Costco Kirkland Signature 10.0 (Product Information)

The tinnitus feature isn’t something that you turn on and your tinnitus goes away. It takes a bit of time for your brain to start responding to the addition of sound in a place that has been missing for quite a while. It may take a month or more before you notice any change.

I’ve had my KS 10.0 hearing aids for a little over a month now and while they are generally ok, the sound does seem a bit harsher than my previous Oticons. My HA tech at Costo made a change remotely that has helped.

My biggest concern is with the connectivity, which was one of my biggest reasons for getting these aids. When it works I absolutely love it, but unfortunately it hasn’t proven to be reliable.

1. Incoming phone calls route to the aids just fine in the morning, but as the day wears on the aids quit recognizing the calls. My phone will ring but not in the aids. I can check the phone and it still shows a Blueteooth connection to the aids. And they are indeed still connected, as I will describe in #2 below. If I power the aids off and then back on, or reboot the phone, all is well again. At least for a few hours and then the aids quit receiving calls again.j

2. Associated with #1 above, when the aids stop recognizing incoming calls it also stops working properly with Google Assistant. When everything is working properly I can double tap my right aid and will then hear a “ding” in the aids. I can then issue any Google Assitant command (“what’s the weather”. “Send text message to xxxxx”, etc). It’s terrific and I love it! However, at the same time that the aids stop reciving phone calls (#1 above), when I double tap the right aid I will no longer hear the “ding”. At first I figured it had fully lost the connection to the phone but then I noticed that Google Assistant does pop up on the phone’s screen. It just doesn’t make the “ding”. And if I speak a Google Assitant command it will execute it, although sometimes it only shows the results on the phone’s screen and doesn’t speak the results back to me. Other times it will speak the results through the aids. Very odd and very frustrating.

3. Double tapping the right aid to answer a call (or hang up) is a very hit and miss proposition. I have spent the last month trying different tapping techniques. Tapping hard. Tapping soft. Tapping fast. Tapping slow. Tapping different places on my ear. Tapping directly on the aid. Works sometimes and often doesn’t.

4. Double tapping the left aid to pause or resume a streaming podcast or music seems to work more reliably than double tapping the right aid on phone calls, but at times that just ceases to function as well.

5. The “Easy Line” app is simply a disaster. It takes a long time to connect to the aids, and has to reconnect each time you open the app. Settings don’t seem to stick. If I change to the restaraunt mode, when I go back into the app it is back in automatic mode. I could go on, but basically the app is worthless.

I am currently debating whether I will keep the aids or return them at the end of my evaluation period. I bought them mainly for the connectivity that they provide at this price point but with that connectivity being unreliable, I’m not sure they are worth it. I’m sure that there will be updates to the app, which might make it usable, but I am unsure whether they ever do firmware updates to the hearing aids themselves. And if not, then the connectivity may never improve. Would be interested to hear if any of you know about this? And also, would be interested to know if any of you are also experiencing similar connectivity issues?

I’d love to hear from someone with an iPhone to see if they have similar issues. I’m one of those weirdo’s that has both an Android and an iPhone (work and personal) and in my experience, the iPhone has a voodoo death grip on bluetooth connections where the Android (a Samsung S10+) is just “meh, if we connect, we connect. If not, that’s cool.” I’ve noticed this across multiple devices, the most noticeable being my AirPods, but I’ve also noticed it connected to my truck and various bluetooth speakers.

Good point. I should have mentioned that my phone is a Google Pixel 4 XL running Android 11.

Just shows that everyone’s situation and hardware is different… I experienced just the opposite…lol.

The Oticon More Bluetooth sucked and the Phonak paradise m90 are rock solid with my Samsung S10 and S21.

This is why we should always trial the hearing aids with our own gear… nothing is certain till you see for yourself and other people’s combinations and issues are to be taken with a pinch of salt.

Thanks for the reply. I do tap the volume up button to answer calls when double tapping on my ear fails. Unfortuantely, the only way to invoke Google Assistant is by double tapping the ear. No workaround for that to my knowledge. And I really like using Google Assistant through the aids.

Interesting that yours announce the number of the incoming call. Does it just announce the number or does it give the caller’s name? Mine does neither. Just rings. Probably a difference between my Pixel and your Galaxy phone.

I do stream podcasts to the aids during my morning walks, which are usually an hour and a half long, without problem. It generally takes 2-3 hours of inactivity before I start having connection problems.

What was the Costco Ear Mold process and pricing like? Did they offer the Titanium cShells?

I guess we need to choose which side for google assistant or siri e.g if left side is for answering,reject,hangup calls ,streaming then right side is for google assistant.You can change tap settings from easy line app

@ThomF said:

Can’t you simply state “He Google” within earshot of your smartphone? Works for me with my K9s

Yes, I do this too. However, sometimes my phone doesn’t hear me. In my pocket, under a coat, etc. Double tapping my ear is a better option. When it works, of course… Wish I could assign this function to one of the buttons on the HA’s.

My experience with Costco custom molds in Central California. Price is ~$40 per ear. Options are Acrylic or Silicone. Titanium is not available. They made multiple attempts with me (no additional charge) and finally have something workable. They still tend to work themselves out a bit (no danger of falling out, just eased out a bit) Other options are size of vent, whether they have a pull cord and whether have a concha lock or more, up to C shell.

@dietzgw said:

Interesting that yours announce the number of the incoming call. Does it just announce the number or does it give the caller’s name?

Just the number. I don’t get many calls and I suspect it is just the number unless it is from a caller on my contact list. I have had no calls from numbers on my list.
Later:
Contacts are announced by name. All other calls are announced by phone number.

Time for a report.

Early on I had difficulty with the TV Connect. I knew the problem was with the TV I almost exclusively watch as it worked with other TV’s in the home. Turns out the problem was with the older 3D Panasonic plasma TV and with its’ legacy Viera-cast operating system. After three days of messing with the controls I found success. Now the TV Connect is a real winner and my TV is not turned up so loud that walls vibrate (my wife watching TV upstairs and distant from the family room can no longer listen to my programs).

I have a I phone 12 Pro and have absolutely no connection issues. Each morning I walk for up to 2 hours and stream books on tape. My route is partially near a heavily traveled street with lots of traffic noise. I press the back button on my left HA and that turns off the microphones so the traffic noise goes way down, Double tap my left ear answers the phone which is exceptionally clear. No one has complained of not hearing me talk or of background noise.

I’ve been wearing HA’s for over 20 years and the KS10’s are the best I’ve used. Last set was the Rexton Trex 42’s which required a SmartvConnect dongle to hang around my neck for streaming and phone calls. That set of HA’s was pretty much worn out and I was glad to move to the KS10’s. The Rexton HA’s had hard acrylic custom ear molds which worked well but were uncomfortable much of the time. My KS10’s have silicone soft custom molds which are very comfortable but smaller and sometimes hard to insert correctly. All told I prefer the silicone soft molds.

I am completely sold on the KS10’s, they have improved my life. Asking my wife to repeat herself has dropped to an all time low.

@Feral said:

I am completely sold on the KS10’s, they have improved my life. Asking my wife to repeat herself has dropped to an all time low.

Congratulations and thanks for the review.
Glad the aids are working out for you.

@dietzgw said:

I should have mentioned that my phone is a Google Pixel 4 XL running Android 11

Maybe you could find a friend or a fitter at Costco who would let you pair your HA’s with their phone so you could see if it’s the Pixel 4 XL or Android 11 in combination with everything else, etc. Perhaps Costo could put in a special inquiry with you as to whether there are any “problem” phones and maybe if the problem gets kicked up the supply chain, Phonak will get something done about it if it turns out other owners of particular phones are having problems. Various folks had problems with iOS 14.2 connectivity and Apple apparently fixed that in later versions of iOS 14 so if your trial period still has a ways to go, maybe there’s hope the powers that be can sort things out (or you might decide to get a new phone! ).