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Recommendations on Costco Hearing Aids?

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@bradw said:

Are your ebay Lumity new or used?

New. Also, mine are 312 batteries. I prefer that to rechargeable. The seller checked with me to be sure I really wanted the 312 batteries. She said they get a lot of people who order them and then are surprised and unhappy when that’s what they get, so they return them. Mine were $1,777, and I noticed another seller had rechargeables listed for even less. I didn’t bid but paid the listed price. Guess since Lumitys are now older by a generation, price is dropping. They were more like $3,000 a few months ago. I’m not going back to look at listings again now that I have mine. Don’t want to see a price drop on mine and feel bad I didn’t wait a couple of weeks. I was wearing my old Rexton Trax 42s and getting by that way.

I really wanted Phonak again so aids would work with the accessories I already have (TV Connector and Partner Mic) and my cheap older phone. As I remember, my phone was $149 five years ago.

The only problem I had was getting my hearing aid test to seller. It simply would not transmit via the ebay generated email for them. In the end she sent me a non-ebay email and it went fine that way. I could have just mailed a hard copy if it came to that.

In reply to @Jeffrey_J

I mentioned to my fitter last week that I was disappointed I had to turn on captions watching a movie with my new and first , Rexton Reach. His reply was that he has basically normal hearing across the spectrum and he still needs to do that with movies, at least some times. We both are fine with stuff like TV news in which speech is usually quite clear.

In reply to @bradw

I got a new phone when I was fitted with Rexton Reach on Dec. 5. Old phone was Samsung S9. I wanted an capable phone and went with Pixel 8 (Android phone). It’s capable (which is going to be a thing) and the Pixel will be supported by Google until about 2030. So far so good, the Pixel is amazingly fast compared with the Samsung S9. Rexton Reaches are OK so far, I thin the thing more than anything is getting good adjustment support from Costco, which is probably iffy in general because (1) they are busy and (2) near as I can tell, none of the Costco people are trained by Rexton. So, like being here in this thread, I am doing a lot of investigating and self-representation.

In reply to @bradw

I would wait on the new phone if you can, unless it’s a new, high end Samsung phone. New FCC regulations will require all new phones sold in the USA to come with by the end of 2026.

The Google Pixel 8, except the 8a, and Pixel 9 phones come with LE Audio, however there isn’t an assistant with either phone yet. So I would wait, to see if they come out with one this year if you can.

I suspect any new phone coming out after October 2025, will have LE Audio.

In reply to @Muse

so this is your first ever hearing aid experience?

Just throwing out a thought, I have no idea how on point it is…but maybe, just maybe that as your brain gets more used to the aids you’ll find that you need closed captions less.

Also, I know that in my case I went back for adjustments several times in those first few months getting things tweaked and dialed in… I think they purposely dial things down a bit for new users while our brains learn the new normal.

Also, some shows have funny audio settings. My wife and I have two different hour-long network TV series that we watch, and there is definitely something about the way they have the audio levels set…background music to dialog…that make it very hard to hear even with my aids on.

Edited

Yes they are my first , and got fitted Dec. 5. I figure could get used to them over time and find the Automatic default program more acceptable than I have experienced. But it’s been almost 6 weeks. At my one adjustment appt 2 weeks later I had the fitter create a 2nd Automatic program being the initial one with the high treble rolled down a bit. At first it was too rolled down and I had him retweak it twice until it was something like what I had in mind: a slight change but noticeable. We named it Automatic #2 and it’s the one I’m using almost all the time. When I have my 2nd fitting appt in a week I think I’ll ask if I can have it moved up to my default program. I hope something can be done to improve the Music program, but the Automatic programs, especially #2, aren’t too bad for general use in and outdoors, music from my stereos, also TV.

I started with Costco KS9 6 years ago. I got Jabra Enhance Pro, kept them for 3 months and returned they. To bright and tinny, loud. I exchanged for Rexton Reach and happy with them. I don’t use the phone app at all, it just works. Start with one and if your not happy return it and try another brand. That’s the advantage of Costco.

Do any of you know what Costco does with their used aids that get returned?
Wondering if they clean them up, check them out, and then pass them along to the next customer? Surely not but I can’t imagine what else they do…

I doubt that they would do that. I think that they are returned to the manufacturer. What they do what they do with them is a different story.

So I went back to Costco a few days ago for a hearing test appointment and to try out some hearing aids. Told the hearing specialist I was leaning towards the Philips 9050 based on research but she actually recommended for me the Jabra Enhance Pro 20, mainly because my line of work is technical and the Jabra has more features that technical people would find useful. I countered saying that if Philips is more basic, maybe that’s better for me given that these are my very first hearing aids (so maybe I should just stick with something straightforward) and my hearing loss isn’t all that bad anyway. But the specialist again said that, while she recommends Philips for a lot of people, her thought was I’d end up preferring the Jabra’s features being that I’m technically inclined. She was very nice and wasn’t being pushy or anything like that, but was mildly surprised at the strong recommendation given that I’d heard most specialists (including the one I’d spoken to at a previous appointment) recommend the Philips.

In any case, she fitted and let me try on both the Philips and Jabra hearing aids, including letting me walk around the store for a few minutes as a trial. Honestly wasn’t sure how to assess/compare the quality of the hearing aids as I was walking around. I mean I suppose I could hear better with both given the amplification but don’t know that the gains were significant. The outside sounds (like hearing the squeaky wheels from the Costco carts and hearing my own voice amplified as if talking through a speakerphone) were louder with Philips, though I don’t know if that’s a good thing or a bad thing. The outside/background noise didn’t bother me at all, it was just more noticeable obviously with the hearing aids. My voice with Jabra was also a bit louder, though didn’t feel like it was coming through a speakerphone, seemed more natural. But anyway, wasn’t sure how to gauge the quality of the hearing aids based on my (novice) observations, might need more time in different situations and a better idea of what to look for.

In any case, the pre-certification for the hearing aids was approved by my health insurance a couple of days ago so I have another appointment in a week or so where I’ll make the final decision on the I want and make the purchase at that time.

Because you are getting your hearing aids from Costco, they offer a 180 day return or exchange policy. If you are fitted with the Jabra hearing aids, and you don’t like them within the first six months they will either exchange them or they will refund your money. I have been wearing the Jabra Enhanced Pro 20 hearing aids for a little over a month. I requested them because of favorable reviews on YouTube. These also are my first set of hearing aids and I didn’t know what to expect. Walking around Costco is an excellent way to judge hearing aids. Any hearing aid will do a good job of improving your hearing in a quiet office setting.

However, Costco is a very noisy environment and it will give you an excellent opportunity to judge the noise suppression ability of the hearing aids. While I was testing the Jabra hearing aids, in the store, I was impressed at how well I could understand other customer’s conversations in the noisy store. My hearing aid specialist suggested that I walk by the freezer section to see how the hearing aids suppressed the humming noise. She even suggested that I walk out to the parking lot.

I’m very happy with the Jabra hearing aids. But, during the two required follow-up appointments to have my hearing aid specialist adjust them for fit and to add other features to the Jabra app on my phone.

I would suggest that you try both the Phillips and the Jabra hearing aids and walk around the noisiest parts of the store and pay attention to the conversations of the other customers with each brand and go to the same locations. Regardless, which you decide on, you have the longest trial period in the industry to decide if you like them.

I find the “Hear in Noise” (mics focus on forward) setting very helpful when talking to anyone, f. ex. the clerk/checkout person in a store, as well as in a face-to-face conversation of any type. I’m wearing Jabra E-P20s (from Costco).

In reply to @coastal_california

Re the qualifications of a hearing technician: Such people are licensed by each State, with certain requirements. Not everyone fitting hearing aids has an Audiology degree (it’s a 5th year of college). The latter are qualified as Au.D.'s, and can be called “doctor”. Most hearing aid fitters are instead “hearing technicians”. This is fully respectable and capable professional role, in line with the qualifications you list above, and most are excellent at what they do. They have taken a professional course and a State exam. Variables exist, as in any occupation. The thing to watch out for are hearing aid “stores”, featuring just one brand. All the technicians working for Costco have passed the required State exam.

Thanks for this response. I realized that Costco doesn’t employ audiologists, because they instruct you, when you make an appointment for a hearing test, to buy an earwax cleaning kit or go to an doctor to have the wax removed from your ears. They are not qualified to remove earwax.

Depending on your hearing loss, their technicians do a good job using all the hearing best practices that several Doctors of Audiology, describe in their YouTube videos. However, if I had a severe or profound hearing loss, I would go to an ENT, (Ear Nose and Throat), MD. for an . My audiogram, from Costco indicated that I have a mild to moderate, high frequency loss. This is the result of not wearing hearing protection in my youth when giving flight instruction in the early 1970s. This occurred in very noisy, and very loud, light airplanes. I tried using those yellow, foam, earplugs. But, since I couldn’t determine the volume of my own voice, I wound up screaming at my students. Today all light training airplanes are equipped with a noise canceling inter-phone system, that’s tied into the radio audio panel in the airplane.

The Costco my wife and I use has had at least one audiologist on staff for at least the last 4 years. There are more HISes, but some Costcos do employ audiologists.

The audis have really helped me, though I don’t know how much of that is due to training and how much is due to experience, which is something I’ll think about when I next buy .

I’m in the pilot training business and have been for the last 50 years. I used to tell all of my private pilot students, when they received their private pilot certificate, that they now had a certificate to learn. Fitting hearing aids appears to be a skill, like flying an airplane. Nothing can replace experience. I had a student who was enrolled in a Cessna Citation 500, jet type rating course many years ago. I discovered that he was an Ophthalmologist, an MD. He told me that whenever seeking a surgeon the most important question to ask, is how many of these procedures have you done, and how many recently. He said that surgery, like flying is a skill. The more you do and the more frequently you do it, the better you get. I suspect, after my hearing aid fittings, that a lot of what my hearing aid specialist did was skillful and she appeared to be experienced. I should have asked, but I forgot. I don’t think that a hearing aid fitter at Costco would mind you asking the question, “How many and how often recently”.

In reply to @user990

Had the Costco Rexton for 3 years now. They do work great for noisy conditions as Costco suggested. However, the Bluetooth does for for the Rexton App (noise level, directional, …) but they won’t work for Bluetooth Audio or Phone. I have tried 4 phones from Tmobile. All the phones work just perfect for Bose Headset, Bose Earbuds, multiple 3rd party Bluetooth, JLabs… It’s just the Rexton that have problems. Android Ver 14. To date, Rexton support has been less than positive.

All of the hearing aid manufacturers use a proprietary Bluetooth CODEC. This allows them to sell you their proprietary versions of and TV Streaming devices. It’s a way for the hearing aid companies to up sell the hearing aids. Of course, when your spouse is n the kitchen, you will want to buy this remote microphone. This way you can hear her when dinner is ready. Yes? That will only be an additional $500.

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