Siemens mini TEK

@beldanjo said:

I would have purchased a MiniTek, but I decided to get new Phonak hearing aids due to a problem with the Pure300. Besides returning the Pure 300 twice during 18 months for warranty service, It would not connect with the MiniTek–I was poised to buy a Pure301 for my right ear (the 300 was in my left ear) and the MiniTek for bluetooth connectivity with my phone. Instead I bought a Siemens ICom, which is a different animal.

The ICom is strictly bluetooth connectivity and mine came with a TV transmitter (It works GREAT) but you cannot controll hearing aid volume or switch between hearing aid programs with the ICom. For that you have to buy Another device from Phonak.

I was dissapointed that the PUre 300 wouldn’t connect because I like the fact that the MiniTek pretty much does it all!

I assume you meant Phonak iCom.

According to your description, you actually have their iCom TVLink.

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Thanks for the correction! I edited it in the document. Sorry for the confusion!

@kospaang said:

I had the miniTek since May now, in replacement for the Tek. It’s a great tool, better and more reliable than the larger Tek. You ‘loose’ the tone adjustment and the display - but that’s no great loss. There are 3 listening programs, Normal, Loud environment and music. I one want to utilize pick-up coil functionality, one program will have to be sacrificed - I chose the music, as the normal mode does this good enough. It can handle 2 streamers, I reused the one that followed the Tek… Nice to have 2 avalable. Connectivity to phone is painless (htc Desire Z).
Recomended over Tek.

/regards

Number of programs depends on the hearing aid, not the mini-tek. The Pure 700/701 has up to 5 programs.

Takes too long to switch between programs and connect to transmitter.
Must be in same room with transmitter for TV/Radio.
Must hang Minitek around your neck and center of chest (about 12 inches max distance fro hearing aids) to get true bi-aural reception: it cuts out if you move side to side.
Good Bluetooth for mobile phone but I can’t get Tcoil to work for home phone.
I paid $550 at Hearx, they can be bought for $400 online but it still has to be programmed.
I’d rate it a 5 out of 10, lots of room for improvement.

@Ddd34690 said:

Takes too long to switch between programs and connect to transmitter.
Must be in same room with transmitter for TV/Radio.
Must hang Minitek around your neck and center of chest (about 12 inches max distance fro hearing aids) to get true bi-aural reception: it cuts out if you move side to side.
Good Bluetooth for mobile phone but I can’t get Tcoil to work for home phone.
I paid $550 at Hearx, they can be bought for $400 online but it still has to be programmed.
I’d rate it a 5 out of 10, lots of room for improvement.

Tcoil in MiniTek is not for phone use. It is for external looped systems like auditoriums, churches, etc. According to Siemens on audiologyonline.com5. the quality of speech using bluetooth streaming between aids and phone is much better than tcoils use for phones.

@jbobp said:

I have a mini-Tek. I picked it up last Friday afternoon and so far I like it quite a bit. The connection to my cell phone (iPhone 4) seems to be better and the Bluetooth signal doesn’t drop out like the Tek did.

It was very easy to get accustomed to, light weight, and it’s nice that it clips in place. I no longer have a pendulum swinging from my neck. I would take the Tek off when I sat down to eat or often when I was working on my laptop and almost always if I bent over working on something. I don’t have to do that with the mini. I typically wear golf style shirts and I clip the mini in the space under the bottom button and leave it there all day.

On the Tek if I turned my head while on the phone often I would lose the conversation in the ear that was away from the Tek; with the mini that hasn’t been a problem. It may be because the mini is closer to my aids or because of a stronger signal, but I haven’t lost the signal during a phone call.

Music from my iPhone –via the cable- sounds as great as the Tek did.

The mini has a flashing green light when it is powered on and I could see it in my peripheral vision if I was working on my laptop, reading, eating, or anytime my head was bent. The light was bothersome, however I solved that problem with a small piece of electrical tape.

If I open apps - text messages, games, email- on my iPhone the app sounds are transmitted to the mini and I don’t care much for that. Usually the mini reverts to the previous program I had selected within a few seconds, but the bouncing between programs is annoying. It isn’t annoying enough for me to go back to the Tek though.

I’ve only has the mini for a week, but I don’t think I would go back to the Tek. I think it is a better device, lighter, simple to use, and in the last week I haven’t heard “is that a cell phone?”

How about in Church, shows, and auditorium functions? Does it improve landline phone use as well as cell phones? I’m a little hesitant where it costs so much.

I’ve had my Siemens Motion 701 for both ears for about two weeks, and I’m very pleased. I bought it at HearUSA with a 20% AARP discount. It has five programs: universal, bluetooth phone, T-coil, noisy environment, and Tek. I got the miniTek a week ago for $300. I used the T-coil program to access the hearing loop during a movie at the Coolidge Corner Theater in Brookline (the only theater with a hearing loop in Massachusetts) and was impressed by the clarity. However, I am a little disappointed with the miniTek. The sound quality when accessing music on my iPod via Bluetooth is somewhat narrow and tinny, like cheap earphones, and the volume is low. I’ve tried to increase the volume on the miniTek but it doesn’t go very high. Is there some other way to increase the volume?

The volume setting can be adjusted via the audi (by programming the miniTek).

In most situations the audi takes defaults.

I connect to iPad and the sound is better via BT wireless using my 701 Pure Carat as wireless headset rather than listing via the tiny loudspeakers in the iPad and the 2 microphones in each HA.

In the “Connect Quick FirstFit”, and in the “minTek Guide to features, benefits and fitting” you will find more details.

@Wim44 said: (unavailable)

@ Uncle Larry
Thanks for your response.

I do not have ConnexxLink and Connexx software.
Just doc from the Siemens website for Users as well as Professionals.

1. On-hook and Off-hook works, the conversation levels have to be adjusted
2. Program2 is taken by BT Phone, when selecting programs on HA or miniTek Program2 beeps are not heard in the HA’s.
3. The 701 Pure Carat has 5 programs. BT Phone will take Program2 out of
   5, leaving 4 programs left (?)

So if BT phone is used, this leaves when using streaming (Audio/TV) via
Transmittor1 that one additional program position on the HA’s is used,
leaving: 5 (total on 701 Pure Carat) - 1 (BT Phone) - 1(Transmitter1+2, 3rd party) = 3 program positions for other programs on the 701 Pure Carat ?

At this moment streaming does not operate via transmitter1 provided with
the miniTek. This has to be set by audi via Connexx. (Input Mode)?

I can connect iPad and Laptop via BT directly to the miniTek, this operates
fine. This will not take an additional program position on the 701 Pure Carat as far as I understand (now)?

The current status is:
Devices:

1. 701 Pure Carat HA’s
2. miniTek

MiniTek
Functioning:

• Remote controller miniTek: volume +/-, program selection: P
• BT Phone (at the expense of Program2 on 701 Pure Carat; however: too low levels)
• BT audio with iPad and Laptop
• TeleCoil in the 701 Pure Carat (however: too low levels)

Not functioning:

• Line-input: 2,5 mm socket on miniTek (not enabled?)
• TeleCoil in miniTek (not enabled?)
• streaming BT transmitter1 (audio/TV) does not sync to miniTek, no
  audio in HA’s 701 Pure Carat (not enabled?)

Programming:

• Program1 and 3 hearing with / without background
• Program2 (no indication beep by selection, is BT Phone)
• Program4: 4 beeps, no function, behaves like no HA’s (not enabled?)
• Program5: no beeps, position available (not enabled?)

I want:

1. speech 1:1 without background noise
2. speech 1:1 with background noise
3. listening to audio/TV program
4. Phone conversation

• handset: Telecoil in Pure Carat
• mobile: BT miniTek (Program2)

5. listening to music (part of spectrum)
   Issues:

• wind on the ears: there is an option Wind in Connexx, but will
  this take an additional program position on 701 Pure Carat?
• driving car: wind and tires make noise when driving faster than
  60 km/h. The sound is not real, it is distortion sound not like wind
  and tires on the road when driving. Is there a programming option
  to solve this ? Is this at the expense of an additional programming
  position on the 701 Pure Carat HA’s ?

Tips, comments welcome.

I’m confused are you asking something or telling us something.

you might start here for the miniTek and then go to downloads a couple of choices down for a miniTek user guide. http://hearing.siemens.com/Global/en/products/wireless/minitek/minitek.html17

here’s exactly what works great for me… (siemens pure carat 701 RICs)
1 - normal/auto handles 99% of situations.
2 - BT phones
3 - miniTek, 1 TVLink and 1 VoiceLink (bt macs have to be added in connexx. (bumped up the bass and cuts some off the top)
4 - speech focus, long story but will pickup voice from beside or behind and cut noise from the other directions. great for driving or sitting in a booth eating. http://hearing.siemens.com/Global/en/professional-area/knowledge-base/faq/faq.html?slotName=Speech+Focus#faqCotegory_Speech6 Focus
5 - open, I tried a bunch of the other programs and none of them did much better then letting program 1 handle everything.

I don’t have SoundBrilliance enabled, not recommended for HP receivers. tried it and they were right.

if you go to the FAQS on the professional side of the seimen site there is a bunch of information.

@Wim44 said: (unavailable)

Does this mean the sound of outdoor sports when looking at it, or
also participating in the sport ?

I do bicycling a lot and the wind is frustrating via the BTE 701 Pure Carat.
However there is an programming option: Wind. (I do not want to use Mute, because of communication with other riders).
Does this mean that the wind coming from the back, passing the microphones of the HA’s is heared less strong.

The problem is the audi. I takes much time to go visa versa and the outcome of some changes in settings is most of the time frustrating. So I want to be sure that what one expects matches the possibilities of the HA’s by programming by the audi.

Wim44

Sorry it is participating, specifically for me in golf. I wanted wind and rear noise reduction. I could hear a pin drop behind me using my Centra Actives and drove me crazy. Actually stopped using them playing. Hope the weather warms enough to try it out soon.

@jrr : thanks for clarification.
I will ask for Outdoor Sports too.

@ Uncle Larry:
I gave describtion of my current HA’s and the issues (denoted by ? and mentioned below: not functioning).
Thanks for your add. comments.

Found this site out of frustration on the Mini-Tek. I have had it for about a month paired with Siemens . The Mini-Tek pairs to my phone about 50% of the time and I have used it on 2 phones Droid and Iphone. When it does pair the conversation will bounce from ear to ear connecting and disconnecting. I have the remote within 12” of the hearing aids and about 2 feet from the phone. If it have the remote 3 feet from the hearing aid it does not work. I had a cheap Bluetooth I used for my phone which sounded 100 times better than this does. I am to the point of calling it quits with this. I have sent it back once and just today got a replacement and this one disconnects even worse that the other