My biggest pain points started when I realized how little I knew about hearing aids and started to investigate 5 hearing aids for the best speech performance, affordability, support and features that enhance the experience (e.g., Philips Soundmap 2, Jabra Impulse noise reduction).
There’s a lot of info to sift through e.g., some companies nickel and dime you to death (extra for chargers, extra for “premium” support, extra for cleaning, Some audiologists will not do Real Ear Measurements (REM) and offer only 1 year of support after which you are charged. One provider even priced a pair very high and then stated it was for ONE ear only. Thorough reviews are hard to find although I like Hearing Trackers approach. It helped me a lot.
After three weeks of spreadsheeting we decided to use Costco because they sell quality HAs for a reasonable price and give us a 6 months trial period and a 3-year warranty. IMHO that’s a very good deal. OK, sometimes I may have to wait for an appointment but at least I can talk to a live person without having to spend over $4,000 for an HA that may only last 3-5 years with Telehealth support that may be less than perfect.
Costco let us demo the HAs in store after getting a thorough test with three methods of testing that provided us with a very nice audiogram that we could share with other manufacturers.
My wife likes the Costco Philips Hearlink 9040 and I like the Jabra EP 20. The pricing is straightforward and reasonable.