Costco Brio2's: Self-programmable or locked?

I was/am operating under that same assumption and ordered the mini-Pro and cables this morning; should have everything by the time I pick up my Brio2s. They will be my first hearing aids btw.

And thanks pvc, your Self-Programming Dos and Don’ts… thread is what enabled me to get to where I am so quickly.

@pvc said:

Maybe you will have to be the trail blazer

Well, Mommy always told me I was Number One! …lol…

Has anyone figured out which model Phonak Costco sells?

@pvc said:

If it was me I would return the Brio2’s and buy one generation back Phonak Audeo Q’s for $500 or $600 and save a bunch of coin.

Oh, it was me, and I already did that >> Phonak Audeo Q’s <<

Here’s some details >> Buying used Phonak Audeo Q90/Costco Phonak Brio Hearing Aids26 <<

pvc,
WOW. Thanks for all the nicely detailed info!
I am envious of your technical abilities. At 75 I am afraid the learning curve is too steep for me to try self programing. I did buy used
Resound Verso 962s on ebay back in 2013 for $900 and pd $100 to local audiologist to program.
I’m leaning toward trying the Bios 2s at Costco. Don’t know if they will help me hear any better but if not I can return for refund during 6 month trial.
I am grateful to the site for being here and I am especially grateful to all of the very knowledgeable folks who give so much of their time to help folks like me.

I can now confirm that I was able to read the Brio2s using a mini-Pro; they were recognized by the latest version of Target as “Phonak Brio 2 R-312T”. I am delaying trying to write to them until right before my audiologist visit late tomorrow afternoon. (I figure if I brick them in the process he may be able to recover them). I’ll post again after I’ve successfully written to them.

Meantime I’ve printed out detailed fitting reports to see just what it is I’ve been listening to…

@IHeardYou said:

Following up to confirm that I was able to read/write to the Brio2s and also pair them to my Compilot II. I am now comparing the adjustments from yesterday’s fitting to those from my initial fitting.

From an earlier post, it sounded like you were going to do adjustments of your own before you went back to Costco.

Did you? And if so, what was the Costco audiologist’s reception to that?

I’ve totally re-programmed my KS7s, and I wouldn’t mind going back to ask some questions. But I’m worried they’ll be unfriendly because I’ve been messing with them on my own. Somewhere else here somebody thought that the DIY approach couldn’t possibly be seen as voiding the warranty, but I’m curious since that’s actually my big concern.

I’m also wondering whether or not client files are shared electronically among Costco clinics – i.e., if they have a system-wide client database. If you go to a different Costco – there are three within a few miles of my home – do they pull up your session details from the cloud, or just read them out of the hearing aids?

@corona said:

From an earlier post, it sounded like you were going to do adjustments of your own before you went back to Costco.

Did you? And if so, what was the Costco audiologist’s reception to that?

I’ve totally re-programmed my KS7s, and I wouldn’t mind going back to ask some questions. But I’m worried they’ll be unfriendly because I’ve been messing with them on my own. Somewhere else here somebody thought that the DIY approach couldn’t possibly be seen as voiding the warranty, but I’m curious since that’s actually my big concern.

I’m also wondering whether or not client files are shared electronically among Costco clinics – i.e., if they have a system-wide client database. If you go to a different Costco – there are three within a few miles of my home – do they pull up your session details from the cloud, or just read them out of the hearing aids?

That was my original plan, but then I decided I would wait until I could compare the audi’s new fitting to the original fitting.

I was prepared to discuss the DIY stuff with my original audi, but he had apparently moved out of the area and instead I saw the regional manager who’s taking over for now. I thought he was pretty good, but I was reluctant to broach the DIY subject with him due to his role. And now I may not bother in the future…

At my appointment, he looked up my customer ID from a database, created a new session under my customer ID in Target and then, based on watching the screen over his shoulder, I believe he read the current settings from the HAs. We then talked for awhile about my experience with the HAs and he made some adjustments based on my commentary. He then wrote the changes out to my HAs and the database and we were done.

IMO, he followed the most sensible workflow: Read the HAs, make adjustments based on a dialog with the customer, and write the new settings to the HAs and database. If this is true, there is no need to even mention what you are doing because it would have no impact on the workflow. Unless of course you royally screw them up somehow and need them to perform the initial fitting again.

The audi would however be able to tell if you were writing to the HAs if he looked. I’m not sure why he would bother though as again it would have no impact on what s/he was going to do.

And I’m actually not worried about the return/warranty issues at all. If they are functional, I can reset them to their as-shipped state and return them for a refund; on what basis could they refuse? And if you ship them in broken I doubt they even bother to look at them. Far cheaper to simply toss them and send replacements (a one-time deal on my contract).

Thanks! This all makes sense.

@corona said:

That’s really interesting, because those are the aids I had before I got the Costco KS7s I’m using now. I really never got the Phonaks to work well at all, and it wasn’t for lack of trying. I had kind of assumed that the leap in technology – and the resultant hole in my bank account – really did make a big difference. But maybe I’ve been wrong. Worth going back and trying again with the Savias, maybe.

I had a lot of expectations from Brio, assuming the technology leap you mentioned should be very significant over 8 years I used Savias. Based on this experience, it seems to me that most of “breakthroughs” during the last decade are just superficial improvements, at least at my level of hearing loss. More processing power doesn’t necessarily equate better user experience; more programs for specific listening situations doesn’t necessarily mean better hearing experience for typical listening environment we are in 95% of the time. If I don’t have any luck with DIY with Brio, I might try other brands, or just revert back to Savia. [LEFT]It’s good to learn you had good experience with KS7. I’ve never even considered them, after sticking to major brand names during my 44 years of hearing aids use.[/LEFT]

@bobbyc said:

It’s good to learn you had good experience with KS7. I’ve never even considered them, after sticking to major brand names during my 44 years of hearing aids use.

There’s tons of information here on the KS7s. They are Rexton, which is of course Siemens/Signia, and apparently the same technology as the Signia Primax px7. Definitely a major brand, the newest technology, and well-received.

And, the feature set is slightly reduced, mainly in the absence of the tinnitus compensation. Some of the features are also present but less configurable in the KS7s that they are in the Signias (but that seems to be true for the Rexton versions generally). But if you’re of the opinion – and I’d tend to agree with you – that lots of these features are not earth-shaking, then very minor reductions in the ability to tweak them might not matter too much, or at all. Oh, and of course the magical names for the features need some translation, between one magical-marketing spin-language and another.

They’re easily programmable with Connexx, too. I really like them! And while some features, like compression ratios, are a little less intuitive in Connexx, I like it overall much better than Target, or iPFG. It just seems a lot easier to use, and more fun. The UI is kind of ugly, and the way it handles session files sort of perplexing, but what can you do.

Can anyone else say they’ve programmed Phonak Brio hearing aids?

I’m thinking about buying a used set on eBay.

Yes, do a search/magnifying glass;