Hi @emile.heilbron, good to hear from you and my apologies for not responding sooner - work has been crazy busy.
Thanks for posting your experience - very helpful. My Phonak’s were ordered without the volume wheel but the button on each is programmed for volume up and down (2db increments I think). With the Starkey’s I was very surprised at how big they are - bigger then the P-312 it seems. They are very noticeable in my ears, and of course because they stick out they are picking up a massive amount of wind noise, even though the audi put the wind setting at the maximum. With the Phonak I didn’t get any wind noise whatsoever because the were slightly further in.
The charging case for the Starkey’s is very large and not the sort of thing you can put in your pocket. The battery does last a full day easily (I don’t do a lot of streaming yet), and I switch them off and put them in the HA dryer/UV thing every 2nd night. I know that one day I will forget to remove them from the dryer early enough to charge them to ensure I have enough battery for the day.
I am finding the Starkey’s a little too sharp - to me the Phonak’s sounded more natural. With both models I am still having a hard time with voices. A couple of weeks ago I was at a very noisy restaurant and couldn’t hear a word from someone 3 ft away, but I could hear a glass clink 100 ft away at the back of the restaurant. It was frustrating and overwhelming, but I should have spent more time playing with the MyPhonak app as you can adjust a lot of variables. I’m sure if I had the patience that night I could have found a setting that probably would have worked for me.
You mentioned you like the ability to change the balance of volume vs environment while streaming with the Phonak’s. I too like this; however the Starkey’s don’t have this at all. The EdgeAI feature on the Starkey’s is good, but I’m fairly certain the Phonak’s have very similar functionality but do it automatically rather than having to tap my ear. I had thought my audi forgot to program it into my Starkey’s but after playing with the app I found it is user configurable.
I agree re the BT on the Phonak - it is great being able to connect to multiple devices (including laptops) and have them switch automatically, and it definitely seems to be more reliable than the MFi Starkey BT. I thought with the MFi functionality on the Starkey’s that this would give me more options and control, but it didn’t and to be honest I wasn’t really impressed with it - I couldn’t figure out how to answer/end a call on the Starkey’s, whereas with the Phonak’s I just tapped the button on the HA. It seems the only way to answer a call on the Starkey’s is on the phone, which will then route it to the HAs. People commented that they could hear me better on the Phonaks but I sounded more distant with Starkey’s when talking on the phone. And it also appears the only way to be able to connect to 2 devices is to have both phones on the same iCloud account (not an option for me as I don’t want my work phone signed into my personal iCloud). I noticed the Starkey’s seemed to lose connection a lot according to the app - often I’d open the app and the left or right HA would show as not connected. I’d have to turn them both off then on again and then it would show correctly. I like the ability in the Starkey app to see the battery level - I wish Phonak would also display battery levels in their app as well.
The heath and wellness things on the Thrive app are not a big deal for me - I have that functionality on my watch which I wear most of the time so I can check my heart rate, number of steps, fall detection, etc.
From what I’d read and the reviews I’d watched I thought the Starkey’s would be way better than the P-312, but they aren’t. I think they are very similar and both have their pros and cons (e.g. the Starkey self test feature, the Phonak balance vs environment, rechargeable vs disposable, BT classic vs BT LE, etc), but for me - just like you - I think I do prefer the Phonaks, and for the exact same reasons you listed in your conclusion.
I have another appointment next Tuesday where I need to make my final decision. I’m about 90% certain I will go with the Phonaks for the same reasons you listed. Under the Pay As You Go option with my audi, I will get a free upgrade to the same technology level on the Phonaks every 3 years, which is a big plus (maybe by then Phonak will have made them smaller and packed in a bunch more features); and it also means I don’t have to outlay any money upfront.
I’d imagine there may be very little to zero effect on the connectivity. I just checked the Starkey website and they now have pictures showing the pre-curved antennas. This will make a massive difference to people!