Best Costco options instead of KS10

Hearing Aids
#1

I have been a happy user with Costco KS9s for past three years. My current health insurance (thru YE22) provides for a $2000 allowance for hearing aids, once every three years. I’m now up for new HAs this month, and I would like to utilize this benefit before end of the year.

I am happy with relationship and support from Costco (both Austin and North Dallas) and plan to continue working with them now. Until last month I was presuming I would just move up from KS9s to KS10s… but now that’s not gonna happen! With the other choices at Costco now, I’m thinking about the Jabra Enhance Pro (i.e. Resound) and the Rexton M-Core.

Anyone have experience with either of these? Could they be a good choice for a next step after my KS9s? We are all following for the release of KS11s (next spring?), and should those come out within my 180 trial period then I could consider switching if warranted.

One other factor important to me, I am an Android (not iPhone) user. BT phone connection is one of the highlights with my current KS9s and I definitely need good Android support.

Thanks for any ideas or comments.

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#2

If your KS9s are working fine, I’d stall until near the end of December. There is a possibility other models could come out, including KS11. Any of their other aids should be able to work with newer ASHA compatible Android phones. None of them will work with laptops without another device.

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#3

I have KS10’s, which work via Bluetooth with my Dell XPS laptop with some problems.

  • I usually need to connect them in the first 3 minutes after starting the aids when I wake up the computer
  • When I get iPhone phone calls including annoying spam calls, they often disturb the BT connection
  • Worse, sometimes when I’m streaming an Internet radio station, after the call disconnects, the BT connects & disconnects about 1/second untill I reload the radio web page.

I also have an ASUS BT adaptor on my desktop and that seems to maintain the BT connection even following a reboot.

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#4

Yes, the KS9 and KS10 worked with most Bluetooth devices. They are no longer available. None of the other Costco aids (except the Phonak BTEs) will.

#5

Interesting discussion about HA options this week at my Costco HA Center in Dallas. I like my hearing specialist and trust his opinions. Bottom line, same idea as MDB suggests …

He started with standard line that all of our HAs are good … that is likely true. But I am an Android user and he advised that Phonak (and KS9, 10) aids are much better with BT and Android. Others (Rexton, Jabra) will work but take lots more interactive “management” with Android, and overall BT/phone experience isn’t nearly as good.

Surprised me that his view is that KS10s will return, and he’s thinking that may possibly be sooner vs. later? He described issue for withdrawal as an occasional problem with indicator lights, and not with overall reliability of KS10s. Personally, I can see where indicator light fault with rechargeable models is indeed a problem, but it would seem it should be resolvable by Phonak? Then the KS10s might return to Costco for sale/distribution.

His view for me is then to wait for KS10 return, and my KS9s still work fine in the interim. No insights (as expected) for KS11s – i.e. when they might be introduced, who will manufacture and what they might be, etc. Best guess, and it is only a guess, would be Apr/May/June for KS11 launch.

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#6

You seem to have a very positive experience with Costco. So what aid are they suggesting.

#7

Did you read his post?

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#8

Well, I’m hanging on to my KS9s and hoping they’ll keep working well for another few years. I tried the KS10s but turned them back in toward the end of the 180-day returnable period. I liked them, liked the rechargeable feature more than I expected, the larger size didn’t bother me as much as I feared (although it was noticeable), but in the end, they didn’t help me hear any better and sometimes I didn’t feel they were quite as good as the 9s.

However, I don’t want to switch brands, not just because of my Android phone (and the way the KS9s and 10s work with my phone is just plain fantastic), but also because of the tv connector and the Partner Mic. Do I want to throw those things away and have to buy new ones for another brand? No, I don’t. Maybe I’ll have to give in on that eventually, but so long as the 9s keep working, I’m sticking with them.

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#9

Yes raudrive, I read his post. He said he was happy with his experience in two different Costco’s. That’s all I commented on.

#10

I would also ask the Costco audi what aid they suggest, definitely before I would ask here.
And with Costco 180 day trial, why not try another brand? You can get a tv streamer and accessories cheap on ebay

#11

Philips 9030s are pretty dang good. But they don’t work fully with Android, which is a shame. You can stream music, but you can’t go full hands-free unless you have an iPhone.

#12

Philips does make a streamer for HF calls. It’s called the Audio Clip

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#13

Sure, if you want to have a dongle clipped to you in 2022. I’d expect a Dongle in 2005. Maybe if you’re sitting at home, but for the people still in the workforce out and about and in-person, it’s not really a great solution. It’s the reason Phonak has cornered the Android market.

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#14

Seriously, how can you complain about a 2"X 1"clip that can be worn on a lanyard under your shirt, or clipped to a pocket?

It provides hands free calling, audio streaming from phone, PC, or tablet, and remote control.
BTW, those old dongles were awful, and not even stereo!

I’ve been using the Oticon ConnectClip for 5 years, and see a lot of people. No one even notices it.

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#15

It’s 2022. We send devices to asteroids 7 million miles away to nudge it off of course so that it doesn’t hit Earth. We have lasers in space sending Internet signals back and forth.

I have a problem with paying hundreds for another dongle in 2022, and many others to do. It’s just a bad decision by everyone except for Phonak.

Your experiences might be different, but I expect not to have to wear a dongle and pay extra for it when I’m paying several thousand dollars for a device.

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#16

Thank you for your educational comments.
I’m truly enlightend to learn of these year 2022 accomplishments by our gifted scientists, and physicists.

I agree, it would be great if the android world could catch up to apple, but we’ll probably have to wait for LE Audeo.

Meanwhile, I hear lots of Phonakians, and iPhone users complaining about full hands free call quality, which is something I never encounter.

Let’s leave it at that, and part as friends.

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#17

It sounds like you got mad. Sorry, I didn’t mean to offend. I’m just sharing my thoughts on the connectivity implementation of most hearing aid manufacturers. If we were talking in person, the conversation would seem much more light-hearted, I’m certain of it.

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#18

Easily. Never assume everyone looks at things the same way you do. I disliked the intermediate device from the get go, and that dislike only increased over time. When I had to use one to make my Rexton aids work with my Android phone I never wore the blasted thing until I got a phone call I wanted to hear – then I’d be telling people I’d call them back, getting the thing out, having to get it working with the aids, etc. Compared to the KS9s it was a major PITA, and I’m not going back.

My understanding is no other aids work as easily with Android phones as the KS9s and 10s (well, Phonak). If that’s wrong I haven’t come across the info here. For that matter the Rexton aids I had didn’t work as easily with the tv connector for them because I had to use the same intermediate device as for phone calls. For me the KS9s were a Great Leap Forward, and I’m not going back.

For what it’s worth an audiologist told me that generally, men don’t mind the clips and dongles and women do. Since I’m female I fall in with that generalization.

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#19

This is why it never “worked” for you, as you never had it set up correctly, once set up the correct way, both phone calls and music stream was automatically connected to your HAs, they actually worked very well in the day and could actually be used as a remote control as well.

No not so at all, there are many Signia, ReSound, Widex etc that offer direct streaming to their respective models using ASHA

https://www.androidpolice.com/google-custom-bluetooth-hearing-aids/

Did you use the search button from right here on hearingtracker, there’s lots of discussion on this topic both good and bad.

Ha ha, I’d take that with a pinch of salt please.

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#20

Okay, I’ll modify that – no other aids available through Costco that work with an inexpensive Android phone as easily and automatically as the KS9s and 10s, that is, put on aids and there you are. You know, for those of us who couldn’t pay private audi prices for aids even if we wanted to.

And yes, when I wore the inconvenient, ugly thing the Rexton aids required, it worked just fine for phone calls. I just hated wearing it so much I didn’t unless I expected a call or had to make same.

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