Axil XP Reactor and Defender Lanyard

I bought these for protection from large calibre firearm noise out in the field - I wanted something to replace old, similar, non-annoying, non-bulky ear protection. Once you get the hang of how to correctly position the tab on the insert that goes into your ear canal and then get both toggle switches rotated to a position so you can logically open and close them without thinking about it, they appear to work well. Once properly embedded into your ear canal (sometimes not easy) and with the toggle switches closed, it blocks out nearly all ambient sound and is nearly impossible to hear someone speaking normally. Open the toggle switch and you can hear voices reasonably well, which is what you want. The lanyard is just a thin strip of rubbery/elastic material, so the jury is out on its usefulness. Until I use them more often and know they stay located in the ear canal when doing active stuff out in the field, I am only giving them a 4 for protection - it could well be a 5 - I just need more time to test them remaining firmly located in my ear canals and blocking noise as expected. In summary, I am happy with the purchase, they should perform as expected.