Radians Custom Molded Earplugs

Followed the instructions, even watched a Youtube video produced by the manufacturer. Had them in my ear for over 45 minutes and they never firmed up. Took me an hour to clean my ear canals out. This is a dangerous product that simply doesn't work.

Had them in for an hour while they oozed out. Disappointed. Hope they will stand by the product. UPDATE: They DO stand by the product. They told me the plugs I bought locally were likely very old. The date inside the box put them at just about 2 years old. They sent me a new package and that package worked fine. THey have a shelf life so if you are buying them you might want to make sure they haven't been on the shelf for a long time. There is a date stamped on the inside flap of the box. If there is no date, then they are definitely too old.

I just noticed that this item is "Under Review" by Amazon when I went to order another kit because my dog chewed up my set. It's possible that people are expecting too much from a ~$12 custom molded ear bud. Comparable custom fittings from an audiologist are upwards of $150. This kit works exactly as advertised if you take your time. There is enough material to make 2 full sets of plugs, so you can use the first as practice and if you don't get it perfect, make another set. I use them to create custom molds for ear buds, and it works exceptionally well.

I bought two of these from two different vendors (one tan, one red). In both cases did not harden as fast as promised (in about 10 min)! It spent 2 hrs in my ears before I could take it out. It wasn't a huge deal, except you have to make sure you don't have to sleep or leave until after 2 hrs. Make sure you mix them vigorously for the full 45 min. I suggest mixing the entire material well, and then divide them into two parts, so you can make sure one half doesn't get more or less hardener than the other.

Most important: let it cure for about 30 minutes, longer is better!! Next, and most second most importantly, the product works. I currently use it with a set of universal fit in ear headphones for a better seal, and it works very well (Specifically, with a good mold I have found the seal to be comparable to foam plugs, like complys or shure olives, except you won't need to replace them like you do with foam.) As the instructions say, you need to take half of each of the containers and knead them together until it is all a uniform color (no streaks, etc) then insert into your ear and make sure the seal is good. The instructions then say to wait 10 minutes and then carefully remove. However, as mentioned earlier, I would strongly recommend waiting at least 30 minutes before removing, otherwise it has not cured enough and will still be very soft and malleable. If you're in no rush, I would wait a little longer as they tend to come out better. I think I waited about an hour the second time I did it, but I didn't keep exact time. Another recommendation is to use about 1/3 from each container, not 1/2, if you're doing the DIY custom fit headphones, as the headphones themselves will occupy space in your ear. However, your mileage may vary depending on the size of your ears and the size of the headphones. Continuing, I would wait at least an hour after removing the earplugs before you start removing the material that is blocking the sound hole of the headphone so that you know the mold has completely cured. Also, my headphones (plastic) were completely fine after removing the mold from them, so don't worry about damaging your headphones if you don't like the mold/earplugs. (You will of course render the earplug unusable though.) They are also very comfortable. I have worn them all day and while asleep at night without any discomfort; it is easy to forget they are there, if you're not in a noisy environment. My only real complaint is that you really only have one chance to do it right, since you'll probably need almost all of the material to do both ears. That, and they really should advise 30 minutes to cure and not 10, as mentioned twice earlier. Hopefully this review has been helpful, if you have any questions just comment and I'll do my best to answer them.