I have KS8s and wear them 16-17 hours a day. My Costco 312 battery life is the same as yours. I am waiting for the KS10s. I hope theirs is better.
I get about 3 days out of 312 batteries on my Oticon open-s hearing aids which I wear 15-16 hrs a day - constantly streaming.
It seems battery life has gone down since more and more wireless technology is used.
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With the Costco batteries I consistently received a 4 day service life. I switched to RayoVac and saw a battery life increase of 3 days. In that my KS9 now run for 7 days it make remembering when to change out the batteries a scheduled event. Nice
I get about 4.5 days with my K9s and Costco batteries, using the aid for about 15 hours a day, including streaming for 2.5 hours.
I’m surprised at the RayoVac life. I need to try them out…
Where do you buy your Rayovacs? Online? Any particular site?
Thanks.
Does anyone who has used re-chargables for a few years have any input on their lifespan? The batteries lose power over time, so I wonder if they stop making it through the day after a year or two–like cell phones.
You seem disappointed?
Zinc air batteries aren’t really the optimal battery technology for Bluetooth applications or the advanced streaming capabilities made possible with the KS 9.0 devices.
This is one of the limitations of the KS 9.0 and one of the reasons why Phonak is phasing out zinc air technology
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Hi
What I know is , the smaller the battery is, the shorter lifespan it will be. This 312 has small battery life. The worse it comes is when you use streaming it will drain your battery fast.
I am using RIC hearing aids (nonrechargable), I refuse to use any Bluetooth streaming because of battery life.
This is something audiologist won’t tell you when he/she sells it to you.
I am a longtime BTE wearer. And I am learning more about RIC. I did not know there are so much more about RIC than BTE including maintenance, replacing wire, streaming cause battery life to drain fast (I would recommend rechargeable), replace wax guard (you’ll have to buy it , $5 a box of 8 sticks), I’m sure there are more left that my audiologist did not tell me yet).
I knew about battery life when I was younger- there was this one audiologist who was very kind to offer his opinion that there’s a difference between 312 and 13A.
Curious why shorter battery life influences your streaming (or lack there of) behavior. I wouldn’t think cost should be much of an issue. Hassle changing batteries? Dexterity/vision issues? Concerned about wastefulness? Both BTE and RIC have advantages and disadvantages. Since thread was originally about Costco’s KS9 I’ll add that Costco will replace wax filters for free or give you some to change on your own.
That’s good to know about Costco can replace wax filter at no charge.
My audiologist’s service is to give out the batteries, 6 months cleaning, replacing wire and office visits for free if you purchase hearing aids from her. Wax guard package is exception. I’m guessing every service is different.
312 is for smaller hearing aids , so far I know that ric is one of them. And battery life is shorter. But with streaming it’s a lot shorter. I don’t know why but maybe it’s the size as compared to big size like 13A (for bte).
You can buy cheaper battery (mercury free) on Amazon rather than buying from audiologist. Just compare the price and know what’s best for you. I honestly like Mercury free it lasts longer.
Batteries are available at great price from Hearing Tracker website and Costco. Yes, streaming uses more electricity and as you’ve noticed batteries won’t last as long. Different RIC hearing aids are available with 10 (really small), 312 and 13 batteries. I would have gotten size 13 battery if it had been available in KS9, but it was not. Really hasn’t been a big deal. My batteries last 5 days and they’re cheap.
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I’ve been using Duracell activair 312s for my Opn1s. I’ve been getting about the same results, e.g.an average of 5.0 days per battery. Not too bad considering they only cost 27.5 cents each.
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Do you use streaming too?
I’m sorry to be so long in responding to a question that was asked of me. I buy my Rayovac 312 batteries on Amazon. The price varies widely so who ever has the best price and positive reviews is who I use. Also what I purchased were fresh batteries based on the mfg date on the container.
Thanks for this information.
This helps with discussions pertaining to zinc air batteries versus rechargeable batteries.
It also explains why zinc air battery life has dropped so much since all the wireless aids have come out.
Thanks again
Don’t think I’ve commented here yet but I’ve seen an average of 4 days, and that’s with a moderate amount of streaming and phone calls during the day.
Costco batteries are less than 20 cents each. I get 3 to 4 days with a lot of streaming. If I don’t stream I might get 5 or 6 days? So worst case (3 days vs 6) it would cost me 6 cents per day vs 13 cents per day or 7 cents a day to stream.
Pasted a spread sheet below but the format is awful. Also rounding makes it to look wrong in places.
| Cost| Count| per Battery|
| $9| 48| $0.19|
||Cost per day||
|Days| 1 Battery| 2 Batteries|
|1 | $0.19 | $0.38 |
|2 | $0.09 | $0.19 |
|3 | $0.06 | $0.13 |
|4 | $0.05 | $0.09 |
|5 | $0.04 | $0.08 |
|6 | $0.03 | $0.06 |
|7 | $0.03 | $0.05 |
I am so happy that it dawned on me before finalizing my order for my receiver in canal aids, that the same aids but using size 13 batteries or only just negligibly larger so I asked for that instead of the 312 aids she said I needed based on my power demand…
I pretty much easily get a solid week, really more like 8 days
With the few brands I’ve tried, I’ve had the best luck overall using amazon brand. solidy over 7 days…