Are Costco hearing aids actually better than mid level ones from bigger names like the Widex 220?

Example:

Costco Canada: 90 days

General Information about Costco Hearing Aid Centres4

WH

One way you can assuredly be a help to him regardless of which HA he gets – make sure he knows to let the audi/tech know of any problems, issues, concerns - because they should be able to answer questions, make adjustments, etc. Also - based on your time here, you now know the importance of a good audi/tech/fitter and if his is not helping him - there are others. There are options. Different HAs are better for some people, a different audi/tech/fitter might be able to assist with the one he has, he can always get a different one (the beauty of Costco being more affordable), and above all else – if he has problems or the HA is not right for him in any way - he doesn’t have to just accept/live with a bad result or give up on HAs altogether. It’s great if his first HA and audi/tech/fitter meets all his needs after the first visit, but a lot of this is trial and error and it is very worthwhile to keep trying to get it right.

Costco sells quality hearing aids. Their biggest advantage over clinics is accessibility. You can drop in on Saturday or Sunday, any Costco with a hearing center. If you get from a clinic you most often have to go to that one clinic at that one location to get service and if you are out of town and an issue comes up you are stuck. With Costco if you travel in the US you can drop into any Costco hearing center and get service. If your schedule is tight you can go on a Saturday or Sunday while most clinics are strictly Monday to Friday by appointment.

@LouisInTexas said:

You can drop in on Saturday or Sunday, any Costco with a hearing center.

For example, before Christmas we were shopping at a different Costco and I had them replace the failing receivers in my KS 8. That saved me a 2 hour drive to go to the store where I bought the aids.

@TGW said:

then the worst case scenario is that somewhere down the line he is not getting all he needs from the Widex and you/he have to pay out-of-pocket for Costco.

Thanks for the response. And yeah, it’s good to know Costco is always there as a backup plan if necessary. Nobody wants to have to spend an extra $1600 like that on a fixed income, but he doesn’t spend much and could afford that if necessary. I could probably sell the Widex to cover some of the cost too if it came to that.

But I don’t think it will. We found a cheaper audiologist (still sprung a $600 “fitting fee” on us at the last minute, but it’s still $1500 less than the first place we went to), she seems very knowledgeable, he got to try out both Oticon and Widex and preferred the sound of the Widex 220, so that’s what he’s going with. I’m pretty sure everything will turn out fine, both audiologists and Costco seem to get plenty of positive reviews, there aren’t a whole lot of people hating their experience getting a hearing aid so I think it generally goes well wherever you buy.

Like you said, it might have been smarter to go with Costco first and then go to the higher priced option only if necessary. He probably would have done that if our family (including me) wasn’t initially hesitant about buying a medical device in the same place you buy baked chickens and tires, for a price that seemed almost too good to be trusted.

Remember they key to success with hearing aids primarily rests with the skills and care of the professional.

I’ve been wearing
Hearing aids for over 20 years. I loved my audiologist, took my mom and sister to him. Then he retired And I lost my phonak hearing aids last year. Plus needed.nEw ones anyway. I went to another audiologist and wanted to buy the new top of the line phonaks but could not understand their price categories. I was really bothered that she could not explain to me why they were more expensive than getting the same hearing aids in the lesser price category. Found out they were indeed the same devices but their service for the features would be limited in the lesser category. That didn’t make sense to me… Figured it was my own lack of understanding and so I paid for a hearing test and paid for fitting molded occluding domes, and bought the higher cost category anyway. My hearing aids arrived without instructions and my audiologist wasn’t available for a week so I went online to find out how to adjust them and discovered the Costco offers. Suddenly everything made sense. I went to Costco with my new hearing aids. The technician there got me instructions. So I had them also test my hearing. Got exactly the same results. I ended up returning the new hearing aids and buying the same from Costco. As a retired federal employee I was able to recover my health benefit. Which now completely covered the cost instead of just half. I could afford either but felt like it was a predatory practice to rip off mostly senior citizens. I would suggest you take your dad to both and then decide.

I understand and know I am lucky. I wish you all the best with your new audiologist.

During the test last month she tested all frequencies halfway between the normal frequencies. She appeared to be very skilled and careful.

@prodigyplace said:

tested all frequencies halfway between the normal frequencies. She

@prodigyplace: I thought sound frequencies were laid out along a step-less continuum . What are "normal frequencies? Are there such things as “abnormal frequencies”?

What are the practical implications for your hearing?

@SpudGunner said:

Of what significance are they to your audition?

I thought it indicated more than the usual attention to detail.

My initial opinion is that it sounds gimmicky. Unless there’s a reason to do it. Does it provide some concrete means to improve your fitting?

WH

@prodigyplace said:

I thought it indicated more than the usual attention to detail.

@prodigyplace: Yes, but unless that detail has some practical merit, it’s just window dressing, isn’t it?

It could have been needed by the otologist, I guess. It would also depend whether the audiogram input for the programming software accepts and uses the additional data.