Reply to nla5625: I'm a very satisfied Costco customer. One great plus is that you can go back as many times as needed without any additional fees. That, along with the fact that their aids are roughly half what they cost elsewhere and their solid 30-day trial and two-year guarantee are all good reasons to consider Costco. My Costco aid is a Bernefon, but I've learned that it's made by Oticon; I assume all Costco aids have a Costco-specific brand name that's different from whatever the mfg.'s name is. I've heard that they do carry a line of Phonaks, renamed, of course. I stumbled into the nearest Costco (over an hour away) and lucked out with a fitter who has taken the time and effort to learn about hearing and hearing diseases. She knows more than not only many audis but the surgeon at the CI center about my particular disease (Meniere's). I had some radical changes in hearing when I went bilateral over a year ago, and she was very patient explaining what she could and could not do. As a result of changes, I've had many appts. to make my $1,500 aid more effective.

I have heard that some Costco fitters are just that: mere fitters who know little. However, after having appts. with two audis at the really big hearing center two hours away that does CIs, I learned that neither of them knew as much as the lady from Costco. Further, one of them advised me to trash my "crummy" Costco aid and spend over $6,000 to buy a pair of Phonaks...and come back in six months for a second hearing test to see if I would then qualify for a CI. Imagine: spending $3,000 for an aid that might only be useful for six months! The second audi at the same center gave Costco high points and told me to stick with what I have.

The other thing I'd advise is to take lots of time to choose what to buy. Don't be too quick to buy something because it's a hot, new thing. I dumped my IPhone, switched to a Samsung Android just to be able to use Live Transcribe...and then found that it didn't really work well for my situation (meetings filled with tech terms). You'll never be able to learn enough, but you should learn as much as possible. Every place selling aids has reasons why they may want to sell a certain brand or aid; those reasons may not mean you should buy that aid.

I've avoided the nearest audi, only 40 minutes away, because she does lots of advertising, big ads that cost real money. She found my older friend (94 but extremely sharp) a great source of income, sold her aids that never really worked well. She always had tech reasons why things didn't work, was ready and willing to sell something to make things better. Then she flushed my friend's ears, resulting in severe vertigo that meant the woman's doctor son flew in, sold her home and car, packed up what HE felt she needed, and moved her across the country to his home, leaving behind most of her possessions and all of her friends.