Costco-Siemens-Rexton-Kirkland Signature

Hearing Aids
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#1

There is so much hype about hearing aids and brands.

I went to audiologists and they recommend the Siemens Aris 2, at about $2500 each.

Costco tells me they have the same thing that is made Rixton ( I may have the spelling wrong) which Costco sells as the Kirkland Signature, at about $2500 for a pair. Costco says the same technology and chips are in the Kirkland as in the Siemens model.

Does anyone know if this is right or wrong or where one can find out about the accuracy of what this guy at Costco is saying?

Peter

Costco hearing aids
#2

rexton is a siemens brand so does AM and electone…

rexton should be a value brand…

i would not be surprise if siemens did manf. HI for costco-…

try to get something better, perhaps Bernafon Move perhas GN xplore or GN ziga which should be sold at costco

#3

Thanks for the info, xbulder. Now, what makes Bernafone or GN better than Kirkland Signature?

What I was told by the an audiologist was that Rexton is wholly owned by Siemens, but the technology, chips, etc., were not given to Rexton. Any comments?

#4

rexton is owned by siemens - im not sure rexton develop their own products,
but they are very similar to siemens, with a lower price point…

Gn and bernafon are well know manf. you can find review of their products in this forum. i believe you can find both brands at costco…

#5

Rexton is the same as Siemens except the Siemens has 16 channals and the Rexton has 14 channels. They are both made by Siemens and good.

#6

I bought a pair of Costco Kirkland SIgnature. I am currently comparing them to America Hears SIE units and they are comparing very favorably.

I paid $1995 for two and got everything needed to store, dry and power them. It’s a very good value and the hearing aids are top quality, in my opinion.

#7

I was in Costco this week to have my Bernafon Symbios adjusted to my new audiogram. While there I briefly tried on a pair of the Kirklands RITE HAs. I was pretty impressed with the features of the $1000 HA. They compared it to the Siemens Pure 700/500…it has more channels (12) than the 500 and if you will it seems to me to be a hybrid of the two. The form factor looks just like a Pure. The 4 memories seem to be on parr with what is in the market. For me the benefit of the Bernafon ICOS is that it is considered totally automatic, ie. it will adjust programs to the environment you are in without manual intervention. At Costco the ICOS is $3200 for a pair.

The other quick remark I would think this thread should be moved to the digital hearing aid forum by the admin.

roger

#8

This has been so helpful. I am in the process of purchasing my first pair of HA for mild hearing loss. I am considering the Kirkland Signature. Everyhting that has been said on this sight confirms what they told me at Costco. I will keep you posted. Thanks for your insight.:slight_smile:

#9

To expand on my previous remarks here are some comments I made on another board:

Since then I have been doing some research on the Pures and how they
compare feature wise to the Kirkland. I have found that this site does a
good comparison of features and rating them a top level or value, etc,
also some of the features such as feedback control as either state of
the art (best) or 2nd generation (better). http://www.precisehearing.com

In their comparison for directional mic, feedback mgt, noise reduction,
they rated the 700 as best and the 500 as better. Plus there are
additional features available on the 700 that are not available on the 500.
So Precise Hearing sells the Pure 700 RIC (16 channels) for $1950 and
the Pure 500 RIC (8 channels) for $1450. The Costco aid (12 channels)
is $1000. So I have to say for the $$s I think that is a HA worth
consideration since they do not have a restock fee (they buy in bulk)
and full refund if you do not like it for any reason. One thing I did find
out which is a show stopper for me is that the aid is not totally
automatic. You have to manually change listening programs. Also I
found out the TEK does not work on with this aid. But I believe this aid
has a T-coil so there are other after market bluetooth options that I expect would work with this HA.

Some of what I thought were good features taken from their literature are that it
Analyzes the listening environment and automatically adapts noise mgt,
mic directionality and feedback control, automatic multichannel adaptive directional mic, sound location,automatic feedback cancellation,
wireless binaural communication with one button program selection,
soundsmoothing for rustling paper, etc, wind reduction, data logging and
aquaprotection with nano coating and mic gore protection. So for a
$1000 not a bad deal.

I hope this helps.

roger

#10

technically if they buy it @ bulk, if you return them for any reason they can not clean it and sell it to someone else. this I believe is against the law…
I wonder how they manage this risk

#11

I’m interested in that law, can you give a cite?
Perhaps they can donate them and take a tax writeoff?

#12

It’s consumer law, you can’t sell as new any product that was previously used. They have to be labeled as refurbished or reconditioned.

There is no tax write-off. Costco has a very liberal return policy for everything, even for electronics which they recently changed to a 90 day return policy. Costco takes the hit when things are returned (as you can see from their financial statements) and they have to sell items to third party refurb shops to resell somewhere else. But that’s why they changed their return policy to 90 days for electronics. Their able to still have a fairly liberal return policy because they do sell so much.

#13

unior Member

Join Date: Feb 2009
Posts: 2
Costco Signature2 - GEM
I am trying to compare this aid with other’s - I was told that the Costco Signature2 was identical to the Rexton 125, but I could find no such Rexton aid. I did find a Rexton Gem 12 - but an internet site shows that to be very expensive:

Rexton Gem 12 RIC Hearing Aid
List Price: $2,799.00
Our Price:$1,999.00*
(price per aid)

I don’t think costco could sell an almost identical product for less than half price.

Secondly, does the Bernafon Brite have features that make it worth and additional $1,200 a pair.

These will be my first aids and I am just overwhelmed with information.
Thanks for any help.

#14

When I bought them, the fitter at Costco told me they were Rexton Gems. When he hooked them up to the computer, that’s what it said they were.

A hearing aid center in the Dallas area is advertising them on sale for $1495. I paid $995 from Costco not on sale.

#15

Thank you for your response. Are you happy with your aids? I plan on purchasing them from a Costco in Plano.

#16

I bought a pair of Bernafon Brite 503’s from Costco and am currently comparing them to a pair of Starkey Zon 5’s. The Starkeys give me a shrill sound with words that contain the letter s where as the Bernafons don’t seem to do it as much. The cost for both is the same.

#17

I like to Costcos very much. They compare very favorably with the America Hears Freedom SIE. I cannot compare them to others as these are the first ones I have had.

#18

I now better understand your situation, having worn the SIEs the last couple of months, and trying a pair of the Costco aids this evening.

I stopped by the Costco on my way home from work, and luckily was able to get a hearing test and demo the aids. At $1999 for the pair and $85 plus tax for the remote, I think they’re a nice setup. I decided to buy a pair and so far really like them. I have noticed that in quiet settings, I can cup my ears and get more feedback than I do with the SIEs, but in other situations, its no more feedback than the SIEs get when I do the same thing.

I’m using 10mm open domes with the integrated wax guards, and like how these fit and feel on and in my ears. They’re more comfortable than the SIEs, probably because I don’t need the sports lock (or canal retention or whatever piece) and they’re open domes instead of tulip domes.

I had them programmed for automatic, driving noise, speech in noise, and music. I like the driving noise mode, as it cuts the road noise but I can still hear the radio fine. And I like having a button on the aids, or the remote to change programs. But any rare volume changes will have to be done only with the remote.

My parents have each needed hearing aids for a while, and hopefully when they see these when I visit them this weekend, they’ll be pushed closer to going in for a hearing test and demo.

Its only been a few hours, but the Costco Kirkland RIC aids seem like they’re keepers. :stuck_out_tongue:

#19

I called the Costco Hearing center where I got my HAs today. One of the questions I asked about was the status of the new HA with bluetooth they were getting. I was told it was a Siemens/Rextron that in essence is a Life 700 with a TEK. Pricing is $3700 for 2 HAs and TEK. I did a web check on the Life 700 and saw that the fitting range is for a mild to moderate HL. With thin tubes it looks like the range ends at 70db HL. I will be interested in seeing the real specs for this Rexton/Costco HA.

#20

After reading and reading about hearing aids I finally went to Costco to purchase their GEM 12 - However, I was told that the Rexton is a more powerful aid and would more likely last me longer if my hearing gets worse. On impulse I purchased the REVO plus at at more than $1,600 more than the GEM 12 without any research.

These are my first hearing aids and I hate them. Further research shows that the list price on the two are almost identical and the GEM 12 seems to have a better remote and newer technology.

I guess I should give them a chance before trying to return them but they are so bad I can’t stand to wear them. And the additional cost make me ill.

I need the HA’s but has anyone have any comment regarding the differences in the two. Many Thankshttp://www.hearingaidforums.com/images/icons/icon8.gif