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Dear Phonak, your Lumity battery isn't good enough

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In reply to @DJ11

Exactly! I have been wearing for 35 years-mostly Phonak. With my new Lumity 90s, I didn’t trust that my HA charge would last an entire day ( I stream Tv, books etc and stay up late at night). I always had to check battery status and sometimes, inconveniently , charge extra during the day. With little cheap batteries I can have peace of mind at all times. And, power outages is yet another story!
I would like to have a choice in battery type! I returned my Lumity 90s for battery reasons alone. Now I need to find new tech HAs while my current ones are still working :thinking:

In reply to @Baltazard

Thank you very much for the reassuring answer. … No, these are new devices. Phonak can offer competitive prices in Hungary. For example, a new “Roger On In” is priced at 280 euros here. (Unfortunately, I didn’t know this when I bought the older Roger On device second-hand.) Of course, the stock is not unlimited for this amount of money, quite the opposite.

Hello Everyone. I have been a lurker for some time but just joined the forum and I’m unfamiliar with the protocol. Apologies in advance :slight_smile: I have Audeo Lumity P90-RTs for moderate age related hearing loss. I, too, am having battery problems with my 6 month old ’s. I love the ease of streaming phone calls and listening to audiobooks and music. These activities comprise several hours each day. I get only about 12 hours battery life (or less) each day and have to charge one or more times to take me from 6am to 9:30pm. I have noticed that the HA’s default to Bluetooth mic streaming even when I’ve manually switched to Auto and I think it is consuming my batteries when I’m not streaming. It is a pain to keep checking that I am in auto. Your thoughts and experience would be welcome. Thanks so much!

In reply to @Chirp

I take my used battery’s to the recycling center. I would keep the most recent hearing aid after purchasing a new one for back up, then I would donate my oldest hearing aid. With rechargeable hearing aids, what do you do with your charger once it is no longer good? What do you do with your old rechargeable hearing aids? I think in the end, with hearing aids and other technology’s we will always have electronic wastage. That is a sad reality . However when people, who don’t live with disabilities and illness, make decisions for those that do, “for the good of the environment” it really annoys me. First walk in our shoes.
Again I think the option for rechargeable is great, but for the ridiculous price I pay, I should not only have a choice of batteries or rechargeable and for goodness sake COLOR! Do the executives at hearing aid companies know about the color wheel?

In reply to @jburt

Go back to who you bought them from and tell them. I’d probably ask to send them back to factory to check out the battery/charging system. (They’ll probably send you new aids. I’d also ask the audi if they can make streaming something you have to select. I’m not sure, but it might be an option.

In reply to @DJ11

oh, I agree, and I thought I was clear in my post that the environmental issue is extremely minor! But for me, it is one nice thing about the rechargeables that I no longer have piles of batteries all over my house :slight_smile: The are waste either way once they are no longer needed.

I’m not sure who you are refering to when you say that people who don’t have to live with the disabilities are making decisions, but I feel like that can go both ways. There are a significant number of hearing aid users that are elderly and do have problems replacing the batteries. I agree that having a choice is best, and that is why many companies seem to be offering that choice. I really do feel for anyone that can’t get through a day on a charge. If my rechargeable hearing aids did not last the entire day (16-18 hours for me) then I would have not purchased them after the trial -I would have purchased the disposable battery option, as I discussed with my audi before my trial started and I agree everyone should have that choice. Did you not have the option to go with another brand?

Edited

In reply to @jburt

@jburt said:

Hello Everyone. I have been a lurker for some time but just joined the forum and I’m unfamiliar with the protocol. Apologies in advance :slight_smile: I have Audeo Lumity P90-RTs for moderate age related hearing loss. I, too, am having battery problems with my 6 month old HA’s. I love the ease of streaming phone calls and listening to audiobooks and music. These activities comprise several hours each day. I get only about 12 hours battery life (or less) each day and have to charge one or more times to take me from 6am to 9:30pm. I have noticed that the HA’s default to Bluetooth mic streaming even when I’ve manually switched to Auto and I think it is consuming my batteries when I’m not streaming. It is a pain to keep checking that I am in auto. Your thoughts and experience would be welcome. Thanks so much!

Congrats on your first post. You should get at least 18 hours of battery per day. My biggest tip to maximize your battery life on Lumity (which uses power hungry Bluetooth Classic) is to turn off Bluetooth on devices when you are not using them. The only device that is allowed to always have Bluetooth on is my iPhone.

For every other device (work laptop, MacBook, Peloton, Phonak TV Connector), I turn on Bluetooth when I am using that device and then turn off Bluetooth when I am done. What I have found is that leaving Bluetooth on all the time on multiple devices seems to chew the right hearing aid battery much faster than usual. You will know this is happening because there will be a big difference between the remaining battery on the Master (usually the right) hearing aid vs the other hearing aid at the end of the day. In other words, at 8 pm, the right hearing aid will show 25% and the left will show 45%. This only happens when I forget to turn off Bluetooth on something down in my home office.

Try that and see if your battery life improves.

Jordan

I work at home and have many computers, tablets, and phones. I also have many connected Bluetooth communication and security devices. I never turn off the Bluetooth on most of my computers or devices. I do DISCONNECT my aids from all but one at a time. I can usually get through a normal day with rechargeable aides but always top-up mid day for long days.

In reply to @Chirp

Yes I was given an option to purchase a hearing aid with disposable batteries. Unfortunately all they had was a hearing aid that does not cover my hearing loss. So that was simply out of the question. And that is why some hearing aid users are frustrated. The companies are no longer selling high tech hearing aids with disposable batteries. The new technology is only made for the rechargeable hearing aids. The people making the decisions are businesspeople whose bottom line is making money. They haven’t had to worry about having a severe hearing loss and not being able to hear without hearing aids. I get it, you love your rechargeable hearing aids, I’m happy that they work for your hearing loss and your lifestyle. My friend has rechargeable hearing aids, and she is not happy with them because the Signia charger does not always charge. She was not given an option, the hearing aid specialist picked everything then gave her an option to upgrade that hearing aid. I understand that the elderly are purchasing hearing aids and getting rechargeable hearing aids in boring colors, but that is because the hearing aid specialists are making the choices. My friend did not know about t-coil or the ability for hearing aids to stream music and podcasts until I told her. That’s when she went back to get her hearing aids programmed to do these things. When she went back and asked about disposal battery hearing aids, she was told they don’t do that anymore and the rechargeable are easier for dexterity problems. My friend didn’t even know she had dexterity problems lol.

@x475aws said:

Phonak says “18 hours but…”

When I say that you should get 18 hours this is based on my own personal experience with my Lumity L90’s over the last year.

Jordan

In reply to @DJ11

@DJ11 said:

The companies are no longer selling high tech hearing aids with disposable batteries. The new technology is only made for the rechargeable hearing aids.

Sorry, I am not trying to argue with you or persuade you to like rechargeables lol. I just wasn’t sure if you were aware that some companies are still making disposables at the highest tier. I know Oticon is, and I am pretty sure that Starkey was a year and a half ago when I looked (but they have come out with new ones since then that I haven’t looked into).

It really sounds like a lot of the issue is poor communication. Providers either not knowing or just assuming somebody wants rechargeables and patients not knowing enough to ask. There are lots of options out there.

In reply to @Chirp

@Chirp said:

some companies are still making disposables at the highest tier. I know Oticon is, and I am pretty sure that Starkey was a year and a half ago when I looked (but they have come out with new ones since then that I haven’t looked into).

Oticon is a bit behind on the power level devices. Xceed is OLD. Oticon released the Xceed platform in August 2019.

There are a few new power BTEs out there like the recent lumity naida devices @kevels55 is loving, but it does seem like an issue.

And I don’t have a dog in the fight - I use rechargeables and like them, but I think you should be able to get what you need.

WH

In reply to @Chirp

Thanks for the info. My insurance only supports Hear USA. I found one Hear USA who knows how to work with another hearing aid other than Hear USA rechargeable Signia’s. The paperwork for Phonak is taking forever (almost 6 months so far). Unfortunately the disposable battery Phonak is an older one. I am happy to know that Oticon still has disposable battery hearing aids. I love the one I have now. It’s almost 6 years old and working well. With this information, I think I will go with another company who sells Oticon and just pay the full amount for the hearing aids.
I’m not familiar with Starkey.
Thanks

In reply to @MDB

I had a similar reaction recently when I was told in person, in the woods, to enjoy it now because the UN has imminent plans to herd us all into cities and force us to ride bicycles. Just goes to show how readily available this type of insider knowledge can be.

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