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Has anyone upgraded from Oticon More1 to Real1?

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The Oticon Reals have been out for awhile now. Has anyone upgraded from More to Real?

I upgraded from Oticon Opn1 to More1 in January 2021 (skipping the Opn S1). I was disappointed to experience only a marginal increase in my speech recognition with the More, especially since I had skipped a generation. Some other users (but not all) reported similar disappointments.

Now I can get another insurance benefit this year, although my out-of-pocket cost will still be a lot. I am grateful to another member here, whose name I don’t remember, who reported a substantial improvement from More1 to Real1.

Has anyone else replaced their More1 with Real1? If so, in your opinion, was the improvement worth spending a lot of money on? Of course I realize that spending a lot of money to get only a little improvement might make sense to someone who is well-off, and not make sense to someone just scraping by. But I’m just looking for subjective opinions from anyone who has made that particular upgrade. Thank you.

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I’m watching for replies as I’m contemplating the jump from OPN S1 to Real 1. I could have hit up my insurance last year for $2500 for the last 3-year renewal (now 5 years after this transaction), so I’m thinking of maybe making the change in August. I held off as I did not want to miss out on any possible generational change early in the year, and Real 1 seems to be noodling around the edges.

Hope there are lots of responses.

They only added two things. So, how bothered are you by wind and handling noises, and sudden sounds?

@Neville , are you saying that Oticon has not made any improvements in speech comprehension with the Real compared to the More? That the Real is pretty much identical to the More except for the improvements you listed? That would be disappointing indeed.

I am not bothered significantly by any of those issues. I would think that there would be few users who could justify a several-thousand-dollar expenditure just to fix those listed issues without any improvement in speech comprehension.

It seems like Oticon is saying that the More is the best that they can do, but they have to release SOMETHING new because it’s been two years since the More was released. Sorry if that seems cynical. I hope I’m wrong.

I think you’ve accurately described it. Seems like Oticon had to release something with the new offerings from ReSound, etc. but it’s not a big development.

Same thing with the Philips HearLink 9030 to 9040 from Demant. Just those two small feature enhancements.

In reply to @ziploc

I don’t blame you to be cynical, @ziploc . I would be cynical myself. I think that if Oticon really wants to, they probably can just upgrade the firmware of the More to include the 2 new features they introduced in the Real. That would have won over the hearts and minds of many Oticon users and earned a lot of loyalty from them to stick with Oticon for the next major model release.

So it’s a disappointment to see how Oticon tried to milk these 2 new features like that. While they seems like nice features, I don’t think they’re groundbreaking enough to justify releasing a brand new model on a new platform for. In terms of addressing a critical need (or 2 in this case), these are not even critical needs to begin with. Most people don’t care about sudden sounds or wind, unless you’re a sports enthusiast who ride on some kind of a moving platform.

If I were in your situation (@ziploc ) and don’t have issues with sudden sounds or wind, I’d stick to the More and wait for a real (not Real) groundbreaking next model release after the Real.

I learned a long time ago that speech understanding depends on hearing loss and the audiologist and me communicating together to get my aids as best possible

@cvkemp , I know you have upgraded a couple of times while still staying with Oticon. Of course, a user’s hearing loss and an Audi’s expertise is crucial to an optimal outcome.

But you aren’t suggesting that a skilled audi could program a set of with ten-year-old technology and achieve the same results as he/she could with HAs with current, state of the art technology, are you? If they could, why would anyone ever upgrade?

I’m saying that if Oticon is going to release a new HA and have their marketing department apply it’s usual breathless “new paradigm in hearing” marketing, shouldn’t they actually produce some significant improvement in speech recognition? Especially if they are going to build a whole new platform and charge thousands of dollars for their supposedly upgraded HA?

I wouldn’t go so far. I think these are not insignificant updates. I don’t think it’s oticon’s intention that people switch from the More, which is very good, to the Real, which adds a bit of value. Opn to Real will be a bigger jump.

But all changes are incremental, as much as marketing likes the term “game changer”. Think about opn to opn s–wasn’t that just a better feedback manager? Or phonak venture to belong I can’t even remember–they tightened the ai training on the autosense a bit? I can’t think of a time when I recommended a change to a patient after only three years, so long as their old hearing aids were functioning well.

But this is fine. How depressing to imagine that your hearing aids would be so dramatically outclassed after only a few years.

Edited

Every year the auto mfg. come out with new models with new colors and door handles and VERY small improvements elsewhere.

Most people do not purchase a new car (or ) every year.

I upgraded from the OPN1 to the Real1, which I realize isn’t the question you asked. Do I hear speech any better? Yeah, but like yourself only marginally better, and by no means a game changer or wow factor (although my hearing loss isn’t that great either). In a sense it is a statement on how good the OPN was. The reasons I upgraded were (1) my OPN were 5+ years old, so they could then function as backups and (2) sudden sounds, like dishes clinking, really bothered me. For me, the Real’s Sudden Sound Stabilizer is super nice. Unlike Oticon’s literature, the Sudden Sound Stabilizer doesn’t help me hear speech any better, but rather is more of a comfort feature, which I do appreciate. So if the Sudden Sound Stabilizer and the Wind and Handling Stabilizer don’t mean much to you, since your Mores aren’t that old, why upgrade?

As an aside, I do find the Wind and Handling Stabilizer does a better job with wind than the OPN. However, I find that the “handling” part of the Wind and Handling Stabilizer is actually worse than the OPN. I take my glasses on/off a lot, and when I do that or touch the Real hearing aids, it is actually louder than the OPN. With the Wind and Handling Stabilizer, it is only an ON/OFF setting (unlike the Sudden Sound Stabilizer that has five levels if enabled). I can’t comment about hair touching the hearing aids, as I have very short hair.

Edited
@Bucco said:

In a sense it is a statement on how good the OPN was. The reasons I upgraded were (1) my OPN were 5+ years old, so they could then function as backups

Amen to that! Exactly my thinking as well, and the main reason for my upgrade to the Real or More would only be because if my OPNs are too old and prone to go bad soon so should be relegated to backup duty.

I’m looking at going from Oticon Alta Pro to OPN 1. Anyone want to weigh in on that jump? Both pairs are older… and I don’t know what kind of mileage I will get. I’ve been happy with the Alta. But I’m aware I am starting to ask folks to repeat themselves more.

@csmanegold , I think you would notice a significant difference between the Alta and the Opn. I went from 2013 Phonak Audeo Quest to Opn and I noticed a significant difference.

But why are you getting the Opn rather than the Real, or at least the More? There is IMO a noticeable, but not dramatic , improvement from the Opn to the More. There is probably some improvement from the More to the Real.

The discussion in this thread is about whether it is worth it to spend several thousand dollars to get whatever improvement might be achieved by going from More to Real. You are in a very different situation. You are already going to spend several thousand dollars on new . Would the difference between Opn and More be worth spending an extra, say, $500? IMO definitely so. It would probably be about the same difference between More and Real.

In your situation, I would say it is definitely worth the extra expenditure to get the Real, or at least the More, if the Real is unavailable to you, or if it would be prohibitively expensive for you. You apparently keep HAs for quite a few years. Why not get the best you can afford now and enjoy that improved hearing for years to come?

I concur with @ziploc 's point if the OPN is going to be purchased as brand new hearing aids from an Oticon authorized for retail price or close to it. But if the reason for the OPN and not the More or the Real is because the OPN can be had for very cheap as an outdated model, whether used or new, then OK, it’d make sense. But if the OPN S can be had for close to the price of the OPN, then it’d be better to get the OPN S instead.

I’m not even sure if Oticon still sell OPN and OPN S through their authorized HCP network anymore, though, unless they are just discounting old stock heavily to clear them out and that’s it. I doubt if they still manufacture OPN and OPN S anymore.

I suspect the varied results from Opn to More are ‘more’ to do with - I had a dramatic improvement and stopped bothering to look at new tech. I know my loss will progress but for now I hear very well for the first time in decades and am glad to be rid of the closed in Phonak world I also trialled.

Proper word recognition testing is needed to set expectations at to what any aid can give you. Was it done?

In reply to @csmanegold

I upgraded my from Oticon Alta to OPN1s (what I currently wear) five years ago. It was a significant improvement for me in terms of understanding people in conversations, especially in noisy environments. I trialed them for three weeks and asked my Audiologist to make a few small adjustments to the out-of-the-box program settings (based on advice from this forum) that made a big difference for me. I ended up getting custom molds to minimize feedback. I had some issues with the rechargeable battery early on, but finally got a new charger that has worked fine ever since. Some 4.5 years later, I’m still happy with my investment in OPN1s!

In reply to @ziploc

The reason I would go to OPN instead of newer tech is that I inherited a pair so it does not involve a financial outlay beyond the meeting with the audiologist. That said, this is an older set so I am not sure that either pair will have much longevity. Thank you for your thoughtful reply.

In reply to @Karentoo

@Karentoo said:

I upgraded my from Oticon Alta to OPN1s (what I currently wear) five years ago.
…
I had some issues with the rechargeable battery early on, but finally got a new charger that has worked fine ever since. Some 4.5 years later, I’m still happy with my investment in OPN1s!

Is it the ZPower battery system that you’re talking about? It’s the only rechargeable battery system available on the OPN line, unless yours is actually the OPN S line.

If it’s the ZPower system, how did the ZPower battery fare for you? Did each set last you a full year with a full day of use daily? How many hours do you wear your OPN a day typically?

In reply to @ziploc

The More1 aids have been light years ahead as for as my speech understanding is concerned. And for me the best I could possibly ask for. But I do believe with the right Hearing aids, an audiologist that really knows the aids, and the correct understanding between the patient and audiologist that older aids just might be the correct way to go.

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