I wonder what exactly “full streaming” means. Could be that there is some sort of level of use scale they use. Who knows.
If Phonak say the battery on the Belong does not need to ever be changed then there seems little reason for them to have a plan to change it. Even if you could send it back to the manufacturer for them to change it that would involve down time without aids.
For a rechargable aid to work for me it would need to last 48-72 hours with moderate streaming use and be able to have a non-rechargeable battery switched in when the rechargable dies at a critical time and a replacement rechargable battery available for purchase when the battery life starts to shorten. Those things would not be negotiable for me.
iPhone - with my average use will go 48-72 hours between charges - a week plus on standby - specs say 50 hours audio playback
iPad - at least 2 days average use on one charge - much more on standby
No one uses those devices as many hours per day as we may need to be able to use hearing aids. Hardly anyone would talk on the phone for 16 hour straight very day.
My point is if a rechargeable cannot do a lot better than the 24 hours then I don’t want them. I am quite happy with non-rechargeables.
On Saturday I did a night cycle ride to the coast, 127 miles about 3000 people took part, great fun. I was awake (just about) for 38 hours. If the rechargeable aids can’t manage this admittedly very unusual case I don’t want them. I also work a night shift most weeks and that can mean I’m awake for a straight 26 hours.
Rechargeable batteries might be great for most people but they wouldn’t be for me.
IMO, going so long on standby doesnt really count. Big deal, if I charged my current binax carat pures and never used them who knows how long the battery will last.
If these primax will do a solid 24 hours while streaming that is a huge inprove not to mention the usb charging option.
24 hours is the wrong divisor. 16 hours is the average wearing day. 48 hours would let you get away for the weekend without having to drag a charger along.
What I find a problem isn’t the duration. Aids going into a charger overnight is something simple to get use to. If you’ve a sedentary lifestyle, should work out well. If you travel it starts to get annoying. You have one more thing to drag along and a huge penalty box if you forget – no drug store replacements allowed here.
What does rechargable give you? The pro is maybe 5 minutes a week and $30-40 a year. The con is a sealed unit that must go to a local or distant site for battery replacement leaving you without your aids for the duration.
You’ve got to be awfully cheap or awfully time-constrained to see much of a benefit.
Agree, 24 hours is way more than is needed for a rechargeable. That assures you it will not go down at the wrong time. Other things get charged every night and taking the charger or USB battery pack with you when traveling is not a big deal.
I work 24 hour shifts - most shifts I will get some sleep but it is not predictable. Absolutely not ok to run out of battery in the middle of dealing with an emergency. And I work 2 of those shifts per week so “travel” 2 days a week. You should also remember that the batteries do not retain full capacity for the whole of their life so wear time will reduce.
They may work fine for the average retiree but there are lots of us still working and everyone has different needs.
For a phone being on standby is normal use. Use varies from standby to calls to streaming to video/audio playback to surfing the net. Manufacturers give their info for each type of use but reality will be a combination. In a similar way HAs will vary with the user environment, streaming etc. Standby is not a normal use for a HA. HAs with rechargables would need to cater for all the different patterns of use and hearing loss.
One of the biggest complaints I hear about mobiles is that the battery ran out at an inconvenient time. That is why those extra power packs sell. But you can use the phone while it is charging once it has enough charge to power on. You cannot do that with HAs.
It would be interesting to hear from someone who has tested the limits of those primax aids. How long they stream and how long until the battery runs out under what conditions?
Although I do not work 24 hr. shifts if I forgot to charge or there is an issue with the charger I would not be able to get by without a charge rendering the HA useless so with profound loss it would be a sick day when I could walk across the street to pick up new regular batteries.
Sorry keep the rechargeables.
I can take over 1500 pictures on my camera without a charge and will be only half way down and it will last for months. I also carry a spare just in case. Can the technology allow for a spare that will hold a charge for an extended time?
Almost everyone working would be fine with less than a 24 hour battery life. A 24 hour shift would apply to a very small percentage of people. But, a fully charged hearing aid at the beginning of the shift, plus an hour or two charge here and there during the shift would get you more than enough hours. The 24 hour battery life is a pretty big advancement so I wouldn’t expect much more than that for a while.
A 24 hour shift can mean awake for 24 hours. It does not matter how often that occurs. If still happens and when it does handover means it is more like 25 hours. I am well aware that others do not work similar hours but it still means that I will not buy HAs that only last 24 hours and cannot be used with nonrechargables. Just because others have different needs that does not mean that HAs should not cater for all needs. I will stick with ones that use nonrechargables. I just hope that the rechargeable fad does not become ubiquitous.
If the battery technology was available… but it aint. So, if you are special and work 24 hour shifts than rechargeable batteries arent for you but for the vast majority of folks knowing they can stream all day and not worry they will come up short at the end of the day is good news. The charging via USB is gravy on top.
I’m retired now, but many of my purchases are still based on what I needed when working. Long hours with most of that time on the phone were pretty routine for me. I had to use a headset so I had both hands free. Partly for that reason, several items would have to be present before rechargeable would interest me.
At least 24 hours of battery life with heavy streaming.
The ability to answer a call and carry on a conversation without ever touching the phone. A streaming device would be OK (with similar battery life). A noise cancelling mic would be a huge plus.
Inductive charging. It's unacceptable to have charging contacts burn up or plastic melting just because the charger malfunctions.
The charger needs to either include a dryer or have it as an optional accessory. Failing that, the manufacturer should have a 100% replacement guarantee for the life of the HAs (5 to 10 years).
In case the battery or charger fails, must have the ability for the user to remove the battery and substitute standard HA batteries.
Maybe I expect too much, but those are my requirements.
For me it would be more of a convenience thing. I’ve tried changing my batteries on a schedule, but I find that my usage can vary by a couple of days. Depends on whether or not I’m doing a lot of streaming and a lot of phone calls. So I have fallen back to just changing them when they die. I keep a pack of batteries with me at work, and my wife keeps a pack in her purse, so it usually isn’t a big deal. Once I had to stop at Walmart and pick up a pack.
With rechargeables, I would like the convenience of never having my batteries die. I was thinking of going that route, until I heard they last about 16 hours. With my 12 hour work shift I felt that was cutting it too close. If they could guarantee me 24 hours, even with streaming, I’d jump on it. And the USB charger makes it even more attractive.
So it’s not about budget or time, it’s about convenience.
Phonak told me that anytime BR hearing aids go in to the mfg for repair during the warranty period, Phonak’s going to replace the battery as part of a routine service, so battery failures are unlikely. If you do get a failure and you are out of your warranty period, Phonaks gonna charge the hearing provider what they do for any other type of repair.
I think the battery technology has a long way to go, because of the relatively high capacity of zinc-air cells (i.e. the normal kind for HAs).
For example, the spec sheet for ZPower’s silver-zinc rechargeable size 13 HA cell says the full-charge capacity is 40 mAh. On the other hand, a Duracell size 13 zinc-air cell – like one you buy at the corner drug store – has a listed capacity of 290 mAh.
In other words, a “normal” disposable hearing aid battery has about 7 times the capacity of the cutting-edge technology in rechargeable HA cells (which means it will last 7 times longer, more or less).
So the manufacturers’ claims of 24 or 72 hours or whatever don’t seem all that persuasive to me, when whatever that number is, a cheap disposable cell will beat it by a factor of seven.
[Edit] ZPower’s promotional material also touts a lifetime of 400 charge/discharge cycles “without losing significant energy.” Being generous about what “significant” means, this means that if you put the HAs in the charger every night, you’ll only get a year out of the batteries.
[and another…] If ZPower, a highly reputable manufacturer of batteries of this type, makes cells like this, why on Earth is the whole thing set up so you have to send your aids in to the manufacturer to have the rechargeable cells replaced? I mean, when they wear out, you could just pop in new ones. [Insert standard derogatory comment about how crooked the HA industry is.]
[and another…] Manufacturers are unlikely – IMO – to want to engineer aids that accept either type of cell, since the two chemistries have different nominal voltages (1.55 for silver-zinc, and 1.4 for zinc-air). But I could be wrong about that.
Batteries seem to be a work-in-process at this point. The battery field is more dynamic than in the past. The 13 battery for aids has twice the power over the 312. Sealing the battery would have the benefit of removing a moisture entry point; so I wouldn’t say that’s all bad.
The recent claim is for two days of use. That’d seem to make the process acceptable to those will to charge nightly as it would assure a full day heavy use. Some older users and others with neurological problems might see a benefit others wouldn’t.
One manufacturer is touting all that. Personally, change the battery every so often isn’t a problem for me and neither is the cost. If I went to rechargeable, I’d consider it trading one minor thing for another. I do find charging for out of warranty repair by the manufacturer a problem. Current cost for that is around $350 in most cases. If they do charge that, you’d end up in the 4th year with the most expensive battery ever sold.