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High price of Roger Pen and Roger Select

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The excessive cost of these two devices has been discussed before. The cost is “out of the ball park” and the mark up is HUGE. We’re talking a relatively cheap device to build that probably cost under $80 or less to manufacture, yet its marked up over $800. And please don’t say buy at Ebay or you really will need “buyer beware”.

Now the question that begs to be offered - how come no other hearing aid manufacturer offers some version of the Roger Pen - Roger Select? It it because the “results” of the roger pen and roger select are below average? Think so. Also when you review Phonak’s website for the Roger select it shows the device sitting in the middle of a long dinning room table. OK - probably a good location but wait - there are no glasses on the dinning room table, nor silverware, nor pitchers of what ever. Nothing to block the line of sight of the Roger Select to your hearing aid. So you only use the Roger Select on unobstructed services - like a coffee table and not a kitchen table?

Also notice that are no good reviews regarding using the Roger Pen or Roger Select in noisy environment. That’s because neither of them performs well is such noisy settings. They might do OK to above average in a quiet setting but don’t hold your breath taking either device to a restaurant or crowded setting - because they won’t help you hear at all.

I’m all for new technology and improving one’s hearing level but to spend close to $1000 for something that is “falsely” advertised and really doesn’t work in noisy background (in my mind) is throwing money to the wind.

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Edited

I’ve bought mine on ebay and I liked it that much, that I also got one via health insurance. The reason that they are that cheap on ebay is that most people don’t pay for it due to insurance, don’t use it and sell it at market price. Nice thing about buying it in the store is that the audiologist will set it up for you and you have a try out period.

I am quite dependent on it and I find myself wishing they would make a rather bulky that has the same clarity as the Roger Pen. I used one with my Bernafon Chronos 9’s and am using one now with my Phonak Bolero B90’s.

If your annoyed by glasses and utensils bouncing on the table, it might be a nice thing to use a tablecloth. But you could also go to your audiologist and ask whether he can tune those sounds down in the program you use for your Roger Pen.

I think 800$ is indeed very expensive. I also think that the Bolero B90’s are overpriced at >3000$, so I bought those on ebay as well. The whole sector is dreadfully overpriced. I don’t see why your selecting the Roger devices in particular.

Private insurance usually doesn’t cover cost of hearing aids at all - and if so just a small portion. $1000 per hearing aid, maybe slightly more. I seriously doubt someone’s medical insurance carrier is going to pay for someone’s hearing aid and then on top of that pay for a roger pen or roger select. Maybe the reason roger pen and roger select are so cheap on eBay is the “seller” knows they don’t do the job their advertised to do. As in they don’t improve one’s hearing ability as advertised.

@hold4triple said:

As in they don’t improve one’s hearing ability as advertised.

My Roger works extremely well for me. Both in high levels of noise and over distance.

In reply to @hold4triple

@hold4triple In the Netherlands your audiologist checks whether you need them and writes a prescription for solo equipment. It’s handled by insurance as a separate category and fully paid for.

Hearing aids in the Netherlands are divided between those that are covered by the insurance and those that don’t: You pay 25% of the covered hearing aids. Top of the line hearing aids are seen as excessively priced and can only be used for a tax break. For lower incomes the tax break covers about half, IIRC. The higher your income the lower the coverage.

I think it is even better in the UK, but I forgot the specifics of their coverage.

@Markismus said:

I think it is even better in the UK, but I forgot the specifics of their coverage.

We have the NHS which gives us Hearing Aids for free but they are re branded and are only mid level so for example, we can get the Phonak Nathos Auto which are the Phonak V70 range.

Roger stuff can be funded by Access to Work so people who don’t work, has to fund the equipment themselves.

In reply to @Markismus

Bottom line - Europe has way better insurance coverage for hearing aid than the U.S. And you’re also first to market (or first up) to trial/test new hearing aids with the U.S. for some reason always lagging behind. Maybe that is due to the involvement.?

In any case Warren or Sanders might improve insurance coverage for ’s but I’m not holding my breath.

In Canada, there is relatively little help with the cost of hearing aids unless you work for a big company (maybe?), so to purchase devices from an audiologist requires an individual to pay full price.

I recently purchased the Roger Pen + Roger X receiver from ebay for about US$250 + shipping for both items used, but I have to configure them myself.

My experience leads me to say that it was a very good purchase. The microphone is very directional (much more so than my ) and you can, more discreetly, move it closer to the speaker. When sitting flat on a table it can function in omni directional mode but will also amplify all the noise around as well … so I mostly keep it in my hand (where it operates in directional mode) and point it from one speaker to another. I would say that a table with 6 to 8 people is about the max size where it is useful for the furthest away speaker. Any greater distance than that and the noise picked up starts to limit its performance.

The greatest satisfaction I have had is in noisy restaurants or in the car with the Roger Pen positioned 6-8inches from the speakers mouth. For me and my hearing difficulties, this provides a significant improvement in my ability to understand speech. My wife is much happier, too. :slight_smile:

@Doug said:

When sitting flat on a table it can function in omni directional mode but will also amplify all the noise around as well … so I mostly keep it in my hand (where it operates in directional mode) and point it from one speaker to another.

This is exactly what I find. I also point it instead of laying it on a table.

I received the Roger Pen iN two weeks ago for a trial with my Marvel M90s. I am generally happy with the Marvels except for noisy places. The specific problem I would like to solve is conversation with my wife in a restaurant. After considerable adjustment, the Marvels do not solve the problem. It doesn’t help that my wife has a very soft voice. In trials so far, she has worn the pen like a lavaliere microphone. The pen really helps, especially with some tweaks with the Phonak iPhone app. Reducing the overall volume a bit and increasing the relative volume of the pen makes conversation quite workable. I haven’t tried the pen in a larger group though. I suspect the Select would be better there but at a much higher cost.

Note that the excellent video on this site about the Pen and Select is not entirely correct. In automatic mode the den is directional if held upright and omni-directional if horizontal. Each of these modes can be selected manually as well.

I have both pen and select, have been using both and like them a lot. Really helps me in noise and groups.

The video is correct. There are 2 different versions of the pen. One is automatically controlled by position the other has more manual control in addition to auto

In reply to @arbywon

@arbywon said:

The specific problem I would like to solve is conversation with my wife in a restaurant.

I’ve been trialing a Roger Select iN for the past several weeks. It’s great for hearing my spouse in a restaurant, either with the Select on the table or hanging around her neck. We’ve had a couple of group dinners, i.e. with six or eight people around a table, and the Select (mostly) does a good job picking out the various speakers. The only problem is when people from opposite sides of the table speak at once.

@lgpiper said:

The only problem is when people from opposite sides of the table speak at once.

That is not a impairment problem, but a hearing problem for most people.

The Roger Pen tech is kinda neat. Yes, I bought one on Ebay for $150 which included the Roger x which is critical to work with non- Phonak aids like my Rextons. The Roger x seemed to be more expensive than the pen. I try to use it as discreetly as possible but that does not work. The speaker needs to wear it or hold for you to hear from it. I am self conscious on this and for that reason I use it rarely. It does work as a streamer from the tv but I don’t bother and read the captioning instead. It has the potential to work with fm systems like the earphones at church , but have had limited success with that. Wish hearing aids were more directional, like the Roger Pen but remember that you need to be close to the pen for best results. Cannot comment too much on the conference mode which seems to work for some people.

I just managed to get a Roger Pen 1.1, Roger Clip On Mic 1.1 and a ComPilot for AU $120.00 off eBay. They came today and I’m very impressed.

In reply to @arbywon

I have a Marvel M90. I want to use it with my Roger Pen that came with my Cochlear Implant for my other ear. I was told today that I would have to pay for the receiver in my hearing aid to be activated. Did you also pay extra to set up your Marvel to work with the Roger Pen?

@Shirley said:

Did you also pay extra to set up your Marvel to work with the Roger Pen?

I have the newest Roger Pen iN. It works directly with my M90’s. The older Pens require a receiver.

They charge high prices because people are willing to pay. Many (myself included) will say “But gee whiz, the dang things are $800 and the benefit is questionable.” Others will say, “well, my employer kicks in 1/2 of of my insurance deductible into my so I can by this Roger thingy with that tax free money and not pay anything out of pocket”. Hearing aid companies know this and charge accordingly.

I am buying roger select iN from a different audiologist who will be charging me $225/- for programming. I read somewhere roger select iN pairing is easy. Can I do it myself ? Is this one time initial pairing and then when when you turn it on it automatically connects ?

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