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Costco Rexton Trax 42 (Product Information)

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I’ve tried Bluetooth and patch cable. Neither works.

As doc suggests, I will add bass and get rid of the highs. If that doesn’t help, I’ll write the problem off as an open domes issue.

I go Friday for follow up programming so will let you know how it works out.

mjd2k:

I think the difference between you and I may be the bluetooth device itself. I’ve got the new Smart Connect neck loop, you’ve got the miniTek. Might be time to upgrade, my friend.

Just picked up the replacement ear molds from Rexton today. PERFECTO! They got the vent size right…they are deep enough going into my canals. Any occlusion issues I was having are gone!

Now I’m even MORE happy with these Trax than I was before!

Evil.

I keep saying mini tek but I have the smart connect. In my head the app is the smart connect part

Will be be asking about custom molds tomorrow. Glad to hear they work so well for you!

@Evil_Scientist said:

Took two tries for them to get them to my specifications…but yea…they’ll work great now. Be picky…get what you need/want!

Evil.

I think they’re going to have their work cut out for them with me. So far I’m having really bad issues.

#1- My left ear or MPL or whatever the hell it is is set too high in every program. Aid has the ability to blast me out. Have to keep volume lower than I’d like so loud sounds don’t cause discomfort.
#2- Streaming music from phone or from line in sounds optimized for voice- very crappy compared to the Finesse / Mini Blue Totally lacking bass.
#3- Direct line input sounds like it’s being converted to digital at a real low bitrate or something. It almost sounds clipped. Mini Blue was great in this regard.
#4 - Tone control on Android app has no effect
#5- App has a “Broadcast level” control. What the heck is this? It has settings for low- medium-high. Doesn’t seem to change anything.
#6 Smart Connect doesn’t switch well. I can take a call and when call is over aids remain in Bluetooth phone (for voice only) I have to manually switch back to Auto- sometimes can’t even do it on the app- must switch it on the themselves. But I don’t instinctively realize this. All of a sudden I realize I’m not hearing well, and when I check the phone app I realize it’s stuck in “Bluetooth phone” from the call I had 20 minutes ago.

One time I was listening to PC audio via Bluetooth. I was really excited to have that ability. But then someone came to the door. I stopped the audio but couldn’t get the HAs to switch back. Cou;dn’t get the Smart Connect to respond. Eventually had to stick a toothpick in the bottom of the Smart Connect to reset it. Doing so made me lose some pairings. Argh!

I really LOVE the size and button location of the Smart Connect, the neckloop antenna, the robust connectivity as compared to the Mini Blue. But it carries a lot of baggage with it and at this point I’d say it’s not worth it. It seems to me that it needs AT LEAST a software update to fix some of these issues.

Greghahn:

I’ve asked the question about “broadcast level” in another thread. I don’t know what that is either, and I can’t find app documentation to find out. That your tone control doesn’t work may mean that function is disabled in your programming. Your audi may be able to activate that feature.

The “switch problem” may be a phone/app issue as much as a Smart Connect issue. I often ran into the same issue with my old iCom. Hasn’t really happened yet with the Smart Connect.

The app and the device itself will likely get software updates soon. The last app update was April, so they are still working on it.

Evil.

@Evil_Scientist said:

I’ve asked the question about “broadcast level” in another thread. I don’t know what that is either, and I can’t find app documentation to find out.

This setting adjusts the loudness of the control tones generated by the app. When the Smart Connect device isn’t available, the Smart Connect app functions just like the Smart Remote app and communicates with the hearing aids using coded ultra-high frequency tones. Sometimes the hearing aids won’t detect the tones in certain situations, and increasing the signal level may help.

In reply to @greghahn

@greghahn said:

I think they’re going to have their work cut out for them with me. So far I’m having really bad issues.

#1- My left ear MPO or MPL or whatever the hell it is is set too high in every program. Aid has the ability to blast me out. Have to keep volume lower than I’d like so loud sounds don’t cause discomfort.
#2- Streaming music from phone or from line in sounds optimized for voice- very crappy compared to the Finesse CIC / Mini Blue Totally lacking bass.
#3- Direct line input sounds like it’s being converted to digital at a real low bitrate or something. It almost sounds clipped. Mini Blue was great in this regard.
#4 - Tone control on Android app has no effect
#5- App has a “Broadcast level” control. What the heck is this? It has settings for low- medium-high. Doesn’t seem to change anything.
#6 Smart Connect doesn’t switch well. I can take a call and when call is over aids remain in Bluetooth phone (for voice only) I have to manually switch back to Auto- sometimes can’t even do it on the app- must switch it on the HAs themselves. But I don’t instinctively realize this. All of a sudden I realize I’m not hearing well, and when I check the phone app I realize it’s stuck in “Bluetooth phone” from the call I had 20 minutes ago.

One time I was listening to PC audio via Bluetooth. I was really excited to have that ability. But then someone came to the door. I stopped the audio but couldn’t get the HAs to switch back. Cou;dn’t get the Smart Connect to respond. Eventually had to stick a toothpick in the bottom of the Smart Connect to reset it. Doing so made me lose some pairings. Argh!
.

Hi GregHahn and forum. I picked up my Trax 42 at Costco late yesterday and have been experimenting a little and trying to read the manuals and get a sense of these Hearing aids.

I got the Connex Smart Connect neck loop device, and I also got the Transmitter that comes with cables and adapters to connect it to your stereo/TV/etc… The transmitter uses Bluetooth to connect to the neck loop and on to the Hearing Aids.

With of all the extra equipment to be explained, the initial setup of the Aids/Real Ear measurements/ etc., and questions, I quickly ran out of my allotted appointment time. The set up an Automatic program, Noise-Party, Outdoor-traffic, and a Bluetooth Phone program. I will go back in three weeks to tweak things, try a Music Program, etc… after I have a chance to wear them for a while.

My initial in-store trial was with semi-open domes, the second trial was to experience the Bluetooth and at that trial I had a liitle feedback noise and we tried double domes. I currently have the double domes in place, but I was given some of the semi-open to experiment with. I have Moderate power receivers on my aids.

My initial opinion is that the Trax are giving me good speech comprehension in somewhat normal settings. I have not been in an extreme noise situation yet, but I was able to hear my wife just fine in my somewhat noisy pickup truck on the hour long, 70mph trip home. I did not notice any difference between the Automatic setting and the Outdoor-Traffic program, so that will likely be replaced or have its settings tweaked. Early this morning I went out with the fire dept on a medical call, and stood in a home’s living room with a group of police, paramedics, and the soft spoken elderly female patient. Initially I was having some difficulty comprehending her, but turning up the volume on the Aids solved that. I will continue to report my experiences as they occur.

Today I have been hooking up and experimenting with the neck loop, Android phone app, and the transmitter. Last night I had a few issues with the neckloop/aids cutting out streaming music from my phone to my left ear occasionally and briefly, particularly if I turned my head while sitting in my chair. The smart phone app would also show an icon with sound waves with a slash ( / ) through them just to the right of the mute icon, and if I tried to increase the volume or change the sound balance (bass/treble) the app’s adjustment slider would almost immediately return to the middle position. I charged the Smart Connect loop overnight, and I have had none of those issues in my use throughout today, which includes streaming my phones music, phone calls, and sound transmissions using the transmitter. I can only surmise that the HIS did not fully charge the loop’s control pendant, or that turning off the pendant and opening the aid’s battery compartments overnight allowed something to reboot and clear the glitch.

Today I hooked up the transmitter to the analog audio output (red and white jacks) on the rear of the Dish TV box ( I use the box’s optical output to feed my receiver-amp that powers the audio system’s speakers). I was therefore able to stream the sound simultaneously to my Trax 42s and the speakers (and mute the speakers to hear only the streaming audio).

The transmitter has a white ‘sound level’ button that has three volume settings. I don’t know if this corresponds to the three ‘Broadcast level’ settings on the Smart Connect phone app or not. Like GregHahn, changing the app’s broadcast level has no effect, and changing the transmitters sound level button does have an effect on the streaming volume, but no corresponding changes register on the app’s broadcast level display if they are indeed the same thing.

Increasing the sound level/volume on the transmitter’s three settings did increase the loudness of the aids over and above the normal volume settings, but I also noticed little ‘cutouts’ in some sounds at the higher settings — could that be the ‘clipping’ some have referred to? I ended up using the lowest sound level setting, and I have more than adequate volume using my aids or the app’s or Smart Connects volume levels.

As GregHahn and others have noted, the streaming sound is very ‘tinny’ with almost no bass and fullness ( kind of like the small, old, AM transistor radios of my youth. I do notice that the longer I listen to it ( several hours now) the less obnoxious it is, and if I leave the stereo turned up I receive some of the bass. The Smart Connect phone apps bass/treble control only makes a very small difference in the brightness/tinny-ness and adds almost no bass. The major factor I have discovered is likely related to the amount of openness of your ears. Listening to streaming XM music over the transmitter, I have experimented with turning off the ambient noise / only receiving the streaming signal ( push both volume buttons on the Smart Connect neck pendant briefly to toggle on and off), putting on ‘shooters’ ear muffs over my ears/aids, using foam ear plugs, and plugging my ears with my fingers or by pushing hard against the skin at the base of the entrance to the ear canal. Pushing the skin to completely close the canal around the in-ear receiver has the greatest effect, followed by pushing the headphones as tight as possible against my head. This seems to allow my ears to pickup the bass notes being transmitted by the hearing aids, and suddenly I no longer hear only tinny-ness, but can now hear bass guitar notes, and a much richer sound.

With my particular hearing loss, these new Trax aids do a good enough job on their own that I have been able to turn down my TV volume considerably and still comprehend, and I still have good enough low frequency hearing to enjoy the fullness of normal sound. Short of having custom, very occlusive molds made, or having a special program made that really boosts bass levels, I don’t think I will use the TV transmitter for normal listening unless there are unusual circumstances or unless I were to wear very high quality ear muffs to enhance the bass of the signal. I can see using the transmitter on my bedroom TV so that I don’t keep my wife awake if I watch TV in bed late at night.

Regarding GregHahns trouble with the Smart Connect /loop with the device staying on the phone program rather than returning to Automatic, I tried that myself by calling my cell phone from my home phone. Sure enough, the Smart connect phone app’s screen still showed the phone program open after I hung up the house phone. When I pressed the center button on the neck pendant the app’s screen instantly indicated that the hearing aid program returned to the Automatic setting. I guess this is just something that I will have to get used to: if someone calls me and they end the call, I’ll have to press the pendant button once, just as I would have to do if I were to end a call myself.

i have also noticed that to pause streaming music briefly while I do something else, I should follow the Smart Connect loop’s directions and just press the pendant’s center button once to pause, and again just press once to resume the streaming. I’ve found other ways of halting the stream, but the single pendant button press seems to be the cleanest as far as stopping and cleanly resuming. Having the Smart phone app open and watching the screen as I try different things seems to be a good way of knowing what the hearing aids are up to-- much easier than trying to remember what the beeps mean if I only press buttons on the aids or pendant.

Anyway, I guess my adventure with these HAs is only beginning, and I will just have to try things, read the (at times, inadequate) manuals, and look to this forum for insights. Next Tuesday will provide me with a good opportunity to try out the Trax in a very noisy environment: we will have training exercises at the fire dept where I will be around roaring diesel truck engines as we pump water, use our radios, etc. The Costco HIS showed me how to mute the HA’s microphones in case it becomes too much.

Corey

Thanks for your insight, Corey. It’s disappointing that you are having many of the same experiences as I am, which means they are the norm. I had a different set of Rexton and the Mini Blue streamer previously,so I was used to a certain level of performance. I expected this to be equal or better in every way. It’s not.

And 3 weeks before your first follow up appointment? To me that is way too long. I’d prefer 3 days! Mine is 6 days after receiving them. A week is all I’d want to go. (Of course, I live 5 minutes from Costco.)

Does anyone know if Costco will allow me to do a 90 day trial for 2 hearing aids at the same time? (KS 6.0 and Rexton Trax 42)

I’m happy to pay for both of them of course as long as they will give me a refund on the one that I’m returning.

Mild to moderate high-frequency loss. 100% word recognition. Only hearing issues are with very soft-spoken folks or in noisy vehicles. Initial hearing exam done by private audi when ears felt plugged; then a Costco exam with similar results.

K6 wins. . .Tried a high-end Phonak (don’t remember the model, but it was about $7,000 for a pair) after my initial exam. Then I went to Costco and tried the K6s. The Phonak was better, much less tinny-sounding and somewhat better word recognition in noise or when listening to soft-spoken folks. I didn’t feel the hearing improvement was worth the $5,200 difference in price, so I went with the K6s.

42 wins. . .Today I tried the 42s. The 42s were much less tinny than the K6s and the speech recognition was much better than the K6s. From about 20’ and at the very noisy checkout area, I could clearly hear conversations between the cashiers and customers. I also like having the volume control on the aids, which the K6s do not. The 42s also fit my ears better. In my opinion, the 42s were worth the additional $800 so I returned the K6s and purchased the 42s.

The return and purchase process took about 10 minutes. I was given a cash card for the K6s purchase price; I paid for the 42s with the cash card and an additional $800. The folks at Costco were very helpful and seemed to want me to get the best product for my hearing issues and the money I was spending. I didn’t note any irritation nor anger.

Note: The Phonak/ K6 comparison is less reliable than the K6/42 comparison because after wearing the K6s for two months I’m much better able to evaluate how the different hearing aids address my hearing situation.

In reply to @greghahn

@greghahn said:

Thanks for your insight, Corey. It’s disappointing that you are having many of the same experiences as I am, which means they are the norm. I had a different set of Rexton HAs and the Mini Blue streamer previously,so I was used to a certain level of performance. I expected this to be equal or better in every way. It’s not.

And 3 weeks before your first follow up appointment? To me that is way too long. I’d prefer 3 days! Mine is 6 days after receiving them. A week is all I’d want to go. (Of course, I live 5 minutes from Costco.)

Hi GregHahn,

This is my first set of hearing aids with streaming capability, and I don’t listen to music anywhere except at home (rarely) or in the car, so my primary needs will be speech and a near-normal ( or at least pleasant ) everyday hearing hearing experience. Luckily I can get by pretty well with normal headphones if I have to, as long as I have more control over bass and treble. I have decent low frequency hearing, so I will likely be happy with what the Trax are doing for me— so far they seem to be working well for what I want, including streamed telephone conversation comprehension. A really good music and television streaming experience would just be the icing on the cake for me.

Perhaps with adequate tweaking I can get a better, less tinny streaming sound. I can see though how it would be very disappointing to someone who hoped to have a " stereo-headphone" type of experience right out of the box. I look forward to seeing your’s and others inputs on how to improve the streaming sound quality, and will keep my fingers crossed.

My Costco (near Iowa City/Coralville, Iowa), only has one full time and one part-timer, according to my HIS. They are in the process of hiring and training another, but they just hired him so it will be weeks before Unfortunately, the increasing popularity of Costco for has combined with this to create long waits for appointments. The HIS hoped to see me again in two weeks, but there just weren’t any openings. I’m thinking I may call her and get a request in now for a third followup visit so I don’t have to wait an additional three weeks after my second visit; I would like to try to fine tune some of the programs, and tweak the sound profiles to hopefully improve the streaming’s tinny-ness. Of course every appointment I get just creates delays for others, so that makes me feel kind of selfish. Unless I have unforeseen problems, I likely will stick with the Trax, so I’m not overly concerned about burning up the 90 day trial period.

In my previous post I noted some glitches last night with the left hearing aid dropping out all together briefly, then giving the three chime tone as it attempted to reconnect the two hearing aid. , I also was getting a symbol on the phone app at the same time of sound waves with a slash through them. I now believe this was caused by the neck pendant’s battery getting low, because it happened again a couple hours ago while I was on the phone. I have been streaming music and using the pendant most of the day, so I figured the battery had to have been depleted. I plugged in the pendant to recharge while I was still on the phone and the problem gradually lessened. An hour of uninterrupted recharging brought the Smart Connect pendant to full charge, and the glitch disappeared.

Corey

Greghan,

  • my tone control also had zero impact. The Siemens rep suggested my Audi increase the range. Has an impact now
  • the sound quality of streaming was brutal. Per docs suggestion I bumped up the base and lowered the highes. Was much better but I think we lost the upgrade during the tweaking. Need to get a check done on that
  • the loud noise was/Is an issue for me too. They can lower the level of loud sounds For the high freq, such as paper rustling. They did that for me but it was lost in the tweaking. That can be fixed.
  • I must give my costco audio credit. She is willing to do whatever it takes to get it right. Very impressive
  • problem of losing the tweaking was mostly my fault. I went out to costco proper and everything went quiet so I went back and the changes she made lost some previous programming. Turn out my noise/party had kicked in and made everything quiet. I missed that and we re-tweaked it all and stuff was lost. Now we need to redo it all. Really was my fault. Poop!

In reply to @CoreyF

Hi Corey. I too had the three chimes and disconnect. It’s a battery issue.
Also, every Morning after a recharge, I need to open and close the battery cases to activate,the aids.

In reply to @mjd2k

My audio said the KS6 has no volume control. Check it out. That was a deal breaker for me.

@mjd2k said:

I definitely was not lied to but the lady was obviously not very knowledgeable about the product. I’m ok with that.

I have since set up another appointment to discuss my choice.

I’m now thinking I should go with the Kirkland signature 6.0. They are Bluetooth compatible right away and about $1300 less than the trax 42.

Can anyone tell me why I would choose the Trax 42 over the 6.0? I would sure appreciate some guidance.

Thanks

The aids themselves need an external device to control volume. An iphone 5 or better or equivalent works. The phone clip + will alter volume and programs along with streaming and support for an android app.

That would make the cost still below the Trax. You may or may not think you then have an equivalent set of aids.

In reply to @ksam

@ksam said:

I’ve only had the Rexton Trax 42 for a day now, but I love it already (especially compared to the Phonak Brio aids I had before!). I can’t tell a difference yet between these aids and the Siemens Binax ones I tried a few months ago, so that seems to be awesome (the Binax cost was ~2x the cost of the Costco aids). The sound is much, much clearer/crisper/cleaner to me (it sounds normal, like I don’t feel like I’m hearing the extra sound I did with the Phonaks that was unhelpful). I didn’t buy the Bluetooth streamer, but probably will next time (would prefer the http://www.rexton.com/us/en/accessories/mini-blu-rcu/ , so that I don’t need anything hanging around my neck , if Costco carries it?).

I also tried the Android App (Smart Remote, I think) today. It worked relatively well. I was able to change volume and programs with my cell phone itself (no bluetooth, no streamer). My high-frequency hearing is good enough to still hear the high-pitched tones it uses to communicate with the hearing aids though, so I don’t know how much I’ll be using it.

Thanks, ksam, but I don’t think the app is Smart Remote. I would appreciate it, if you would check that for me when you get a chance. A PM would help get my attention. (Android"s ADD app not working for me!)

In reply to @Hark33

@Hark33 said:

My audio said the KS6 has no volume control. Check it out. That was a deal breaker for me.

Hey Hark, I have had the trax for a month now. Won’t bother testing the k6. Need some more tweaking but as I told my Audi, I won’t be returning them!!

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