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2026 Costco crystal ball forecast

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In reply to @user990

They use the same accessories (funny enough Signia/Rexton use the same tv streamer!) but with different firmware so you can’t change them around, just like you can’t program a Phillips with Sonic or Bernafon software even tho they are the same.

Massively less. Costco pays massively less.

(And not think. I have friends who work at Costco. I’ve seen their unit pricing. It can be an order of magnitude less.)

I reached out to a Resound dealer before, and he said he was willing to sell to me at cost (making his profit from the bonus kickback after reaching his sales goal). The Viva 9 runs about $1,200 to $1,300 a pair, and I assume Costco can get them a bit lower at $1,000 to $1,100 a pair. They sell them for $1,699 or $1,759 in California. What is the number you got from your friend?

That’s not full list price that your dealer was selling them for, a private clinic not associated with resound would pay more depending on their volume and access via buying groups or whatever, much more if they have no handles to negotiate at all.

Years ago Costco’s price on Kirkland was under $300. I haven’t checked in lately.

Some pay more than Costco. Some pay not that much more, and offer different models. KS models were likely especially cheap. Why should consumers keep the practices that pay too much afloat versus taking their dollars elsewhere where the manufacturer takes less? Costco is gaining many customers while audiologists cling to a broken model. Perhaps it is different in Canada.

Local vs Amazon or Costco: A couple months ago I decided to treat myself to a new $1500 chainsaw. I went to the local dealer which has never been anything special but where I’d spent quite a bit in the past. Since the saw wasn’t a model they normally stocked, the deal was half upfront and the balance on delivery in about 2 weeks. I gave them my credit card number over the phone the following day and they put the whole thing on the card without telling me. I should have called them on that but what the hell, it’s only 2 weeks, right? I inquired about non-delivery before Christmas, was told “looks like another week.” A few days ago I emailed the distributor (Stihl Canada) to ask why the saw hadn’t been delivered and why I should need to pester the dealer since obviously somebody knew it was never coming in 2 weeks. No reply.

If Amazon or Costco had the chainsaw I wanted you can damn sure bet that’s where I would have purchased it.

If you were near me, because I know you a bit, I’d be visiting. But small shops for most things close by? They’ve become second choice for many, frequently for very good reasons. In this case, whether the dealer ever delivers the saw or not, I won’t be buying so much as a spark plug from them in future. I hope they finally deliver so I have the chance to review their biz. How can they not see that coming?

Not about Costco, but a bit if crystal-balling.

The fact that they aren’t even letting the Sphere upgrade out to Unitron (despite the hardware being in place) possibly means they aren’t going to let it out to the ‘lesser’ suppliers……

I just ordered the Sennheiser Sonite R hearing aids from Costco. I get fitted this coming weekend. In addition to the Sennheisers, I tried out Philips, Jabra, and Soundgear (Starkey) hearing aids at Costco. The Sennheisers sounded the most natural so I chose them (the Soundgear was my second choice). I’m interested in experimenting with the programming to get the best sound. I sing in several choirs so quality of sound really matters to me.

One thing that greatly confused me during hearing aid tryout was the folks at Costco telling me that 80% of their customers choose the Philips hearing aids. Of all the models I tried, I liked the Philips the least!

Welcome to the forum @GroovesMcFly yeah so this is a classic example of how individual and subjective our hearing is, the Sennheisers are the older tech compared to the others,but great your willing to give a go, do read the user guides as this is very helpful for setting up the first time, plus you’ll need the Noahlink wireless programming device.

@GTwo said:

Costco used to have top of the line

Aren’t the Jabras and rextons rebranded TOL ReSounds and Signias? Soundgear and Sennheiser are a gen or 2 back from current Starkey and Phonak TOL. Philips has always been sui generis - Demant hardware with its own software. It looks like Philips takes an approach that’s different to Oticon’s, so it’s hard to say if it’s current TOL or not.

Besides, for people who prefer the Sennheiser or Starkey to other offerings, IMO it doesn’t matter that there are other products with theoretically ‘better’ tech.

@GarethJW said:

Lots of AI references but I’m wondering if it’s non Sphere Infinio.

Definitely looks to be, sphere is a marketing boom for Phonak only at the moment, obviously when they release sphere MK 2, Costco will get MK 1sphere.

In reply to @GarethJW

According to the pictures in the link you shared (see below), they are definitely not the Spheres .

As far I’ve seen, Phonak is not releasing the Spheres to any other Sonova brands.

Sennheiser Sonite Rise hearing aid55

Sennheiser Sonite Rise are rechargeable hearing aids designed to automatically adapt to your environment, creating stronger conversations, deeper connections and an easier life

IMG_0557

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