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The Costco pick a hearing aid process

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I keep thinking about how I went about picking a hearing aid at Costco. They let me try 3 hearing aids. They programmed them to my , but there was no tweaking or . Then they released me to the most challenging environment for hearing aids that there is and only let me use the standard hearing program. In hind sight I should have left the store and tried to speak to people in the parking lot to see what they sounded like.

I get that all 3 hearing aids are very similar and that most people would be happy with any of them.

The hearing aid I picked sounded the best in that flawed trial set up, but when it was actually fully programmed in normal environments it sounded the same as the other hearing aids.

I do plan on trying a different hearing aid.

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Edited
@2ball said:

In hind sight I should have left the store and tried to speak to people in the parking lot to see what they sounded like.

When I tried out some hearing aids at Costco (long before my claim was approved,) I went to a Costco employee working on a display. He was happy to chat with me for a few minutes. I literally had tears in my eyes, it sounded so good. I knew then I’d have to get some way.

WH

When I demo’d aids at Costco they set them up same as op. I much preferred the Jabra’s. But when I went to pick them up, after , I was totally disappointed and mentioned they sound nothing like when I demo’d them. Tech then added another All Around program using the Jabra formula that she used at my demo. Huge increase in speech comprehension. After a few weeks of using both programs I had her remove the REM program. Now happy as can be

Edited

When I walked around Costco trying to get a sense of the experience with each of 3 (since I ruled out the Phillips pretty quickly), it was not all that crowded to where I could judge performance in varying conditions. So I get it, the process is not perfect by any means. However, I did appreciate getting to at least try several brands, which is something one cannot necessarily do at one’s audiologist’s office. I ended up picking the Rexton Reaches.

One thing I was able to do was try the Rextons on one day with the Jabras, and then on another day I pitted them against the Sennheisers. That helped me confirm that while I liked all 3, the Rextons seemed to have the edge when it comes to my hearing (even though they are rechargeable rather than taking disposable batteries like the Jabras). I’ve had them almost a week, and so far, so good! And I was able to successfully pair my HAs with my Motorola 5G Stylus Android phone, and the was able to walk me through the Rexton app (which I had downloaded earlier) and show me what it could do. So that was a nice bonus.

Oh, and the HIS, while very nice, was not comfortable with my asking about bringing back the HAs before the rechargeable battery warranty expires, in order to request replacement batteries. I gather from what he said that while they will do that for a customer, Costco’s Hearing Aid center generally discourages that practice.

I had the original Pro’s from 3 years ago (rechargeable) and Costco offered to replace my batteries right before warranty expired. I had that done right after receiving my Pro 30’s and then gifted them to my step father and Costco is servicing them for him just as if I still owned them, for the life of the aid. Not sure where you got the idea that the Jabra’s were not rechargeable as they offer both rechargeable and battery versions and always have.

Jinxed, What I meant was that Jabra was the only at Costco that could be purchased with either rechargeable batteries or disposable batteries. My original intent was to get the Jabras with disposable batteries, since that’s what I’m used to with my previous HAs. But I ended up preferring the Rextons’ performance as far as hearing goes, so that won out over the other advantages of the Jabras. (And as someone said to me, it could become more problematic for my aging fingers to wrestle with those human-proof disposable battery packages, as the years go by.)

In reply to @stl-user

My Costco was a mad house, at least 500 people in the store, the hearing aid section is near the tv section, 20 tvs on, half of them with the volume on, music being played from the stores speaker system, they had Christmas trees set up playing Christmas music, and the carts are very noisy.

One should be glad Costco gives you some chance to consider the sound response of the at all!! Back in the old days–over a decade ago–when I knew only private audiologists for obtaining hearing aids, I was restricted to the small room where they were installed–then turned loose on the real world! There was literally no way to test them. This led to many return visits–for adjustments–which MAY have resulted in final satisfaction, or it may have lead to a lot of ‘making do’. In my opinion, Costco is a huge improvement over consults at a private practice.

I agree, for my 1st aids I went to a private audi. My choice was one aid, Hansaton brand. They did offer 3 levels and I chose the highest level. There wasnt much info online back then and Costco was locking aids back then so didnt even consider them. Now I would only go to a private audi if all else fails. So far I’ve been very happy with my Jabra’s and Costco techs/service.

In reply to @WhiteHat

@WhiteHat said:

I literally had tears in my eyes, it sounded so good. I knew then I’d have to get HAs some way.

I haven’t had the life changing ha-ha moment. probably because I didn’t wait long enough to get hearing aids! I still hear ok without them.

And same with me - For my first hearing aids, I went to a private audiologist. He focused on Phonak and Starkey, IIRC. I was very happy with my $4K Starkey Muses. (Fortunately for me, my workplace covered a big chunk of that.)

You pay A third of the price for hearing aids and get 3 years warranty plus they replace them for free if you lose them. Its an exceptional deal compared to most private audiologists.

I was very grateful for the amazing service they provided. was used by default on my fitting.

is overrated and seems to never get closer to arriving. Meanwhile the Sennheiser hearing aids are far superior in terms of day to day Bluetooth connectivity, They don’t even need special TV streaming devices to work. The function well on both Apple and Android phones for two way conversations.

Highly recommend the Costco experience.

In reply to @stl-user

Hi All & stl -user

I had an initial discussion and another hearing test at COSTCO Marsden, I like the Audiologists. She did not like Jabra & couldn’t tell me where the Senheiser is assembled but Phillips in Poland and Rexton in Singapore. She preferred Phillips but it seems to me a bit bulky in comparison to Rexton. I have seen some US Reviews in YOUTube and decided to get a Rexton as its might also control the hearing modulation according to the environments. She said only thing I will miss is Phillips capability to pairing with iPhone to hear through the , but I believe I have to use the phone to talk to, hence perhaps it will not make much difference to Rexton.

Please share your thoughts about these two Costco brands.

Thanks

I demo’d them all and prefer the Jabra’s. Instead of going with the aid the tech wants to sell you, why not just demo them and compare for yourself? We all have different loss and unique hearing so why let someone else pick your aid? The aids are there to demo, so demo them

I’d bet a lot that the Rextons will stream to Android, at least if you’re at Android 12 or newer. Check the Rexton spec - if it supports - Android Streaming fo Hearing Aids - you can stream phone calls. You may not be able to control your phone by taps, but if you have a newish phone and is enabled on the , even tap control may be possible,

ETA: just checked. Rexton has supported ASHA for a few years now.

I have got a Rexton and I paired with iPhone 15 it was working fine, but accidentally I dropped the left one and now it seems only I receive the phone calls on my right , I wonder have I got the left one busted? I have a Followup appointment next week will discuss with audio.

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