First Costco hearing test

I’ve had Siemens CIC hearing aids since 2010, and as I’m replacing them I went and signed up to Costco (here in Oz) to begin the process. I’ve done lots of reading here over the years, and it was quite evident that Costco should be the first place I go after becoming so jaded about the hearing industry first time around, and it exceeded my expectations.

I’ve read a lot of reports here with the usual stuff about getting what you pay for, poor service, machine instrument fitters yadi yadi ya etc, but for me it was the opposite. I was assessed by an audiologist with a Masters degree, and given by far the most comprehensive testing regime in my life. Every hearing shop I’ve ever been in has only put me through a lot of beeps under headphones. At Costco I had that plus speech testing with a number of accents, the bone testing (sorry, have forgotten the correct term for that where it measures the bone behind the ear), and this all went on for an hour.
No hard sell at all, just a list of compatible devices and their pricing for me to go and contemplate at my leisure. Cost was 50% of what I paid for a very similar setup in 2010.

I’m having ear impressions cast this coming Thursday, by which time i’ll hopefully have decided which way I’m going to jump, Rexton/GNResound/Phonak.

All in all, very happy with Costco, and bought a bag of tasty bread rolls and a slice of pizza while I was there - a first for me at the audiologists

I purchased my first HA’s three years ago at a Costco that had just opened near our house. I had done my own research and tried three different brands before settling on Phonak. The testing that was done was very complete and my service from Costco has been great. The Costco three year warranty with one time loss or damage coverage on Phonak is something you should factor into your decision. Not every brand they sell has the same warranty.

One thing clear from reading this forum is each person has unique needs and preferences. The HAS who did my testing had no prior experience with Phonak, and I was the first one she fitted with the brand. Now, three years later, she tells me Phonak is her favorite. I just ordered the new Brio 3 R-C that just became available at Costco. It has the new SWORD chip that streams cell phone calls directly to your HA. It also has a new bluetooth TV transmitter that streams stereo sound from your TV. The one complaint I have read is it only streams phone calls to one ear. According to Phonak that was a trade-off they had to make in order to enable the aids to stream calls to both Iphone and Android. I guess there are only so many features they can cram into that small of a package.

Back to Costco. My current HA’s required one previous warranty repair, which was done in less than a week, and recently. I can see some corrosion on the battery terminals, and they have begun going through batteries rather quickly… The three year warranty ran out this past week. MY HAS called the company and asked them to extend the warranty which they did. When my new HA’s arrive this week she plans to send the old ones in for warranty repair. I will then have a backup pair. Bottom line, my experience with Costco has been top notch.

@johnhardin9 said:

with slightly different formulations and a dazzling variety of packaging.

I’ve noticed almost everything electronic at Costco has a slightly different model numbering scheme and is tough to compare on the manufacturers website for specs and such. I’m sure they have agreements with Cosco to get “almost” the same thing as the model with “all the bells and whistles”. But when you’re saving $500-$3000 on a product, who cares?

I was thinking about the Multimic, but instead I ordered the Phone Clip+ for use with my Android phone, and am planning to try a third party Bluetooth transmitter, which is much less expensive than the Multimic. I don’t really need the mic so much as a 3.5mm jack type accessory.