I see it as a cross between Pen and Select. More microphones and an updated Multibeam technology (Multibeam 2.0)
Hi all - I’m happy to help explain anything about KS9s and Roger, but looks like it all got covered above. I can say that when the licenses are installed in the KS9, Roger works really well. Getting hold of the roger installer is the hard part - I got very lucky that another forum user was selling one. My best use case is a daughter who rides horses while I am on foot through various tracks. She wears the Roger microphone, and it’s as clear as a bell to me - even if she is 10 meters up the trail. Without it she may as well be whispering in the wind!
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I’m considering purchasing a used/refurbished Roger Select IN unit. Does any one have a guess as to how hard or easy it might be to replace the rechargeable battery? I ask since I imagine that the battery as sold might fail to hold decent charge within 1.5 years of purchase.
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Does the unit work while in the holder being recharged?
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While not that likely I’d go for the newest Roger ON (about $1,500 with two licenses) I see that the item as predicted about is kind of a combo of the Roger Select and Roger Pen. In table mode can anyone compare the new Roger ON with the slightly older Roger Select? (It’d seem that the Select with its 6 mics in a circle versus a 3+1 mic pattern for ON might give the Select an advantage, BUT the processing of mic inputs for ON might still make it superior??).
Thanks, as all of you know Phonak makes info about Roger opaque and uses (seemingly intentionally confusing) naming of the parts of a system and compatibility. Fortunately it seems that the functionality is quite good to very good and so I am tempted to dip my toe in the water, especially at a reduced/used price.
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@Zebras much thanks.
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so that implies that once the Li-Po battery “dies” it is probably not replaceable?
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Interestingly the Phonak Roger ON user PDF manual clearly states and points in the graphic to 4 mics (3 next to each other in a line and then 1 on same surface but toward other edge of case).
Not sure why my search on “Roger ON” did not show the very helpful thread in Assistive Devices where I learned that the Roger ON (like the Roger Pen 1.1) has a narrow mic beam angle and thus are much more effective in isolating a speaker/audio source than the Select when the later has only 1 mic active. I think I’D give up on trying to understand and get basic info on many Phonak things if it were not for this wonderful forum that usually drills down and gets to a consensus of facts - a real rarity these days!
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@Zebras, again thanks. Anyone reading this thread should do search on “Roger” on the subforum here for Assitive Living - there are several good threads with info about Roger devices. Those did not come up for me when doing a general search on Hearingtracker. My own tentative conclusion after reading for hours: For my needs (some listening in group with say up to 7 others at a meal/meeting with noise in background) that buying Roger Select with two licenses for about $600 on Ebay is fairly good value versus buying new for about $1,300 or buying the even better Roger ON with licenses for about $1,500. Roger ON seems to be somewhat better (and is newer) technology and in Pointer mode has a narrower beam angle than Select and is more effective in picking out a single person e.g. the typical social hour with people roaming around for small group to group. If the latter is a need the purchase used of a Roger Pen 1.1 withOUT licenses for <$100 would give a similar narrow beam angle.
The big downside of buying used from reseller (versus directly from prior owner) is that it is virtually impossible to guess at how much use the device has had AND whether the rechargeable battery has been well taken care of. On one thread it was finally noted by someone with direct Phonak contact that it is possible for Phonak to replace the Li-Po battery (and conjecture is that they’d charge a lot to do so) AND most likely one would need to submit it via an Aud (which is not possible for me having my HAs from Costco and they do not deal with Roger accessories). The life expectancy of the Roger Select battery is “probably” 5 years and might be several years longer than that if not used heavily e.g. only say 5-7 hours per week. It definitely seems like a risk of $600 if one gets a used one with very poor battery. Purchasing used and then testing charge/discharge characteristics with a volt meter probably would provide some info and if there is 30 day return with only shipping charges then that might give some comfort. I have only seen one Select for sale on Classified forum on this website.