of calls and they are crystal clear with the caller telling me that the microphone works awesome. It comes with a USB charge cable (not the charger) which can be plugged into any standard USB plug. The opposite end of the cable fits my android phone and other devices so it's versatile. When charging, there's a flashing blue light on the side below the power button that goes solid blue when they are fully charged. Doesn't take too long to charge up -- though I've not run them down -- and I do it daily. Don't make the mistake of leaving them on a charger well past the point that they're charged because (in my experience) this can reduce battery life. I tested the distance from my blue-tooth device (in the same room) and found that when I am about 40 feet away, the signal fades, but for pairing with something like an MP3 or a phone it's pretty efficient. In my tri-level home it fades out at 20 feet and when I'm upstairs and it's downstairs, the signal is gone. I've used it with both a cell phone and MP3 and the music is clear. If you're an audiophile, you'll be slightly disappointed as you won't get the heavy bass and the highs, but for basic listening purposes (driving or studying) it's pretty damned nice. I listen to a lot of classical guitar music and progressive jazz and so far it's no disappointment. I really like using them to doze off to sleep for a nap. You'll have to adjust the volume on your blue-tooth device to change the listening level in the ear muffs, but I DO like only having one button. Once you get the sequence down (to shuffle music/answer a call) it's a snap. It's nice because I use thick work gloves and the button protrudes just enough to make it easy when using them. Music stops when a call comes in and you hear a phone ring and all you have to do is press the button once to answer -- same thing to disconnect. You can reject the call by pressing the button and holding it. If you're listening to an MP3 you can use the forward/back or pause/play sequence by pushing that one button. One press is pause, two presses is advancing one song, three presses is backing up one song. Pretty simple! You cannot control playlists or switching between albums/artists with the button. That can only be done on the blue tooth device. This was an inexpensive and practical purchase for me and something I should get a LOT of use out of -- especially since other users have already posted that their muffs have given them years of service. Want something that will blend well in your work environment and provide hands-free music and calls? This is it.

First off, I believe this is the first time I've ever felt it necessary to write a review for a product on Amazon, both because of how impressed I am with the item I received, and because I hope others will read my review either before or after purchasing this product and heed my words of caution involving long term use. I work in a construction field that often sees me operating front end loaders, vibratory compactors, backhoes, jackhammers, etc. almost daily. Some of the machines I use can damage your hearing after just a few seconds of exposure, so a high-quality, reliable hearing protection solution is absolutely necessary. I can say without a single doubt that these are more than adequate for the job. I've had people come up behind me in gator side by side utility carts and I haven't even heard them approaching until they've come into my field of view. They block out a huge amount of noise. In terms of the audio side, the battery life I see out of these is likewise incredibly impressive. If I use them around 4 hours a day, I can see about 5 days before they're dead. Connectivity is fast and reliable, and while the single button control limits your ability to change volume or rewind tracks from the headset, it also reduces the complexity of using the headset, and other people generally won't even realize you've got the option of listening to music because there aren't any obvious controls visible besides the single button. You can still pause/play and skip tracks forward with the single button, and that's been perfect for me so far. Sound quality is likewise very high. Normally, I listen to podcasts, not music, and I've yet to encounter a situation where I couldn't hear what I was listening to, even if I was pounding concrete with a vibratory compactor and the hosts were speaking at normal room face-to-face volume. I've only had them for ~3 months, so I can't really speak to long term build quality yet, but they get tossed into the cab of my truck, are covered in dirt, have a handful of scratches already, have been repeatedly exposed to 120F heat for hours on end, and they still work perfectly fine so they seem to be holding up well under light abuse. I expect they're going to last a while so long as I don't treat them too harshly, and if they do break it'll probably be my fault. As you can see, I really like these things, and I would absolutely buy them again in a heartbeat. All of the above said, there is one significant drawback that I believe everyone should be aware of: they do NOT breathe. This should have been obvious to me due to how effective they are at blocking out noise. If you wear these for a while, you'll take them off and notice there is some condensation inside the ear cups. If you wear them for any length of time in the sun, in July, while doing any physical work, you'll realize that your ears are dripping wet with sweat. The problem here is if you expose your ear canals to such a high level of moisture for a long period of time, you're creating a perfect environment for bacteria, and making yourself a prime candidate for ear infection (I.E.: Swimmer's Ear). I'm just coming off an incredibly painful inner ear infection. I'm fairly certain I can attribute it to my wearing these things for a few 85F days at 6-8 hours straight, in direct sunlight, and sweating like crazy. Going forward, my plan is to either remove them every half hour and get the moisture out, or maybe put a few drops of alcohol in my ear canals at the end of each day to evaporate off any moisture. I won't stop using them however, because they just work too good. Long story short: Great product, does exactly "what it says on the tin", just remember to air them out now and then and keep your ears clean and dry. If you work in a loud environment and can't stand staring at your work in silence, you'll love them.