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Kirkland Signature 10.0 review - 1st time experience - battery concerns

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[ski-slope, moderate] I am currently trialing KS 10.0 ’s since early October. Here I will share my first time experience. I am concerned about the rechargeable batteries, as well as the experience with two Costco ’s I’ve encountered. And, I have a question about Bluetooth - I’m hearing occasional break through sounds???Note: had I known that the KS 10.0 would be removed from Costco or that they had charging issues. I would probably not have purchased them. I consider this purchas a trial though as I can return them within 6 mos.

HA’s sound fine - no problems with the environments I’ve been in, however, I haven’t had a chance to test in certain background noise situations encountered at work.

HA’s have no programs set - at all. I thought I would leave with one or two programs. Next appt is by phone to answer any questions I may have, and it was assumed by HIS that no adjustments would be needed.

The main issue I have had is with the charger and rechargeable batteries and occasional break through sound I have via Bluetooth.

Charger: At first the charger didn’t work. I eliminated user error issues and eventually discovered there appeared to be an issue with one of the battery wells - it didn’t look right . Turned out here was a dome in the well - not the kind I wear I have no idea where it came from. After I took that out, the charger was working.

“Break through Sound” Has anyone experienced voices / like a video or music or human voices breaking in on their HA’s using the iPhone or smart phone. For example, I might be on a site - nothing is playing and yet from somewhere - out of the blue - I hear a few seconds of sound and then it stops??? It doesn’t happen a lot, but it has been jarring when it has happened. It isn’t videos / podcasts / music from either my own app or the website page I’m on. it appears to be from some other source?

Rechargeable Batteries: This is an issue. The HA’s are connected via bluetooth to my computer and phone for work and personal. This is handy. Usually I am on Zoom a good number of hours per week - so streaming. But I haven’t had to Zoom so far in October so I haven’t had to test it. Yesterday I got an opportunity to test it out using Zoom and the rechargeable batteries were, after 12 hours of wearing, down to 41% left, 38% right and I was only steaming on Zoom for 1.5 hours. Normally the battery usage is between 55% - 51% give or take for 12 to 13 hours and no Zooming, no heavy use in the past two weeks, some phone calls and the like. Based on what I’ve read whether streaming for 1.5 hours or using as I have been I would have thought the both sets of stats would have been higher. These stats don’t make the KS 10.0’s sustainable for my normal work week, and they make me question just how good they will be in 6 mos. time.

The only work-a-round I can come up with is to not use Bluetooth (not even connect up with it) and to see how much that effects the rechargeable batteries, but what is the point? Although based on my work schedule, I am checking that out just for curiosities sake. I would, it turns out, I believe, prefer the battery version. I don’t trust the KS 10.0 charger and/or rechargeable batteries for ease of use going forward.

The HIS at Costco upon purchase / fitting and subsequent calls have stated that they used to sell KS 10.0’s in battery - I realized they were incorrect, or there was a misunderstanding.

I also have other appointments coming up with other audiologists to test out some other HA’s.

What I love about the KS 10.0’s is the connectivity - it works very well with all my devices (Apple platform). I am disappointed with rechargeable and am not sure if this is related to the Kirkland rechargeable issue or ??? In any case it is not working as well as I would have wanted.

I am also disconcerted that the HIS at Costco (have seen two now) don’t appear to be interested in modifying, they say they will reassess the at 3 months for adjustments if needed.

Am I being too hard on the KS 10.0’s with respect to recharging stats I’ve encountered?

9 people in this conversation12 min readJump to latest

If you intend to keep the KS10s, and plan to do much streaming from fixed devices like TV or PC, consider investing in a TV connector. That type of streaming uses less energy, and the link is to both aids. When using a TV connector, the battery usage is even, rather than one-sided when streaming via regular bluetooth.

I like the KS 10 a lot, and it serves my needs except for the blasted rechargeable battery. If you have a long day ahead with streaming or the like, plan for a half hour of charging during the day. Take along your charger with a battery such as the Phonak Power Pack, available on Amazon. If you need some hearing at all times, you could do one at a time—no Bluetooth. Such a hassle.

@Dusty, That’s startling to hear! As whether or not I have rechargeable or disposable batteries I’ll have the same battery issue.

AND I do have a TV connector which I purchased it for just the reason you give. I shared this with the Costco at time of fitting and was told that isn’t true - that the energy useage would be worse with the TV connector.

However, I hooked it up, but it does not work with my Apple computer. I called Costco to verify if it suppose to work with a computer (Apple) and they said that it only works with TVs and not PC’s or Apple computers.

Does the TV connector work with Apple computers? If so is there resource for setting it up?

In reply to @4mulch

If you search the site for posts you’ll find at least a couple of us have bought USB to TOSLINK adapters for computers so that the TOSLINK will feed the TV Connector. Search for Behringer. It solves more than battery usage trouble.

WH

Edited

In reply to @4mulch

I’m getting my first , KS10s, in a few days. So no experience yet, but I’ve been researching.

The TV connector works with either a digital audio input or a standard 3.5 mm jack. Any computer has a 3.5 mm jack, so any wired ear buds or headset should work in a 3.5 mm jack, so I don’t see why your Apple wouldn’t work with a TV connector. Can anyone shed some light on this? It makes no sense. Or does Apple put a proprietary protocol over what should be a boring analog phone jack?

Battery consumption with streaming is a concern. I wonder if it has multiple parts to it - a) activated and waiting to stream should it receive a signal (standby), b) receiving a signal (like streaming music), and c) both receiving and transmitting (phone calls or Zoom meetings). Generally speaking, transmitting consumes more power than receiving. One experiment I intend to try is to switch the aids to flight mode for a day (turns BT completely off) and see what the consumption is. Then turn them on normally for a day without streaming (BT on standby, no receiving or transmitting).

I’ve seen posts from others where they call off precise state of charge (SoC), so I assume there’s something in the app that provides that info. Hopefully we can get a better picture of how much different activities affect battery charge.

I’m not planning on getting a TV connector immediately (last I heard they were on backorder), since I might do OK just listening to the TV normally through the HAs. FWIW, I’ve read that the KS10s (and the Phonaks they emulate) don’t have the proper BT codec to stream TV directly without an annoying time delay that causes lip-synch problems (which you’d think would affect streaming videos on a phone or computer as well). But if I end up getting a TV connector, which supposedly uses less power than BT, checking battery consumption with and without could be useful info.

Some other battery issues you may want to consider; Or Not :man_shrugging:

  • Rechargeable batteries degrade over time. That is, a battery that is a few years old will need to be charged sooner than a battery that is new. An Internet search2 says “Rechargeable Lithium-Ion batteries have a limited life and will gradually lose their capacity to hold a charge. This loss of capacity (aging) is irreversible. As the battery loses capacity, the length of time it will power the product (run time) decreases.”
  • KS10 rechargeable batteries are built-in and not replaceable except via expensive factory repair which may be covered by warranty if you plan accordingly and consider your expected years of usage.
  • If you ever want to use rechargeable hearing aids as a backup pair then you need to think about battery maintenance. You can’t just put them in a desk drawer and forget them. Long term storage may cause Lithium-Ion batteries to stop working.

This is not a critique of Phonak or KS10s. It’s just a heads up about what to expect from rechargeable batteries.

All good points. Some additional refinements:

Generally, lithium rechargeable batteries like to be stored roughly around half charge. If you keep rechargeable aids as a backup, putting them in storage at full charge isn’t a great idea. Check the charge level monthly. (Though they lose very little charge so you might be able to stretch that much further.

In the rechargeable vs. disposable threads some have complained about lithiums not lasting as long outdoors in the cold. They are in fact affected by cold, but a simple fix is to wear a hat that covers the tops of your ears. That should easily keep them warm enough. If you’re doing heavy work and a hat is too warm for comfort, a simple headband should do the trick.

Edited

In reply to @ctromley

@ctromley - I did plug the TV connector into the 3.5 mm jack. The sound options changed to Internal Speaker and Apple TV. I’d not seen the “Apple TV” as a selection prior to this. The Apple TV though is not the option I needed.

The other thing I noticed was that my had a slight static sound to them, but there was no way for me to actually use the TV connector. I have no idea why you need another connector. I hope someone can answer your questions. By the way in order for me to alleviate the static sound, which I never experienced before, I had to turn my HA off and then back on. Disconnecting the TV connector didn’t get rid of the static.

I am in the process of testing my HA in “flight mode” that is only on, but disconnected from all Bluetooth devices. This test started at 4:30 this morning. (Of course, I did just connect them for about 5 minutes to my iMac via Bluetooth).

@Dusty above mentioned the uneven use. Only my right HA connects with the iMac. So I am guessing it is doing more work sending signals to the left HA when streaming is occuring. I also think just having Bluetooth on drains the batteries even if one isn’t using the device (computer/phone).

In reply to @ctromley

The big reason why I went with the TOSLINK over headphone connection is that when the audio goes silent to the headphone jack of the TV Connector, it assumes there is no program and drops the connection to your . That’s a good thing, right? Unless it is just a quiet moment in a zoom call where someone is thinking and starts to answer a question or ask a new one, whatever, and then you miss the first part and look like a fool for asking them to repeat it. That part really killed it for me.

WH

In reply to @4mulch

@4mulch said:

I also think just having Bluetooth on drains the batteries even if one isn’t using the device (computer/phone).

Yes, but that isn’t an issue in my experience when things are working normally. However, for some of us using Android 12 with the KS10, the designated bluetooth aid (right side usually) will experience excess energy use even if it’s not streaming. Apparently Android 13 cures the issue.

In reply to @4mulch

@4mulch said:

@Dusty above mentioned the uneven use. Only my right HA connects with the iMac.

I saw a post elsewhere that indicated the Target fitting software used for the KS10s and Phonaks can switch which aid connects with . I have the Target software (thanks @pvc for your help!) and you can too if you click on pvc’s avatar. (You’ll also need a Noahlink wireless, available on Amazon.)

If over time BT on one aid diminishes its battery capacity, at least you (or your audi) can switch it over to even things out.

In reply to @ctromley

@ctromley said:

In the rechargeable vs. disposable threads some have complained about lithiums not lasting as long outdoors in the cold. They are in fact affected by cold, but a simple fix is to wear a hat that covers the tops of your ears. That should easily keep them warm enough. If you’re doing heavy work and a hat is too warm for comfort, a simple headband should do the trick.

Ask @kevels55 about this. I think I got user right. I think he had distinct issues here.

WH

In reply to @ctromley

@ctromley said:

I saw a post elsewhere that indicated the Target fitting software used for the KS10s and Phonaks can switch which aid connects with BT

Yes, easy to switch sides. Probably something audis should do annually to even out the battery wear. I switched sides for that reason and to quickly diagnose several things at once.

In reply to @Dusty

@Dusty said:

However, for some of us using Android 12 with the KS10, the designated bluetooth aid (right side usually) will experience excess energy use even if it’s not streaming. Apparently Android 13 cures the issue.

Huh. Now I’m wondering what to expect with my Galaxy S7 running Android 8.

In reply to @WhiteHat

Thank WH… I had the Marvel 90R’s, same aids as the KS 10’s, they have a BMS, and will cut out in sub zero temperature’s, a hat or headband kind of defeats the purpose as you are also covering up the mics, not to mention feedback may also be created with a hat or headband… They will not reboot even when warmed up, until they are placed back in the charger dock… It is a known fault that Phonak are no doubt aware of, I was just past the end of my trial period, and asked my A.uD to replace my aids with the disposable battery version, she didn’t even argue… Cheers Kev :wink:

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