Phonak Brio 4 Hearing Aid

The Phonak 4.1 hasn’t worked correctly since I got them. The sound keeps on reducing and becomes unclear. I have to constantly open the battery door and close the battery door to get some sound but have to wait for 20 minutes or so to get the volume up. They have had the boards inside the aids replaced at least 6 time. It is so sad that I know everyone at Costco that works in that department by their first name. I don’t recommend them to anybody. 

For me, the main issue I have with the Costco/Phonak hearing aids and app is connectivity!  I don't understand why the app can't stay connected to both the phone and hearing aids as long as their within distance of each other.  So, as it is, if I want to change hearing aid settings I have to wait for the app to reconnect, which (by the way) is usually very slow. In fact sometimes you have to reboot either or both the phone and hearing aids. What a pain, and unnecessarily so!  This makes no sense.  My watch stays connected to my phone, so why can't my hearing aids do the same? 

As a hearing aid it was great - however as a Bluetooth device it sucked!   It uses Bluetooth 4.3 which is a ten year old out-dated technology 😳 - all new Bluetooth devices now are 5.0.  Previously I had Kirkland 8's and the bluetooth connection was fantastic - but that's because it was a MFI (made for iPhone) and used apple technology rather than standard Bluetooth.  The Brio 4 is NOT MFI (I didn't know that). So the Bluetooth connect was really crumby, there's NO battery strength indicator and it definitely would NOT connect to two devices at a time as advertised.  I tried everything - but in the end I returned them to Costco and instead bought the Rexton Bi-Core custom mold. There's an amazing video on the Rexton website showing how the bi-core makes a difference in noisy environments.  You should watch that.   I was able to buy them in black so they look cool - like ear buds rather than hearing aids. The bluetooth connect is fantastic - and they have inductive charging so you don't plug them in to charge you just place them inside the charger.  This means they are sealed - no battery drawer - against dust and moisture.  There IS a battery strength indicator in the app and in the iOS on screen control center. You can't answer a phone call from the hearing aids however - you answer from the phone and then talk through your hearing aids.  I like the Rexton Bi-core better and I am very glad I switched.  The ONLY thing is they only have a 2 year repair warranty through Costco - the Phonak ones had 3. My plan is return them for service before the two years are up and complain that the batteries are not holding their charge - and hopefully get the batteries replaced. I am very pleased with them and would definitely recommend them to others.  I would NOT recommend the Phonak Brio 4 if you are hoping to use them for Bluetooth at all. 

My right one is pretty new. The button that turns them up on the right won’t connect to my Phonak app half the time. Remote Support never connects. More powerful than my Resound aids when listening to voices, lousy audio when Bluetoothing music or podcasts compared to the Resound. All in all I hate these Phonak hearing aids and wish I’d never wasted my money on them. 

My review here is mainly to let buyers know that the information provided in the many write ups on Costco’s Brio 4 is not as clear as it should be.  Based on everything I’ve read  online I assumed that my Brio 4 in the ear aids would be bluetooth compatible.  They are not.   After receiving my aids (which the audiologist at the Costco hearing center stated were bluetooth compatible), I arrived home and proceeded to try pairing with my iphone.  After numerous failed attempts I started doing more research and found that there are actually four Brio 4 models and not all are bluetooth compatible.  Mine is the Brio 4 I 10.  It is not bluetooth compatible, cannot be controlled with the phonak app and has no other adjustable features other  than a push button volume adjustment.  I was really looking forward to bluetooth compatibility and believe I could probably return them for a different model.  However I’ve also noticed that the in the ear bluetooth compatible model (Brio 4 B313 or B13) seems to be quite larger on the outer ear than the Brio 4 I 10 and not sure I want to go with a larger model.  Also I am not interested in behind the ear models, so yet to be decided.  On the positive side, my new aids look sturdy and are functioning well.

I have Phonak Brio 2 at present which I purchased from Costco 3 years ago and still working perfectly. I would like to try the new Phonak Brio 4.

This is my third set of hearing aids and they are the best of the three. I had the Costco Rexton and before that I had the Siemens 500. I rate these better than the Siemens and what I like most of all is the clarity. I also like the ability to switch settings without the use of a remote control. I have a wood shop where I run saws, lathes and shop vacs and I am able to either mute my hearing aids or change the setting to extra noisy and still listen to my radio. I would recommend the Brio 4 to anyone that is hard of hearing.

Even with two levels of noise reduction, low frequency noise, especially wind, are still present so that hearing in noisy conditions still less than desirable.

And, while with several adjustments by COSTCO, Clarity of high frequency Female voices, especially when speaking fast, is still short of what one would like.

But, even as I've had them 4-5-years now, COSTCO has said that there are, at least in their inventory, anything better for just hearing. Lots of additional features but, for just plain hearing, they won't recommends any change.

Like Rechargeable.  Good clarity. Lots of tweaks 

Dislike  have several settings   Use speech in noise and music but others make very little difference and so never use them 

I went to Costco thinking I would buy the KS9 hearing aids, which are much cheaper, but the technician told me I should get the Brio's instead, because I have a lot of hearing loss, and work in a pretty damp environment. She thought the Brio's would be better since the speakers aren't in the ear and I can wear silicone ear pieces instead. So far I haven't had any issues and my hearing aids are going strong, so I guess it was worth the upgrade. 

Regarding the new aids, they are working really well for me, and far superior to the old Rextons before this. I'm still not hearing better in background noise, but I'm told that's because of my hearing loss. I have been using the hearing aids to make phone calls and I can control things on the app, so that's been huge.