I didn’t see any recent conversations about headsets, so I thought I’d ask fresh.
We use FRS radios to officiate swim meets and went with the Midland radios simply based on cost. We’re all volunteers who buy our own equipment.
Well, after the last swim meet, my headset wire wasn’t tucked away well enough and the cats bit through completely.
Within the Midland family, we’ve tried the ones that come with the radio (AVPH3) and another I found at steep discount (AVPH4 for $2.99 for the pair?). The AVPH4 gave much higher volume with the same radio. I may still have the second one left, but would really like a recommendation on a decent headset.
Noise cancelling is nice (cheering parents and swimmers can be loud and get transmitted easily), and noise isolation is nice (same reason but local - hard to hear someone talking to me).
As long as radios are compatible, I’m willing to switch to a different radio for a better headset.
There is a large assortment of earpieces and headsets available for Midland and other FRS radios, so there is sure to be something that can fit your need. The two you mentioned are different styles. The AVPH3 is a surveillance style earpiece, and the AVP4 is a C-ring style earpiece. A surveillance earpiece such as the AVPH3 typically goes into the ear canal, so it blocks a lot of the ambient noise. That isn’t “noise cancelling” like a full over the ear headset, but it will provide more noise reduction than the C-Ring and D-ring style earpieces like the AVPH4.
TBH, I would be wary of buying earpieces for $2.99 a pair, and I certainly wouldn’t recommend used earpieces, especially surveillance type, for hygenic reasons. There are many new earpieces and headsets available that are reasonably priced and are genuine product that have a manufacturer warranty, so it’s worth the few extra dollars for the protection of your ears and piece of mind.
$2.99 a pair was at a discount store that sells what others couldn’t - this one often sells the things that Costco is cycling off the floor but didn’t get rid of everything. They also do damaged packaging, etc.
I’ve tried the AVPH3 but the AVPH4 was just easier to hear.
I’m not afraid of spending money if I’m going to get a quality product. I was looking at some of the Impact Gold series but when I go to select either the one or two wire, I don’t see an option for the Midland style connector (S1 or S2 generically or MD1 here?).