Phonak VS Unitron. Issues comparison

Hearing Aids
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#1

Hi all, I’m going to purchase a couple of hearing aids and I’d like to evaluate these 2 European brands that belong to Sonova.

I know this would be a too wide comparison to make so I only ask you your “negative” experiences to establish which ones, phonak or unitron HAs, gave you more issues/problems on a “statistic” base, eg. if they’re tough enough or not to resist to your sweat, sun heat, moisture, humidity and so on, to try to understand the difference in quality between these 2 brands if any, in other words I’d like to understand which one will work without issues for the longest time.

I had been using ric widex HAs (“passion” model) and it was a mess because since 2017 I had to replace electronic boards 3 times and receivers 2 times in total. My judgement is widex electronics is too weak though its sound quality is excellent.

I asked a couple of audiologists and they said phonak electronics is better, due to that its HAs cost more. Basically I don’t trust who wants to get as money as possible from me so I ask you :slight_smile:

#2

My understanding is Phonak or Unitron are pretty much the same since they are part of Sonova group.
I guess they share the same platforms for various HA and use pretty much the same accessories including Roger accessories.
I was on the same boat as you, but I found a good deal on Phonak Naida on the net; Unitron are a bit hard to buy outside a hearing care professional (me thinking).
In term of negatives, I believe they’re on part with all major brands like Oticon Signia Widex Starkey…, each one has its + & -
Bearing in mind you could get 4 years (or 5) warranty, which is always good for servicing the HA in case of failure.
From DIY point of view, Phonak has got a better user friendly software if you want to go that route.
Also, you can find Phonak’s HA on Ebay if you want to shop around.
For humidity and moisture, your best option is to use a HA dryer (like PerfectDry LUX), this will certainly help.
Good luck

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#3

Can I ask you this link?

So the fact phonak HAs are more expensive than unitron ones (comparing each one with its counterpart with the same features of course) is only due to a “fashion” matter, isn’t it?

#4
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#5

Unitron Hearing is based in Canada.

Both Sonova brands use chassis and electronics from the same factories and suppliers.

There’s subtle differences in the tuning technology and software. The hardware is practically identical.

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#6

The pricing difference is down to badges, brand and market segmentation: just like the difference between some motor manufacturers under Stellantis or VAG.

2 Likes
#7

All right, it’s only a world wide market matter.

I’d like to ask you here another question about Unitron because it’s a sort of mystery for me! Does Unitron Moxi V-312 exist? If you go to Unitron website and search it then it appears here as the 1st on the left but it doesn’t appear in the user guides at the bottom of the page, indeed if you open the PDFs there’s no 312 battery model but only R and RT models. Moreover if you search it on google you can only get “Moxi V-312 FLEX”. That’s a mystery for me!

#8

In Canada market there is no Moxi V- 312. You can only find Moxi V rechargeable.

#9

I’ve just visited the unitron url I linked in my previous post again and… now the moxi v-312 guide pdf appears on the bottom of the page here! I could bet my money that it weren’t present when I wrote my previous post!
Anyway a 2nd mystery goes on: there’s no moxi v-312 hearing gain graph in “Fitting ranges” though there’re both moxi v-r and moxi v-rt ones! In this case we can guess receivers’ gains are the same for these 3 models but it’s not sure anyway.

#10

The flex system allows the practitioner to adjust between technology levels on the same hearing aid. The historical product is the Moxi: which is in either the teardrop (Telecoil or no Telecoil) or the longer design (V-RS)

It’s all on this page - Vivante

#11

All right but… 1) why is there no specs sheet about moxi v-312 (anyhow I couldn’t find it) and no hearing gain graph? 2) why was there no user guide 4 days ago?
Moreover at page 2 of moxi v-312 user guide we can read “Moxi V1-312*”, where “*” stands for “*not available in all markets”. Is it possible to know in which markets the “V1” is available?

#12

Moxi V-312 is coming to Canada soon… in the next month or so?

#13

The Phonak/Unitron frame and phone app are also available by mail in the US from Audicus. Five months ago I selected the Audicus Omni 2, the top of their line. Rather than put cash on the line I chose to rent them for $149 per month. Included are: cancel anytime, new pair every 18 months, all supplies included, remote reprogramming for new curves, repairs with loaners, replacement for damage or loss, great phone or email handholding, monthly charge to my credit card. So easy and they work a treat.