Sound World Solutions - Sidekick - Bluetooth Wireless Personal Sound Amplifier (Two Ear Bundle, White Gold Metallic)

It worked for a few days. Now one of hearing aids does not work

I got these for my grandmother and she has had to order new ones after a while with one lost, the other worn down, and so on. For their price range they're pretty hard to beat, but there are a few disappointments. First and foremost, modern Bluetooth standards allow for a super low power mode where a device can still be partially active but effectively powered down. That is to say, if they used a more modern Bluetooth protocol and methods they could do things like staying connected to your devices even while otherwise completely off and you could locate missing earpieces. I did not see any on the market that did this (and if any do they are probably in the > $1000 range besides) so I can't hold it against these versus their competitors that they don't do it when no others do.Another big room for improvement that I do hold against them -- and all others -- is the lack of direct customization. The app customizes to the user by playing tones, but it's not intelligent about it. For instance, she can't hear really high pitched tones at all. So it naturally ramps them up to the max. That's not helping her and it makes them ring more (and technically uses more power.) Towards the edge of what she can hear it ramps things up way too high with certain things (such as the famous Tile) which actually physically hurts her ears. I would like proper access to its actual equalizer setting instead of just a really basic high, medium, low setting. She has had her hearing professionally tested and I have the results with the curve, so know how to set things. But of course it does need initial setup and it needs to be possible for the average person to set it up themselves, so I think it should have the current setup and then let you edit from there as this would be best for everyone. Sadly most don't do this. In fact, as far as I know the only ones that do have such advanced setup are available to professionals only and require special tools to configure. This is actually really important and I hold it against them all that they don't do this given how terribly significant this lack of full proper customization really is given the differences in people's needs depending on the nature and level of their hearing loss.

A bit bulky behind the ear. I program 1 ear to different cell phone, since I carry 2, and this works great for me. They can only be attached to 1 Bluetooth source at a time, so this is a negative to my wish list. Good quality sound for the phones, but they don't transmit back to the phone so it needs to be close by for conversations (It have a car mount that solves this). Room amplification is good if you only need a boost (I can hear without aids, but often have to ask for repeat from people). I am a petite lady, and find that even the small tips start to mildly hurt my ears at the end of the work day, but they fit snug without worry of falling out. I get a full day out of the battery, but if I turn them off when I get home and forget to charge them, I only get a couple of hours more, ( If I plug them in when I get warning for about 30 minutes, I get thru the rest of the work day)....... All in All I do like them, but I do not think some one with a severe hearing problem will be satisfied......I was able to solve my "hands free" problem (was wearing 1 aid + a Bluetooth in the other).......NO squeal if I lay on my side in bed watching TV, or my glasses get too close either BIG PLUS here.

The sound amplifiers have worked well as promoted. Since they are not hearing aids, they only come with a 90 day warnty however. Mine arrived on time but without the cleaning tool. I called customer service a couple of times, once on a Monday morning and a week later on Wednesday afternoon and got an answering machine both times and left a message about the missing tool. The message said they would call back, but they haven't. Good luck with warranty service if needed. Low battery warning usually starts after about 12 hours with Bluetooth use, and 13 without. They die about an hour later. Battery life could be a little longer, but I am well pleased with their performance and the app that is used to program them. And I have trialed both a $5000 and $3000 pair of hearing aids, so these at less than $700 I consider a bargain.

Even being a Stars device, in only 3 Years I had to buy 8 of them (4 pairs), for their extreme fragility. Still convenient? Here is the photo of some poor ones. Often the USB breaks because the plastic housing cracks. Second, the earphone micro wires interrupts, ending its life. Third, 2 of them, when charghing went to very high temperature, without charging. Fourth, 2 of them became totally mute. And fortunately being an engineer (electronic!) I work with all the attention.Dulcis in fundo (Latin): Complaining with the firm, even if last guarantee was over (last June) they offered 10% discount on my next order. Only after 3 mails they finally revealed the price: 611$. The 10% turned in a 3%.. For the moment, investigating on different brands I ordered and use one also high level, 12 digital channels, but 155$, without obligation to buy a couple.