@barbarat I've used the Roger On for 3 years. I also have a Partner Mic for car rides, which is much cheaper. Between $100-$200 I believe nowadays. I've experienced everything you discussed in your posting with the On.

1) Putting it on a table when it is just 4 of you at the table can be useful as long as there is not a lot of extraneous sound in the background because when laid down flat, the On picks up 360 degrees. So if there are lawn mowers, etc. in the neighborhood, it will pick it up The other issue is if more than one conversation is going on. If either of those occurs, you need to pick up the On and point it at the conversation you want to be a part of. When in pointing mode, it works good just picking up that person's voice. I use pointing mode when in cocktail party situations and only want to hear one person in front of me. There are some adjustments you can make to the app on your phone that I discovered in order to block out more extraneous noise around you, but probably too tricky to explain in this post.

We like to go to a sports bar nearby weekly. I will point it at my wife or daughter or the waiter as well as adjust the Ambient Sound button in the app to block out noise behind me and it has been working well -not perfect but good enough. Speech-in-noise will never be perfect.

2) You mention hooking it up to TV - I've done that and it works great, better than a bluetooth connection to TV in my experience. The one negative is that it tends to block out other people in the room so hard to have a conversation with them. You can also buy Phonak TV Connector to listen to TV.

3) You mention its use in meetings. This has been a tremendous help for me as I sit on a couple of non-profit Boards and the table setup is like a U-shape. I was having trouble hearing people that weren't within 3 -4 chairs from me. So I began putting the On on a small table in the middle of the U-shape and now am hearing all 12 board members pretty well as long as they don't talk into their hand or mumble! I would do the same if it was a large Conference table. But again, if there are numerous conversations going on, it doesn't work as well.

So there are many uses for it. Counters like at CVS or the airport are helpful too. It takes some practice but has been worth it. If you can get it for $1,300, that is a good price and what I paid 3 years ago. I've heard people pay as much as $1,750.

I hope this is helpful.

Mike