Costco Tradeoffs

I’ve been suffering when using various Rexton models from Costco, uograding about every 3 years, over the past 20 years. My issue isn’t with the Costco hearing center, it’s a cost situation. My audiogram, a year + ago was severe to profound. I’m eligible for new ha’s May 23rd. Am very grateful for all that share info, issues, successes and suggestions in this excellent forum. It helped me a lot to develop questions for my very knowledgeable Costco fitter to decide re the most effective choice. Am attaching some screenshots for you to review. In this forum, others have mentioned that the Jabra Pro Enhance 30 model for those of us with severe to profound loss can consider the Jabra ENHANCE MAX as probable equivalent to the Resound ENZO IA model.

I was just asking if OTC would help someone with my HL. I already purchased AirPod Pro 3’s for other reasons so why not try out their Hearing Assist? You have convinced me I need prescription. I decided to try Costco so next question is which HA. I get the impression there is not an answer to that question because response to HA performance is highly individual.

@Jackhammer said:

I decided to try Costco so next question is which HA. I get the impression there is not an answer to that question because response to HA performance is highly individual.

My thoughts are you should let the Costco HIS give you their thoughts on which hearing aid. Since you are getting educated here on the forum before going to costco you will beca step or two ahead of most people. Knowledge is a good thing.

They all of Costco’s hearing aids if you can. Understand that your first impressions about these prescription aids might be off some due to your lack of hearing aid experience.

Good luck with this. You are getting some great help.

Thank-you. I had no idea how complicated this is. So many variables with technology changing so quickly. I was thinking this would be a simple plug & play.

Actually getting a couple of aids in your ears may help you cut through the complexity that documents make inevitable.

As pointed out above, different people respond differently to the same HA. Hearingtracker doesn’t rate ReSound Vivias highly for speech in noise. OTOH, Jabra 30s (probably rebranded Vivia 9s) have allowed me to have conversations, in the loudest restaurant I know, that I haven’t been able to have in decades.

So try out the aids recommended by your fitter. Try out something else as well. If you can tell a difference, great - pick the one you like better. If you can’t hear a difference, great - you don’t have to obsess about which HA. If neither works for you, ask to try out another brand or model.

Words on paper or on a screen simply cannot predict how YOU will respond to a pair of HAs. Experimentation is the only way to find out.

@philbob57 said:

Words on paper or on a screen simply cannot predict how YOU will respond to a pair of HAs. Experimentation is the only way to find out.

I completely agree with you—I bought Rexton Reach based on specs and online reviews, but they sounded terrible to me. Then I read that the SmartRIC wasn’t great for speech in noise, yet they work extremely well for me.

As a Hearing aid specialist I do have a bit of information on Costco. Costco usually Has a name brand made for them. Example. Philips is made by Oticon. Top of the line. Costco has good products and good service policies.

The downside! Costco has lost a few really good brands because they got caught skipping a few of the requirements on the hearing test and a few other checkpoints. Costco puts their hearing aid specialist in a strict time limit and a few have been caught taking shortcuts by the providers and lost accounts. Otherwise it’s hard to beat Costco for a decent brand at a decent price.

If you know exactly what you want and the price they can be a great choice. If you need anything special and want to negotiate price go to a Hearing aid specialist not a ENT you’ll definitely overpay.

I stand by my earlier comment that a good tech/audi who knows how to program well is more important than choosing between particular brands. All major brands provide excellent HAs. One problem for newbies is, you don’t know what you want or what you’re missing until some time has passed and you’ve dialed in your preferred settings. And that can take a lot of initial visits. It goes beyond this, but, in short, there’s a learning curve.

@Hearingaidhelper1 said:

The downside! Costco has lost a few really good brands because they got caught skipping a few of the requirements on the hearing test and a few other checkpoints. Costco puts their hearing aid specialist in a strict time limit and a few have been caught taking shortcuts by the providers and lost accounts.

What nonsense, please could you show your sources for these statements.

This is you first post here.

I thought my hearing testing and hearing aid fitting went pretty well. I don’t really see where a private practice could have done better.

Outside of not have the equivalent hearing aid to the Phonak Sphere, the hearing aids are all premium versions at Costco.

If you have severe hearing loss and want the best in hearing-in-noise, then see if ZipHearing can get you a good price on the Phonak Spheres.

For me personally, I passed on the Phonak Spheres, since I wanted Auracast and use open domes.

This is a quote from the article. Who knows but it sounds like a replacement/update for the Sphere. I’d agree one shouldn’t hold one’s breath for a new Naida UP

the company will soon launch a new product platform and introduce a new flagship product to the

I just can’t see a downside with Costco.. 180 days returns

Costco saves you a large sum of money because of volume discounts. According to the Wall Street Journal, Costco is the country’s largest purveyor of prescription hearing aids after the VA, (Veterans Administration). They offer the longest trial period and by using different brand names, each brand is the top of that company’s line, except for one brand. My Jabra Enhanced Pro 30 hearing aids are identical to the Resound top of the line or the Beltone top of the line.

My employer provides hearing aid coverage. One of my colleagues went through our insurance. I received a higher quality set of hearing aids from Costco at about the same out of pocket cost. Costco offered a better warranty and longer trial period.

Thanks for the links Tenkan!

“Sonova will seek the best owner for the business, which competes in premium consumer audio under the Sennheiser brand….The business will be treated as discontinued operations for accounting purposes as of the FY 2025/26 results.”

Hmmm…looks like Sennheiser brand will be short lived @ Costco! Wonder what name Sonova/Phonak will release the new HAs?