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REXTON REACH REVIEW AFTER ~3 months
I am a first-time hearing aid wearer, male, 58 with moderate high-frequency loss. I am wearing Rexton Reach hearing aids with open domes. These are behind-the-ear type from Costco, $ 1500.
(Open domes are the little rubber speaker fittings in your ears. Open ones have holes that allow outside sounds in. They are easily changeable)
First: I really like these HA's. They have been an amazing help for me. I wear them most of my waking hours.
Do they work?
These things do what they're supposed to do very well. Sound quality: They provide balanced help for my hearing. They rarely seem too loud or tinny. I definitely forget they are on. When I don't have them on sounds seem dull and single dimensional. I can hear birds, paper rustling, feet shuffling. My desktop printer at work is loud.
An interesting thing is that they improve all frequency sources. Even lower male voices are easier to understand. I think its because many sound sources have inflection and a variety of frequency sounds. Things seem a lot more garbled without the hearing aids.
2. Size:
They are small. A couple times while having dinner out with my wife and friends and I tell them that I got hearing aids (figuring it may be the elephant in the room that no one wants to mention they noticed). Most say, "really? I didn't notice until just now". My 5-year-old granddaughter did say "Pop, there's a string going in your ear" I told her what it was for and she gave me an impromptu hearing test covering her mouth while walking around the room asking if I could hear her.
3. Battery Life:
They came with a USB-C travel-type charger/case. It can fit in your pocket and is larger than an Airpod case--about the size of a wallet. I wear them all day and they are usually 70-80% charged at the end of the day. I haven't tested them out to see how long I could go. I assume 2 days+
4. Bluetooth:
The Bluetooth functionality probably works as well as other hearing aids I've read about. They are not a good replacement for earbuds. I have open domes, so the outside sounds are not cut off. They are ok for finishing a podcast I was listening to in the car or putting some music on while I tend the grill. Due to the setup of amplifying mostly high frequencies, the sound doesn't seem full; little bass. I don't use them for phone calls. due to the open domes, I would need to turn them up a lot, I think. I'm accustomed to using my iPhone speaker when in my office. I didn't get these for this purpose and while I wear earbuds walking for exercise I have never been a Bluetooth headset guy.
5. Induction loop (telecoil) and Auracast
These hearing aids are set up to pick up the broadcast signal from these two systems (auraloop is new and not available in many places). I turned on the Induction loop at a play to test it out. It worked! it broadcasts the play in my ear. However, my wife could hear it, sitting next to me and said it sounded like a transistor radio (I think due to the open domes/speakers). I turned it off. I could hear the play just fine in the normal mode and don't require this feature.
6, Mode Setting
The hearing aids can be set up with multiple mode settings like: Party, Outdoor, and Television. I leave mine on Automatic. I can hardly tell a difference when I've played around with the modes. It seems a little gimmicky to me.
7. Phone App
The app is good and stable. You can adjust the volume, mode, sound balance, tone, directionality of sound, and other things. The settings are temporary and will reset to your defaults when you charge them. While you can't screw up your hearing aid settings, you can't dig deep into what the technician or audiologist did to set them up for you. It seems like they are set up for an old grandma, not a cool young tech-savvy 58-year-old dude like me. (lol, ahem).
8. Possible Improvements (humbly submitted):
You cannot turn the hearing aids off with the phone app. You can turn the volume to 0. But if I take them off without the charger case you have to turn them off with the tiny buttons or they'll sit on your nightstand and squeal from feedback (if the volume is still up).
If you drop one on the carpet and can't find it, they provide no help. No "find my hearing aid" no beeping like my TV remote that got pushed inside the recliner. On day two I dropped one and it bounced; then after 20 minutes of panic, I found it hanging in the springs on the bottom of a chair. Give me some way to help find a wayward hearing aid, man!
9. My limitations
I hear so much better with these hearing aids and am infinitely grateful. I still have trouble understanding some people, sometimes. I think I may have a slight cognitive issue with putting sounds together at times. I still do ask people to repeat themselves occasionally. I hear them, but can't tell what they said. It's not a big deal and its not every day. Maybe I need to pay better attention. I mention this because the hearing aids do their job well but have not turned me into a super hearing and understanding machine.
10. Overall
The Rexton Reach hearing aids are the only ones I've known. I adapted to them in a day and do not want to take them off. They are not perfect but do what they are intended to do. I recommend them.
I joined Costco just to utilize their hearing aid center. I had an exam earlier this week, tried on a couple HA's--scheduled a consultation today and got them on order. I went with the intent of ordering Jabra Enhance Pro 20. Tried both them and the Rexton Reach (yes, they are now offering them). The Rexton had a warm natural sound while I thought the Jabra sounded a bit sharp, maybe tinny) The Jabra also picked up some extraneous ruffling and breathing, even with some adjustment. Both were programmed to my profile. The Rexton model, seemed like a good helper for my mild/moderate higher frequency loss, not a loudspeaker. The Reach has both a t coil and the capacity for future Bluetooth LE (Auracast), which I felt like covered all the bases for church, plays and auditoriums. I'll be pairing it with an Iphone, which I understand is the most reliable for bt listening and communication. The cost was $1500. I'll have them in about two weeks and have an appointment to set them up there.
Fingers Crossed--I hope I made a good decision.