Raudrive: You are correct about the hands free - With my Oticon HAs I do have to have my phone near - but no other device. And the Phonak Marvel with the AB CI would offer that completely hands free feature - even better than what I have now instead of taking a step back with Med El. They are not set to offer that for at least a few years from what I gather. I will note that AB does not have an off ear receiver and won’t for a few years. I would rather wait for that than the hands free.
I dismissed Cochlear early on because of they way the electrodes have just one current source shared among all electrodes rather than a current source or two for each. Honestly, I don’t understand it all, but early in my reading I decided that was not preferable - could be wrong. The AB and Med El seem to have more middle tone options between electrodes, but again, I could have this all wrong as far as impact. This is covered, confusingly, on Cochlearimplanthelp.com. I would love to understand it all better, but as many say, they all work for users, so maybe I don’t need to.