That’s the dryer I use but mine was $6 from Amazon outside vendor. But the Trax is IP67 which makes it basically water proof to 30" depth.
Seems that you pick an aid and with all the accessorizing you aren’t half way there yet.
I am thinking of trialing the Trax. My thought is to take the credit for the controller and put it toward the Maxiblu (Phone Clip). It attaches to the phone which can give you the same features along with quicky controls on the clip device itself. How many ways would you need to control things?
I took the advice I have seen here and returned my $6000 Linx2’s (lost $300 in fitting fees) and bought the Trax 42’s at Costco. I really loved the streaming through my phone and was listening to audiobooks more than I have in years. But I am going to try these. I think that if I can live with the streamer around my neck I will be happy. I will give them a good try. If I really don’t like that, I will probably go back to the KS6. If I go back to that and then find the quality is not as good, I wonder if Costco will let me go back once again to the Trax 42. Decisions are so hard for me!
I also took the advice I have read here and chose the free remote control rather than the charger. The more I think about it, I don’t really need another thing to plug in and charge. From what I have read here, the normal batteries will last a week anyway (mine lasted 4 days with the Linx2). And if I am using the chargeable, that only last 9 hours, I will be exchanging them out often if I have days that last over 9 hours (and I usually do!) Costco called and reminded me that the streamer is also a remote, but I said yes, please still order the remote. Hope this was a good decision!
I just bought the Trax and have the streamer, the remote control, and also use the android phone app. The streamer hides well under my shirt if need be and functions the same as far as sound and mic quality either above or under my shirt. It is exposed to sweat, and the rubberized neck loop feels a little sticky against my skin, if worn against bare skin, so I may make a little goretex and cloth pouch for the pendant, and a cloth sleeve for the loop, to wear in situations it will be against bare skin.
I find the remote control is nice for those times I don’t have the neck loop on, or if the loop/pendant is under my shirt; the remote conveniently resides in my pants pocket and is easily adjusted with one hand just by feel–no one even knows that I am making adjustments.
The phone app is useful to control the more advanced features of the Trax, such as microphone direction and field width, or to visually see what the aids are doing. For quick adjustments it is more of a hassle to dig out and look at my phone than to just feel for the remote or use the buttons on the themselves or the neck loop’s pendant.
Overall, I am finding that each control seems to have its place, even though those places overlap somewhat.
Over the past 11 years I’ve tried: Oticon Duals, Starkys (both in the ear, and behind the ear). I cannot fully express just how happy I am since switching to the Costco K6 hearing aids. I switched of course from failing (and lost) older hearing aids… but it was THIS FORUM that pointed me towards the Kirkland K6s. Thank You!!
Far superior to any HAs I’ve ever had. Are they “Chevrolets” and not Lamborghinis? Probably… but they perform far and above anything comparable. Really like the no-cost 2 loss and user damage warranty as this is what normally do to heading aids.
Now… If I could only get the more than robust K6 Bluetooth to seamlessly back off every time I jump into my brand new 2015 Subaru Outback with it’s own BT. Forced to pull the batteries or tell the iPod to “forget” the K6s
i too have to echo how much I love these KS6’s. While I am a first time user, my clarity and speech understanding has gone up from about 50% to 90% in a restaurant or movie setting. (I’d put my heating loss table in here but I’m afraid I do not know how to do it).
interestingly, while I was speaking to Kirkland tech support (844 number), I asked him which ReSound matched my KS6. My model number is 661. I noted that the ReSound Linx 9 is a 961. I believe ReSound has 9, 7, and 5 versions. I asked if the 661 is between the 5 and 7. The answer I got was roughly yes but not exactly as Costco negotiates specs adding some and deleting some thought not necessary. Maybe to an experienced HA user one would notice the difference between say a ReSound 7 and 9, but to a first time user like me, I’m happy with the performance of my KS6’s. Also he said the Kirkland comes in a 6 and an 8 version. I was surprised to hear that as I think Costco is only selling the $1799 6 version. Anybody have insight into the 8 version?
interestingly, while I was speaking to Kirkland tech support (844 number), I asked him which ReSound matched my KS6. My model number is 661. I noted that the ReSound Linx 9 is a 961. I believe ReSound has 9, 7, and 5 versions. I asked if the 661 is between the 5 and 7. The answer I got was roughly yes but not exactly as Costco negotiates specs adding some and deleting some thought not necessary. Maybe to an experienced HA user one would notice the difference between say a ReSound 7 and 9, but to a first time user like me, I’m happy with the performance of my KS6’s. Also he said the Kirkland comes in a 6 and an 8 version. I was surprised to hear that as I think Costco is only selling the $1799 6 version. Anybody have insight into the 8 version?
The person you spoke to was misinformed. The model number of the KS6 does not denote any type of performance level. KS6 is on par with LiNX 9; it’s certainly not between LiNX 5 and LiNX 7. And the KS6 only comes in one version. ReSound does sell a line of and at Costco called Saxo 8 and Saxo 6.
I have had my KSsixes (my six key just stopped working) for a few weeks now. Clearly better hearing. I thing the restaurant setting still picks up too much noise from clattering dishes and such from off in the distance and needs some improvement, or perhaps an adjustment.
Despite the little mics my right ear is asking for a mold. It might be the angle of the wire.
The bluetooth and streaming stuff work perfectly, but once in awhile the the communication between the two aids stops and I turn them on off and mess around and then it works.
The free batteries I got at Costco in those pinwheel dispensers were all duds and caused me some grief figuring that out. From now on I will buy only those with the protective foil.
Per a suggestion on this forum I went in to get some extra and domes. They gave me a couple of each, but don’t have bags of them to sell. Maybe they are available on the aftermarket? The suggestion was to come in and they replace them for free, but I live 10 miles away.
Now I have a Costco card and bought some stuff, my first ever prime meat, halibut, some decent alcohol and gutter guards. No more leaning off the roof removing a million leaves! Another shopping choice with interesting choices.
All in all a good product for me, no problems with bluetooth, etc… My only criticism is that it takes a long time to get an appointment and the front desk staff always seem to be busy. I think they need to do more with staffing, at my branch anyway.
The hearing test was better than the one I got at an audiologist’s business. The equipment, room, etc just seemed to be a lot more up to date also. I test drove Oticons for awhile, but when I heard about the then-upcoming iPhone models, and asked about them. I was told there was no such thing on the horizon, but she would check at her upcoming meeting with their rep and email me. She did a couple of weeks later and said she was told there was nothing coming up any time soon and to buy now to hear better now. At over $7K! Even if I had a billion dollars i would not spend that much on hearing aids as I would feel like a fool (of course many people have far worse hearing than me and could not wait and had to buy even though they knew they were getting ripped off).
Well, in a couple of weeks Resound and Starkey iPhone aids hit the market. Found that Costco had a pattern of following about a year later, waited, and here we are. Quite a trip. This is an industry that needs a restart and hopefully Costco is the catalyst for that.
The above post (#365 by “rasmus brown”) is well worth noting. It would be FAR more expensive for a company like ReSound (or any other hearing aid manufacturer) to tool up and produce some distinctively different product for Costco. The KS6 is what it its, and what it is is a repackaged ReSound LiNX9, i.e., one step back from ReSound’s current premier product. And for >$3000 less, I tell you what, I can live with that.
I have had my KSsixes (my six key just stopped working) for a few weeks now. Clearly better hearing. I thing the restaurant setting still picks up too much noise from clattering dishes and such from off in the distance and needs some improvement, or perhaps an adjustment.
Despite the little mics my right ear is asking for a mold. It might be the angle of the wire.
The bluetooth and streaming stuff work perfectly, but once in awhile the the communication between the two aids stops and I turn them on off and mess around and then it works.
The free batteries I got at Costco in those pinwheel dispensers were all duds and caused me some grief figuring that out. From now on I will buy only those with the protective foil.
Per a suggestion on this forum I went in to get some extra wax filters and domes. They gave me a couple of each, but don’t have bags of them to sell. Maybe they are available on the aftermarket? The suggestion was to come in and they replace them for free, but I live 10 miles away.
Now I have a Costco card and bought some stuff, my first ever prime meat, halibut, some decent alcohol and gutter guards. No more leaning off the roof removing a million leaves! Another shopping choice with interesting choices.
All in all a good product for me, no problems with bluetooth, etc… My only criticism is that it takes a long time to get an appointment and the front desk staff always seem to be busy. I think they need to do more with staffing, at my branch anyway.
The hearing test was better than the one I got at an audiologist’s business. The equipment, room, etc just seemed to be a lot more up to date also. I test drove Oticons for awhile, but when I heard about the then-upcoming iPhone models, and asked about them. I was told there was no such thing on the horizon, but she would check at her upcoming meeting with their rep and email me. She did a couple of weeks later and said she was told there was nothing coming up any time soon and to buy now to hear better now. At over $7K! Even if I had a billion dollars i would not spend that much on hearing aids as I would feel like a fool (of course many people have far worse hearing than me and could not wait and had to buy even though they knew they were getting ripped off).
Well, in a couple of weeks Resound and Starkey iPhone aids hit the market. Found that Costco had a pattern of following about a year later, waited, and here we are. Quite a trip. This is an industry that needs a restart and hopefully Costco is the catalyst for that.
I agree that there is still too much background noise in loud restaurant environments, especially when trying to hear women who have soft voices. My solution is the Mini Mic. It works great if you put it on the table and mute the hearing aids microphones. The problem is, how to remember to have it with you when you need it? My solution is to charge it every night, next to my iPhone. Then I put it into my pocket every morning, along with my iPhone. It is now part of my daily routine. To make it smaller, I removed the clip, which I never use.
The person you spoke to was misinformed. The model number of the KS6 does not denote any type of performance level. KS6 is on par with LiNX 9; it’s certainly not between LiNX 5 and LiNX 7. And the KS6 only comes in one version. ReSound does sell a line of BTEs and ITEs at Costco called Saxo 8 and Saxo 6.
Thank you Rasmus for that clarification. It is appreciated.
I agree that there is still too much background noise in loud restaurant environments, especially when trying to hear women who have soft voices. My solution is the Mini Mic. It works great if you put it on the table and mute the hearing aids microphones. The problem is, how to remember to have it with you when you need it? My solution is to charge it every night, next to my iPhone. Then I put it into my pocket every morning, along with my iPhone. It is now part of my daily routine. To make it smaller, I removed the clip, which I never use.
You could also use the “Live Listen” feature on your iPhone so your phone acts as the microphone.
What would be good is a very narrowly focused directional mic on the . You would basically aim at the person talking. A laser spot would be great for the listener, not so great for the speaker…I was surprised that the restaurant setting had such a wide intake.
and the focus will be narrower with more microphones. the rexton trax 42’s revolutionary beamforming technology uses all 4 mics (2 per aids) together by fully streaming sounds between aids in order to narrowly focus on sounds. plus it can focus on sounds not just directly in front of you, but also to pretty much any direction as this setup is adaptive. binaural beamforming technology is something everybody who wears hearing aids should learn about. and like I keep writing, it’s only available in phonak venture and siemens binax/rexton trax 42 aids.
I knew there was some truth to the hype of this technology as now a historically average at best brand, siemens, is now considered to have the best aid in the world. and now we can all get this technology via the rexton trax 42 at costco.
I can’t believe some are buying the ks6 aid without even trying the rexton trax 42.
What would be good is a very narrowly focused directional mic on the HA. You would basically aim at the person talking. A laser spot would be great for the listener, not so great for the speaker…I was surprised that the restaurant setting had such a wide intake.
The Restaurant program uses AutoScope Adaptive Directionality by default which automatically switches between omni and directional mode depending on the noise level and direction of the noise. If you want to be sure you’re getting a static frontal focus, have your fitter choose the Fixed Directionality setting instead of AutoScope.
The Restaurant program uses AutoScope Adaptive Directionality by default which automatically switches between omni and directional mode depending on the noise level and direction of the noise. If you want to be sure you’re getting a static frontal focus, have your fitter choose the Fixed Directionality setting instead of AutoScope.
Are we talking here about the Kirkland Signature 6.0 (aka KS6 in this thread), or are we talking about other hearing aids?
Hello.
I am new to forems in general also am new to hearing aids. My most important question is;
“When I am on my Iphone 5; phone calls are not clear and crisp. I hear all sorts of digital sounds interrupting periodically. Sometimes the right one even cuts out for a second.” Does someone have any idea of why. The Costco hearing center said they had never heard of that issue… Thanks
Cell phones sometimes interfere with audio devices such as speakers and amplifiers. “Digital sounds interrupting periodically” sounds exactly like that to me. The aids should be made to be immune to that, but it seems in this case they are susceptible.
That’s got to be a manufacturing defect of some kind on one or both of the aids.
Hello.
I am new to forems in general also am new to hearing aids. My most important question is;
“When I am on my Iphone 5; phone calls are not clear and crisp. I hear all sorts of digital sounds interrupting periodically. Sometimes the right one even cuts out for a second.” Does someone have any idea of why. The Costco hearing center said they had never heard of that issue… Thanks
I also have an iphone 5. I’ve only had the 6.0’s for about a week, but the audio was so bad (same problem you describe plus a really tinny sound) when someone called me on the phone that I turned off streaming and only use my iphone now to control the hearing aids. To do this: Settings, General, Accessibility, Hearing Aids (or triple-click the Home button). Be sure to open the battery case on both aids and then reclose for the change to take effect. Credit to rasmus for this.
I also have an iphone 5. I’ve only had the 6.0’s for about a week, but the audio was so bad (same problem you describe plus a really tinny sound) when someone called me on the phone that I turned off streaming and only use my iphone now to control the hearing aids. To do this: Settings, General, Accessibility, Hearing Aids (or triple-click the Home button). Be sure to open the battery case on both aids and then reclose for the change to take effect. Credit to rasmus for this.
It’s very interesting how much subjective component there is in hearing aids. When I bought the KS6s, I knew they would interface with my iPhone6, but didn’t know that the phone would go directly to the . I was so delighted the first time someone called and I could hear them, actually have a phone conversation right in my head! I love this feature!
Not sure if this is new news or has been previously mentioned in this thread (there are 378 replies so far).
In the latest Costco Connection magazine, dates Jun 2015, read the following regarding the KS6:
“We anticipate our direct Android app to be available sometime in June, but it is only compatible with Samsung devices.” (thinking only the Galaxy S5).
Have not heard this before. As someone trialing the KS6 I was planning to potential get an iPhone. Maybe I should wait and look at the S5 as well.
Have not heard this before. As someone trialing the KS6 I was planning to potential get an iPhone. Maybe I should wait and look at the S5 as well.
Kannon
If you are planning on getting an iPhone be sure to get the iPhone 6. The Bluetooth was upgraded with the 6 and I experience none of the issues those with the 5 and 5S are reporting here. Strong and clear sounds both with calls and music.
I also have an iphone 5. I’ve only had the 6.0’s for about a week, but the audio was so bad (same problem you describe plus a really tinny sound) when someone called me on the phone that I turned off streaming and only use my iphone now to control the hearing aids. To do this: Settings, General, Accessibility, Hearing Aids (or triple-click the Home button). Be sure to open the battery case on both aids and then reclose for the change to take effect. Credit to rasmus for this.
I have the iPhone 6. I had a lot of distortion on both telephone calls and streaming podcasts from my iPa, particularly when sitting about 15 feet from my home Wi-Fi box. I noticed that I was using the 2.4 Ghz signal. Fortunately I have a Wi-Fi box that can also operate at 5 Ghz. I tried that, and it made a big difference on podcasts. Strangely, it also seemed to help on telephone calls.
For anybody who is getting distortion, I would recommend that you get away from any Wi-Fi signal and see if that makes a difference. If it does you might want to consider a 5 Ghz router.
NW Indiana
