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Roger On as directional mic?

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@kevels55 said:

it was fairly poor, in comparison to the newer Pen I bought,

Very quickly, Phonak bought out a Roger Pen 1.1 to replace the Phonak Pen.

Same with Clip on Mic, they bought out a Clip on Mic 1.1 as the first Pen and Clip on were so poor in transmission.

I wonder if your old Pen is not a 1.1?

In reply to @kevels55

Thanks… boy, it sure seems like buying second-hand stuff will be a lot of hoops to jump through. They sure don’t make it easy, do they? I already feel like I paid enough in the purchase price of my aids that I shouldn’t have to worry about these separate licenses and other hoops to jump through… ugh.
but I suppose it makes sense they they want to “encourage” buying new through their dealer network

In reply to @bradw

Absolutely @bradw… You have to be fairly resilient & determined to buy out with the Phonak network… IMO, The whole system was created to make you pay, as much as possible… Interestingly, as a side note, the R&D costs, were initially paid for by the US military, that is clearly demonstrated in the “Roger” name, I believe or I have read, and seen a video, the US Navy SEALS wanted, (namely SEAL Team 6) a close proximity communications system, that was un-hackable, and it was effective in loud noise, so Sonova Communications developed Roger for them, then they asked the military if they could release certain aspects to the world… I believe that is how the Roger System was born. Cheer’s Kev :wink:

In reply to @bradw

@bradw No more hoops in resale than new. Just go to Ebay and get a Roger On iN or Roger Select iN. Once you have licenses in your Marvel hearing aids, they are good for all Roger devices (or at least for the ones you are likely to use). The used Roger iN products are usually cheaper than just the licenses if your were buying new. Since you have Phonak Marvels don’t buy the Roger X. Once you buy a used Roger On iN (or Roger Select iN) you can transfer the licenses in a couple of minutes (see the several YouTube videos for instruction) and you will not need to do that again. If you replace your current Phonak aids with newer Phonak ’s you can transfer the licenses back to the Roger On iN (or Select iN) and then transfer to the new aids. No need to get new licenses. Ebay should stand behind the purchase unless the description clearly says no licenses.

100% correct @raylock1… It is best, to educate yourself @bradw on the Roger system, there are loads of tutorials on YouTube, once you know what you are looking for, it’s easy… It sounds complicated, but is in fact a fairly simple process of transferring licenses… I am fortunate to have both, Roger X Receiver’s (type 02 & 03) & Roger Select iN’s, and various Roger ’s, some of which are (type 02) Picking up a Roger Select iN is the easiest way as @raylock1 says, it’s the most effective financial option,(apart from a Roger NeckLoop) if you can get one second hand on eBay… Good Luck, cheers Kev :wink:

In reply to @raylock1

@raylock1 said:

transfer the licenses

oh that’s good to know!!..I was under the impression that the Audiologist would need to get these licenses transferred into my aids…(& I was assuming that it might be awkward and maybe expensive to ask them to do it for a roger mic they did not sell to me…)

Thank you @Neville… I am planning a V2, but not imminently, perhaps in a few months, my V1 is in chronic need of a new battery… Cheers Kev :wink:

Edited

In reply to @raylock1

@raylock1 said:

Hopefully someone else will chime in on the Roger Pen.

Thanks @kevels55 for your great summarizing explanation and your help on these Phonak ’s also at the time I was struggling with these issues. Not forgetting also @Zebras who helped me a lot.

@bradw
I used the Roger pens but sold them long time ago. The version 1.1 had one more knob as I remember well then the first version. Forgot what the extra knob was for.
I use the Roger ON In and the Roger ON at the moment and have licenses 02 and 03 as I also transversed licenses with the old Roger method on several of my Phonak 90’s , and Virto IC.

But back to the Roger Pen. You’ll need installed licenses as kevels55 already explained. And using these attributes at first time you really feel like a spy by getting speech so clearly into your ears. Shame came up in my first experiences hearing probably better then the others without ’s.

In my opinion the Pen was about as good as the Roger ON at pointing and using as laneyard. But my Roger ON I can lay on the table and select the directionality in table mode, this selectional method was not possible with the Pen. The other functions as pointing, just laying it on the table next to the one you want to hear and laneyard are the same and both good.

Then the Pen is les obvious a spy attribute. People are sometimes asking about what you are moving around all the time in your hands. But if I use the Roger ON they are asking me if I am recording something.
The Roger ON is a bit taller, but not in length.

And if I remember well I had to use USB mini on the Pen and USB 3 on the ON to recharge so charging is faster on the Roger ON. And the ON can also be used in a phone app.

Of course second hand is you best friend as these devices are luxury goods. But the Pen will be the cheapest option if you cannot decide about the features. Although rechargeable not exchangeable batteries in both ON and Select suck as an unpredictable lifetime.

Edited the sentence “ Unfortunately there exists no Pen IN so you have to do transfer the licenses the old fashioned way.” As @cleveto thankfully had to correct me there’s a Pen IN with licenses also. Sorry for the confusion! In many EU- countries not officially available, and in any case not in the Netherlands!
https://www.phonakpro.com/content/dam/phonakpro/gc_hq/en/products_solutions/wireless_accessories/roger/documents/Datasheet_Roger_Pen_iN_210x297_EN_V1.10.pdf1

Agree about the Pen. It seems to be getting a bad rap around here but it is actually quite good. Not anywhere as great as the others but flexible and usable and cheap too.

And they generally look to be less than a $100 if you don’t need the receiver licenses.

WH

In reply to @Emile030

@Emile030 said:

Unfortunately there exists no Pen IN so you have to do transfer the licenses the old fashioned way.

I beg to differ on this statement as I own a Roger Pen In and have used it to transfer license’s between Marvel Naida 70,Paradise 90,and Naida Lumity.

@cleveto said:

I beg to differ on this statement as I own a Roger Pen In and have used it to transfer license’s between Marvel Naida 70,Paradise 90,and Naida Lumity

Thanks @cleveto for correcting me you are right, i just edited my post.

Just weighing in here with my nickel’s worth …
I’ve had the Roger ON iN mic for about 6 mos, and as others here say, it’s “hit or miss”.

First off, I absolutely HATE the cheap, flat, harsh “public address” quality of the audio that it transmits when used in tabletop or pointer mode (I’ve never clipped it on anyone to test the Speaker mode). It’s simply nowheres good as the much older, low-tech but uni-functional TV Connector that I used to plug in to watch TV or listen to programs on my laptop.

Right now, the ON iN is the ONLY device I have to “stream” audio from my home theatre until a massive replacement/update is completed many weeks from now. I can only place the device near one of the sound system speakers and cringe for hours hearing that harsh public address audio. I probably miss 20% of what’s said, versus when I had this connected to a Marantz receiver and got the audio streamed (via Roger) into my aids.

Where it shines for me - and why it’s a keeper - is that I travel a lot and can take this small device and its small charging base on the road. In hotels where I can’t reach the back of the TV to directly stream, I just place the mic next to the TV speaker. The range is phenomenal. I can be halfway down a hotel hallway en-route to the laundry room and still streaming “Forensic Files” f’instance.

The other HUGE plus for this mic is that in speakerphone calls, I place the device next to the cell phone and can hear folks on the phone even if I’m in a totally different room. It actually “spooks” 'em cuz I can hear every single word even tho I’m not in the room.

The Roger mic is simply NOT meant to be taken to church or large, cavernous halls and pointed either at speakers at a podium or mounted speakers way high up on a wall or ceiling. The sound would be truly atrocious.

Noisy restaurants are also a disaster as far as I’m concerned. I rely on my “Speech in Loud Noise” program WAY more than the mic, which picks up all the ambient noise to an excruciating volume. I’m going to see if I can hear sufficiently if I have a “mute” option on my aids to force audio to stream from Roger to aid, but until that test happens, I simply can’t use the Roger ON iN mic in ANYTHING louder than a very acoutic-friendly room with crisp clear talkers.

I look forward to hearing about your own experience in a multitude of places. Try it out in airports, restaurants, malls, town walks, large churches, living rooms, pointed at a TV, cell phone, or what have you.

@1Bluejay said:

The other HUGE plus for this mic is that in speakerphone calls, I place the device next to the cell phone and can hear folks on the phone even if I’m in a totally different room. It actually “spooks” 'em cuz I can hear every single word even tho I’m not in the room.

@1Bluejay You mean, they talk to an empty telephone? :thinking:

In reply to @1Bluejay

Hey 1bluejay. It sounds like your Roger program needs a big adjustment. I love mine in a loud restaurants because it is so much better than the loud noise program. I have noise reduction set pretty high in mine (in Target) and i always mute my hearing aid mics when using the Roger On because its like they are competing. Plus, with the MyRoger app you can select the zone you are most interested in.

I haven’t tried it, but i can understand that placing it in front of speakers (equipment, not people) is not ideal. I would always do direct connection, if possible.

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