Sticking a piece of metal in your ear isn’t often
recommended and so when we received a couple of sets
of Flare Isolate Pro Titanium earplugs, we were a little
sceptical.
Out of the packet they looked great; like something
precision machined for a racing machine and almost
bullet like. The packets
also came with three sets
of foams for both the
regular and mini Isolate’s.
These have the titanium
Isolate inserted into them
and come in three sizes
depending on your ear
canal size.
Earplugs are something
that are generally used
once, then thrown away,
unless you have ones
specifically made for
your ear shape. You
notice something with
the Flare earplugs almost
immediately; they’re well
made and should never end
up in the rubbish bin. They
look great, to the point that
you could argue they don’t
even look like plugs and
could be advanced wireless
buds transmitting your favourite tunes.
The Isolate’s come in both titanium and aluminium,
which also comes in various anodised colours. The
memory foam pads also come in various sizes. Between
the Isolate and the foam, you’ll certainly find a perfect fit
for your ear, we found that the Mini is the better Isolate
option while we all used a different size foam. The Mini’s
are perfect for wearing with a motorcycle helmet.
The British Flare company claims that the Isolate will
eliminate 35 decibels of sound and noise. Many ear plug
manufacturers claim similar results, and do they achieve
it? Some yes, some no. Flare? We believe so.
First test. Wearing the plugs to a punk rock gig. As CJ
Ramone belted out a high
energy, fast paced set, every
note was crystal clear yet
not loud enough to cause
ear ringing. Don’t get me
wrong, it was still loud but
clear and painless … oh, I’m
getting old.
Ok, so the Flare Isolate
ear plugs work perfectly at a
gig, but most motorcyclists,
especially those who have
ridden for a long time,
would not argue that a day
on the bike, wind whipping
around your helmet causes
a ringing in the ears that
even Quasimodo would
struggle with. Step in the
Flare Isolate’s.
Wow! These things do
work. Environmental
sounds weren’t cancelled
out completely, yet the
distracting wind, road and vehicle noise was. These
things really do work. A full day on the bike and you’d
forget that you have these plugs in.
Music? Flare do make regular earbuds / earphones
and if they are like the plugs then the quality would be
exceptional however, we tried the Isolate plugs with in
helmet speakers as used with an intercom system and
TRAVERSE 114