The low energy bluetooth streaming ala ‘Made for Apple’ and some of the the newest Androids is better than standard bluetooth. The energy consumption is less. I find it more stable. I tried Marvel and went BACK to Quattro…but to the BTE Quattro. For me, RIC/RITE aids are a needless pain in the rear. Receiver durability was absolute crap. …both Resound and Phonak. Earmolds last and last.
I havent tried Widex, and I will not be for now. Resound’s accessory line works perfect for me.
Phonak’s Marvel is a wonderful hearing aid…don’t get me wrong. Oticon, Phonak, and Resound are all right there together. All make great hearing aids. I have been wearing them for 43 years.
Marvel does stream standard bluetooth and does it very well. It does use the hearing aid microphones as your ‘earpiece’ mic when you are on the phone. In a quiet environment is is awesome. In noise, it is utterly useless. I use Resound’s phone clip for my 2 way radio at work. It works well with the phone clip acting as my radio microphone…as long as it isn’t too noisy. The Phone Clip microphone has issues with loud noise…not automobile noise…which the marvel has a hard time with…but factory…wearing earplug type noisy environments. So I simply use a regular microphone on the radio. The Radio allows me to select to use the bluetooth mic or the radio mic…I use the radio mic…by extension the wired external mic.
As for batteries… I got into the rechargeable side with Quattro RIC and Marvel…and I liked it. Oh to be free of changing batteries!!! However, while Resound handled my 12 hours of streaming in a shift plus about 6 more hours…Phonak Marvel…not so much… I went back to Resound but to the BTE version of the quattro which didnt come in a rechargeable…I was SOOOO sad. UNTIL!!! Batteries are so cheap now!!! Then even with 48 hours streaming a week…my size 13 is lasting 8 days!!! I pop a battery in and go!!! I felt absolutely liberated. I found that rechargeable in a hearing aid is a hassle…but Resound is better with their rechargeable system. They use a compact inductive charger… Phonak uses a charger with contacts. Folks - Induction charging is what you want. No physical contact parts to wear out. I use wireless charging on my iphone, my Apple watch, and I wish it were available for my iPad Pro. The charge port has historically been the bane of every rechargeable thing…the smaller - the more so…
So…
Marvel battery life… if you stream…six hours a day and charge nightly…you will be fine.