I never imagined it could happen, but l I am almost, well sort of, well maybe? No! I am actually happy to have handed over NZ $6000 to Specsavers for my new Phonak I-90 Infinio Spheres. There is approximately $1000 government subsidy deducted beforehand. My wife got herself a pair a couple of weeks back and I was surprised, no, I was floored, when the local Specsavers’ Audi said that ANY of the Phonak top tier aids, including either the standard I-70s ,I-90s or indeed even the Spheres models were available for the same price.
I suspected some mistake as another hearing enterprise wanted NZD 10,000 plus for I-90 Spheres
My 6-year-old Marvels are still soldering on, though I worry about their batteries expiring and I was tempted to order a pair of Spheres. Feeling guilty, I could not make up my mind and thought I should at least wait a few months before splashing out.
However, when I accompanied my wife to her first follow-up last week, the Audi gave me a heads-up that Specsavers were about to change their pricing for the upper-tier models and new pricing was to happen on March 1. This time I did not hesitate and ordered the I-90 Spheres immediately.
They were fitted today and the fitting was exemplary, with full in-ear adjustments and included setting up manual switch-on program for the spheres in noise. Specsavers NZ has a 4 year guarantee and free adjustments for a year.
So, I cannot praise the local Specsavers enough. Allowing for New Zealand’s low exchange rate and checking prices in other countries around the world, I think we got a good deal.
My thanks go to the participants of this forum from whom I gained the knowledge and confidence to arrange this purchase.
I’m living in New Zealand at the moment and can confirm - that is indeed a good deal. FWIW, I know she’s not the cheapest but one of the best audiologists I know in NZ is Lisa Goulart in Auckland. Very thorough. She’s an ex colleague and where I sent my father in law 
Given the price structure of HAs it is not necessarily the manufacturer (Phonak in this case) that “rips you off”. How HA costs are structured varies from place to place and is notoriously opaque, but one analysis for France found that top-of-the line HAs there earn their makers little over 300 USD, for instance, making up just a minor fraction of the costs.
While the price maybe ok, but “free adjustments for a year” isn’t good.
Does this means you’ll have to pay for any adjustments afterwards?
I heard mention costs of NZ $60 or $80 but I will ask again, and at that rate It would take a lot of visits to offset the NZ $4K I have saved upfront. Besides I have a Noah and Target to explore. I can also recommend the Auckland University Audiology Clinic which charge NZ $80 for a very comprehensive Test. My last one there included in ear fitting and a free follow up visit.
My main “rip off” grizzle with Phonak is charging hundreds for receivers/licences that are just digital switches to be allowed to connect to a microphone. Granted, the Roger On In v 3 has waived that particular “rip off”. I also have a Touch Screen mic that originally cost thousands and now it seems I need to spend hundreds of dollars for Type 02 "receivers to get any use from it. Oh add to that more hundreds for a Roger install tool.
Well you could of just gone to Costco and paid $2500, less the sub you mentioned $1500 for premium models service and warranty 3 years, 6k is a bit much, and whoever is charging 10k? that’s just outrageous pricing, but of course the main thing is your happy with your “deal”
The wholesale that Phonak is charging here is absolutely ludicrous. I’ve heard from some of the clinicians that are charging 10k for a pair of spheres and their wholesale is like 8k+ (NZD) which is like 4500 USD
Thank you for your rip-off grizzle (note my absence of quote
marks). The Roger On is an excellent product, which I initially
recommended to many. I then lost one of my Phonak HAs, and used the
replacement program to re-complete my set. Phonak refused to activate
my Roger On microphone license in the replaced HA, citing that my
Roger microphone was out of warranty.
I began to feel enraged every morning when I inserted my Phonaks. To
the point that I replaced them with a set of Costco Phillips. I felt
treated like an enemy, rather than a customer.
So I perked up when you seemed to imply that V3 of the Roger On
microphone stopped this ‘licensing’ rip-off. When I buy hardware from
a company, I expect it to work with that company’s hardware as
advertised, even with replacement hardware of the very same model.
Are you sure that the practice has indeed been discontinued?
Do you have the Roger In version? The forum describes a way to regain licenses using the Roger Upgrader application on PC.
I have a Roger On in Ver 2 from which I have recovered receivers/licences twice (4 in all) as mentioned by [Bimodal_user] ( not the ver 3 which Phonak advertising advertises as having unlimited licences. I have seen nothing to say its not true and hopefully someone with experience can confirm this.
Have you had a chance to try them in several environments? How do they work with different voice pitch and in noisy environments, in windy environments? I usually need several weeks to see how any new hearing aids work.
I’ve been wearing the Sphere’s since they were released last year. Different voice pitches isn’t an issue especially when the Spheric noise reduction program is active. These hearing aids are extremely effective at filtering out noise. I don’t find that they do as well in wind. They cut the wind ok but I find that the wind reduction comes at the expense of speech clarity.
Best thing is to trial them yourself and see.
Jordan