Anyone knows the technical brand and model of specsaver’s Advance Elite hearing aid? Any link would be appreciated.
Cheers
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I might be completely wrong but I just looked them up and it says direct Bluetooth streaming to either iPhone or Android.
As far as I know, the only hearing aid brand that allows that is Phonak.
Obviously they are re-branded phonak marvel, but the Resound Quattro is also streaming to both.
Specsavers have more than one manufacturer of Advance Elite. Phonak, Siemens and Resound.
The last time I enquired, and that was last summer, if memory serves, it was the Phonak Marvel. You can just ring them up and they will tell you. I am wondering now, if this white label hearing aid is by now the Paradise aid. That could be good value.
And Unitron.
They used to say it was a white label brand that used the Unitron software. You could easily check by asking to see whether the programming screen is green or blue.
Personally, I’d prefer you to buy your hearing aids from somewhere that pays tax in the U.K., as deeply unfashionable as that is these days for big companies.
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PHONAK are current ‘ownbrand’ for Specsavers (Ireland) I believe. Five yrs ago it was Siemens.
I’ve just started a trial with Specsavers Advance Elite. I was told by the fitter that it was Phonak Marvel 90, but the instructions and charger clearly show that it’s made by Unitron (part of the same holding company, but a different range of hearing products). That explains why I’m not getting the same functionality as I expected, particularly on Bluetooth where I can’t get multiple devices simultaneously.
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You cannot connect to multiple devices simultaneously with the Phonak Marvel. You have to manually disconnect from one, and then connect to the other. I understand that you can however connect to up to 8 with the Phonak Paradise, and 2 simultaneously.
Your information is interesting though. As you say, Unitron is part of Sonova, so it’s Phonak level quality. I asked Specsavers around 18 months ago about the Elite and they did say it was the Marvel at the time - this may mean there are variations in supply, or I had the wrong information to start off with.
Ahh… yes. I’ve just seen the post from @Um_bongo above. He confirmed that Unitron is also a supplier of this aid.
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How did you find the elite spec savers hearing aids in general please. Thanks mac
In the end I returned the hearing aids, and have gone over to using Nuheara IQbuds2 Max.
I tried upgrading to the phonak p90s for an extra £500, and the blutooth was better. Then we changed the in-ear receiver to exclude a bit more natural, direct sound, which did improve things a bit.
Specsavers were good and gave a full refund without quibble.
It seems that me hearing loss was too mild for that sort of system to work. I only really needed them for restaurant type environments.
I recommend the Nuheara buds. They are a completely different type of technology, and about a tenth of the price – expensive for buds but cheep for hearing aids!
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My new audi explained it a while ago. I think she said the chipset in the Advance range is the Phonak Paradise one, but she also mentioned Unitron and Sonova. I think Sonova make both Phonak and Unitron. The remote app is the Unitron one. I am in New Zealand so don’t know if it’s the same as in other parts of the world. Specsavers only recently started doing hearing aids here.
I am currently trialing the Advance Super, which she says are the same as the Phonak P-70.
Earlier this year I trialled the Phonak M-50’s and M-70’s from another hearing aid retailer.
I have mixed hearing loss, up to severe in the right ear.
I am sure the Advance Super isn’t as powerful in the right ear as the Phonak M50/M70’s were. It’s not even as powerful as my old Resound Linx2. They don’t have the same depth. In the left ear, which has better hearing, they are great. I am wondering if it’s something to do with microphone positions. I read that these changed from the Marvel to the Paradise.