#41

I get that taking them out to recharge would still be an issue, but I’m skeptical that a month’s worth of extra batteries is cheaper, easier to obtain, or takes up less space than a charging brick that holds a month’s worth of charges. It’s a catch-22, though, because testing that would require letting my aids get deader than a doornail way too many times.

#42

Battery technology is advancing quickly through, we’re not seeing it hit the market yet. I wouldn’t be surprised to see rechargeable HA batteries that last over a week and are even smaller and lighter in the next couple of years.

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#43

My daydream for now …

Even a full 24 hours would give me 7 more hours on a charge than I currently get. And I’m by no means streaming anything more than 3 hours a day, including phone calls and TV.

1 Like
#44

A month’s worth of size 13 hearing aid batteries is eight batteries, weighing a total of six and a half grams or a quarter of an ounce. They cost, from reputable online sources, around two and a half US dollars. At Costco, last time I bought there, they cost around a dollar and a half. Zinc-air batteries, as old as they are, are amazing technology.

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#45

I stand corrected! Sorry, I never used battery HAs, so I honestly thought they were more expensive.

Related question: What did battery users do in 2020 when the global supply chain was turned on its head? I wasn’t using aids then, so I never thought about it, but there were shortages of everything! If I’d been reliant on batteries back then, I might have gotten pretty nervous.

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#46

I tend to bulk buy my replaceable batteries, they are date stamped on their packets, but at any given time, I will have a year or more supplies on hand… I stock up on 2 types, 675 & 13 batteries, I am fortunate enough to have 3 good sets of aids, I always take a six pack with me everywhere, if I am going out… 675 batteries last me, 10 to 14 days, depending on the amount of streaming I am doing, a six pack will give me approximately 30 to 40 days average supply… Zinc batteries are air activated, so once you pull the tab, they start to deplete, they usually last a couple of years or more, when still sealed in their dormant state… Although occasionally, I will find some that are much older,(years older) they usually still fire up when you pull the tab! Here in the UK, the NHS supply hearing aid batteries free, at point of service, but I prefer to buy my own, it’s more convenient, and saves me a 40 odd miles round trip to pick them up, every Chemist/Drug Store has them, every hospital has a supply, I have never noticed any supply shortages, Rayvac 675’s usually cost around £16 for a pack of 60 batteries via Amazon, that’s about 8 months worth, I tend to now go for Duracell, slightly more expensive (£23 for 60) but I prefer to buy the best… Not that there is anything wrong with Rayvac. Cheers Kev :wink:

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#47

Sorry, I responded earlier but I did not understand your question. I thought you were talking about charging them when the power is out. It looks like you are actually talking about them being dead during an actual emergency.

Obviously everyone’s usage is different, and maybe I have had a good experience because my loss is mild/moderate, but I can truly say that in the year that I have had rechargeable batteries, they have never gone dead. The only time they came close was when there was a problem with the firmware & connectivity and they almost ran out once, but since I had that fixed this is not an issue. I wear them for 16- 17 hours a day, and when I put them in the charger they still have usually 20-35 percent battery left. If the emergency happened right when I was going to bed that would be worse case, but I would still have time to figure out what was happening and get sorted, while grabbing my smart charger and charging them (possibly one at a time, depending on need) as soon as I could. It doesn’t take long to get a charge good for a couple of hours. If it happened during the night while I was asleep, my HAs would already be at least partly charged, giving power for at least a few hours, enough to figure out a time to charge them more fully.

If I contrast that to my last set which were battery powered, I did have several times where I forgot (or the batteries were weak) to break out new batteries before the other ones were dead and I didn’t have new ones convenient. One such time I was on a road trip and had new batteries in my luggage in the back of the car, but none on me. Another time I had intended to run out of the house quickly, and just forgot to grab extras.

Again, I understand that people’s experience may vary and I might be lucky. But I will add that I was hesitant about going to rechargeables, but decided to try them (I did have the option) and have found them to be much better than I expected and my nervousness about them turned out to be for nothing.

4 Likes
#48

When I got NHS batteries, I had bulk but the time spent to go and get them was too much for me so I have a habit of just buying 1 x pack only.

Properly should buy in bulk.

Yes this is my question. :slight_smile:

I’ve heard many people who listen to too much Bluetooth, their rechargables Aids don’t last the whole day.

My DataLogging showed 93% of the time, I’m using Bluetooth.

Think @DaveL had the issue when attending the hospital unexpectedly and his rechargeables Aids didn’t have enough power as it was late in the evening.

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#49

How much do individual packs cost where you are? At a drugstore here, the unit price of batteries in individual retail packs is a dollar or more. Like I said in my post above, online is a fraction of that (prices in that post are for eight batteries).

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#50

@x475aws

I pay around £2 for Rayovac 6 batteries in a pack.

Think that’s around $3?

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#51

yeah, but if I remember that situation, either he didn’t have a smart charger or he forgot it. That really isn’t a lot different than forgetting extra batteries in an emergency - it can happen. In a situation like that you could charge (even one at a time) while driving to the hospital, waiting to talk to a dr, etc. I’m not saying it is ideal, but if might not be as bad as you are imagining. I have found it much easier to deal with than I expected. But like I said, I know everyone has different experiences so I’m not trying to suggest that the rechargables are better for everyone. Have you considered switching to a brand that still offers disposable batteries (i.e. I know Oticon still does, even on the latest models, not sure what other ones do)

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#52

If we use any kind of technology that we are dependent on, it behooves us to have a backup plan. How much effort one puts into backup depends on how dependent we are on the tech. One “backup plan” that is seldom discussed is to communicate in writing.

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#53

Yeah @x475aws… Everything in the UK is usually more expensive than the USA, although hearing aids tend to be much cheaper, mainly because of the stiff competition from the NHS free aids, or perhaps not free, we pay a national insurance contribution, which also pays for our health services, and government pensions… Around £2 for a 6 pack of batteries, if you bulk buy from Amazon, (they have recently increased their prices) and probably more from a Drug Store? Although, it has been many years since I bought a single pack… Cheers Kev :wink:

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#54

Here is my take if you prefer rechargeable hearing aids as I do then wear them and learn how to manage difficult times. If you don’t like rechargeable aids that is great too. But why the hack so much arguing?

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#55

If you have rechargeable hearing aids and you can’t charge them there. You can buy a case like this and use classic alkaline batteries that are available everywhere in the store. This is an idea if you are not able to charge the powerbank

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#56

Price in retail store vs. online is what I was wondering about. You pay £2.00 in a store, and Amazon UK has 10 of those for £14.99. So the penalty for being unprepared, or not having enough money to buy in bulk, is only a 1/3 increase in price where you live. Here in the US, retail store price for hearing aid batteries can be 3x or 4x the Amazon price.

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#57

Oh in store is really hard to get any type of hearing aid battery.

Boots sell a pack of 6 for something silly like £8.

£2 is online with free shipping.

I can afford to buy in bulk but I’m not staying in one place at the moment so I have to carry them and make sure they don’t get wet etc or even damaged.

I have 2 x waterproof battery containers for hearing aid batteries. Each one holds 3 inside.

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#58

I’m not arguing, I’m advocating and informing. The industry would be glad to go entirely rechargeable, and that wouldn’t be good for us hard-of-hearing. So when I see a chance to dispel misconceptions, I take it. With this site being the premier source for info and discussion about hearing aids, I figure it’s the place to be heard by other hearing aid users and, I suspect, by the industry also.

All the posts giving workarounds for problems with rechargeables are certainly helpful and in the spirit of the community here. But when the message is “make it work and stop complaining”, that’s doing the industry’s work for them, and I don’t understand why anyone would want to do that.

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#59

I personally disagree i love my rechargeable hearing aids, i just but my aids in my ears in the mornings and forget about them until bedtime. Then i put them in the charger until morning. And repeat. My charger charges my aids and dries them all at the same time.

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#60

It wasn’t @DaveL, it was a user who has since been kicked off this site.

Extra batteries vs. a charger are different in more than one way. For one thing, batteries are so small that it’s no trouble to carry them around all the time, as long as you wear clothing with pockets. If you carry them all the time, you don’t have to remember them in an emergency.

Another thing is that batteries are a standard commodity stocked in many places, while a hearing aid charger is a custom item specific to your particular aids, and harder to obtain.