??? what makes you think that manufacturers will refuse to provide new batteries for your aids? Sorry, that sounds wrong. Of course they will.
Sheesh, at this point I think people are just making things up to discredit rechargeables. It’s fine if you don’t want them, but for heaven’s sake, don’t make untrue claims about them.
I had an opportunity to spend the night recovering in hospital. My biggest stress was my rechargeable hearing aid batteries…I didn’t appreciate that. If I bought new hearing aids today Iwould want replaceable batteries.
DaveL
Assuming your aids are still supported when you need new batteries: What do you think is a fair price to pay, and what do you think it’ll actually cost you?
I’m getting new batteries free under warranty at two years if I need them, and at three years just before my warranty expires. So, no cost. At year five or six, I’ll pay for new batteries–who knows what the charge will be by then. Now I think it’s $200.00 for the pair. That/'s less than what I’d spend for five or six years of replaceable batteries.
I have a carrying case that holds three complete charges for my aids. And of course the case itself can be recharged. easy enough to take it I’m away from home for any time. Charging my phone is pretty routine. Same with my aids.
Same here, I had rechargeables until my loss became profound. Then they simply weren’t powerful enough nor lasted long enough battery-wise when I did use them. I had charger and battery issues from the start with my hearing aids and never had one for more than 6 months without it breaking for seemingly no reason. Once I switched to disposable and powerful hearing aids, I’ve had zero issues. I’m definitely skeptical about the future of hearing aids if manufacturers keep going this route.
Battery replacement at $200/pair sounds like a great price, compared to the info in the following resources/threads on this site:
Your nifty charging case also has a rechargeable battery that may need replacement sooner or later. Or maybe it’ll be cheaper to buy a new one at that point, if the currently available charger works with your aids.
You want to compare rechargeable aid maintenance to the cost of disposable batteries? My standard for pricing is the shop here on Hearing Tracker:
It’s a reliable source for batteries, because they’re drop-shipped from one of the big audiology supply companies. I’m not citing the much-cheaper Costco because not everyone belongs to Costco. And I’m not citing Amazon because (while I love Amazon for many things) it’s hard to judge the reliability of the seller who sent the batteries to Amazon’s warehouse.
In the shop, Duracell size 13’s cost $21.99/80 = 27.5 cents each. A week’s use seems to be a common figure for size 13’s. So a year’s worth is 52x2 = 104 batteries, costing 104*27.5 cents = $28.60. 6 years is $172, still less than the $200 you quoted (and, again, other cited prices are higher).
I don’t recall you mentioning a spare charger, so I guess you don’t have one. For me, once I’ve spent the money and effort to get a good pair of aids, if they’re rechargeable there’s no way I’m not getting a spare charger. On Amazon a Signia charging case is $134 and a Phonak is $175. Say it costs $150 for a spare charger. That’s the cost of 5+ years of disposable batteries just for a spare charger. So, sorry, the cost of disposable batteries doesn’t offset the extra costs of rechargeables, or for that matter the possible aggravation one could endure from them. Glad that you’re pleased with your rechargeable aids. Some of us, more and more of us it seems, don’t want them.
The charger and travel case charger came free with my aids. As for the travel case charger needing a new battery: I use it very, very rarely. And of course, it also plugs in. The damn thing will outlast my aids by a decade or more. So, total cost for charger and rechargeable travel case for charging my aids…$0.00.
I’d call the cost of replacing my rechargeables versus paying for batteries a wash. If it costs me $26.00 more for the rechargeables over six years, it’s worth it to me for the convenience.
Again, it’s perfectly fine if folks want replaceable batteries! Some seem to go out of their way to present disaster scenarios for rechargeable aids. They’ve been around for quite some time now. It’s true that some brands have had charging issues, or one brand anyway. One poster above was caught out at the hospital worrying about running out of juice for his aids. Bringing a rechargeable charger, or having someone deliver it from home, would have fixed that. After all, one might be caught in the same situation without disposable batteries. So again, it’s a wash.
If one is streaming online for 18 hours a day, as another poster says, then yes, rechargeables aren’t for you. If you live where batteries are readily available but the power might go out often for a week, ditto.
I manage to charge my phone just fine. I don’t hear a big brouhaha over having to charge phones.
The new starkey genesis AI can last 45-50 hours on a single charge, depending on the version of the hearing aid. I think that rechargeable hearing aids will not be a problem, if the battery lasts that long. The same will happen with other brands when they make a new chip with low consumption
You can get super power receivers on the Phonak Lumity, and I’m sure many more brands. My new Lumity aids are getting around 18-19 hours, and i never have to do a 15 minute fill in charge, but i would be fine with that.
Opinion: Rechargeable are obviously the present and future, as long as they can provide adequate uptime. I will never go back to disposable if i don’t have to.
Manufacturers do not support old aids forever. Even if they were my spare pair I would still want the battery to work. Time will show what is expected vs what is delivered with rechargeable aids and support for replacement batteries but I cannot see the manufacturers continuing to replace the batteries forever even if the aids work otherwise. Perhaps an aftermarket supplier will fill in the gap but that will depend on how easy they make it to replace the batteries.
phones are way easier to get a charger cord for. When my spouse was in the hospital for an emergency, the patient services office had charger cords they would lend you. Not so with hearing aid chargers. Batteries are pretty easy to get also. In an emergency I would much prefer battery aids. I stick the batteries everywhere, purse, laptop case, and the glove compartment.
Well said! Or watches either. So what’s the issue with rechargeable HAs?
I’ve had mine for two years now and would NEVER consider going back to fiddly expensive batteries.
Edit: This is a long running thread … I hope that the OP has received the information they need and it helps. Cast my vote. replaceable batteries
Again: I (and most users) have a rechargeable HA case that will provide 3 full charges for your aids without needing a cord. It weighs a few ounces at most and is small enough to fit in one’s pants pocket. Mine came free with my aids. They’re relatively inexpensive. Hospitals also have electical outlets. It would have been easy to bring your charger with you. I don’t see what the problem was…
In this example, it was an emergency room visit that turned into a hospital stay, long distance to home, had to stay at the hospital with my spouse. rechargeable would have left him SOL. He needed emergency surgery. sometimes unplanned for events happen. the hospital did have phone chargers so I was able to charge the phone when it ran down. Hearing aids charger box. NO
The chargers for hearing aids use the same cable as your mobile phone and they recharge really fast. Not sure what the issue is given you have the same issue with your phone and most phones don’t stay charged for much longer than your rechargeable hearing aids.
Jordan
you have to have the recharger box with you ! It isn’t just the cord
As we approach another (pointless in my mind) discussion about rechargeable hearing aids that will reach 100 posts, I really don’t get it. Both can work. Both have pluses and minuses. Most of the minuses can be mitigated. If your aids are mission critical, you need to learn to carry a charger with you, just as you carry batteries with you.
Yeah @MDB, it gets folks dander up, rechargeable v disposable, it is always going to be contentious, lots of folks love their rechargeable aids, and rightly so, if they suit your lifestyle, and their hearing loss, then they are an obvious choice… For me personally, I detest rechargeable aids in their present design, for many reasons they are inferior to the disposable battery version, one of which is their tendency to shut down in “Sub Zero” temperatures, these Li-on reachable aids have a BMS (Battery Management System) they will switch off, and not reboot until replaced in the charger, this happened to me on 2 separate occasions whilst out in the sticks, working in challenging circumstances, it is a known issue with Phonak rechargeable aids, in fact, Phonak replaced the M90 rechargeable aids, with M90 disposable p13’s, even though I was outside the 60 day trial period, with no quibble whatsoever… Which tells me, they know all about this issue… In truth, a M90 p13 with 105db RIC’s doesn’t quite cut it any more with my loss, and as far as I am aware, a rechargeable UP or SP aids from Phonak has yet to be developed, or indeed any of the other top 6 manufacturers? So the Naida UP with 675 batteries, is the only obvious weapon of choice, at present… I suffer from severe anxiety, a legacy from 2 bouts of Sepsis, which caused PTSD, or sometimes called Sepsis Syndrome, and perhaps the last thing I need is any range anxiety with hearing aids… Cheers Kev 
I understand, batteries are by far the safest option for ALWAYS. having working hearing aids.