More importantly, there is no indication of the battery life in the application. Like Eargo 7, EARGO 8 claims 16 impressive hours (plus 224 hours of load more in the slightly larger transport case), but there is no way to know where you are until the battery is getting closer. The good news is that it is difficult to exhaust 16 hours full of operation in one go. During my tests, I could not completely empty the battery by leaving the AIDS out of the case during the night.
Uncertain software
Photography: Eargo
I complained (twice before) of the Eargo Rocky Audiogram training system, which uses ultrasonic signals from your phone to communicate with hearing aids rather than wireless technology like Bluetooth. It maintains very small hearing aids because they do not need a Bluetooth radio to operate. Eargo is not unique in the use of this technology, but its implementation remains uncertain, even after years on the market.
My training session took almost half an hour because hearing aids have missed a large part of the ultrasonic signals, which makes them fail to send a tone to my ears when they should have. This is a big problem, because we do not know if you could not hear the tone because you are careful or because hearing aids have failed to record the signal correctly. I found a more frustrating training than ever this time.
This same technology is also used to control aid via the application commands. Although this is not such a important matter if a change in volume is missed and you have to return the request, it is always pain (especially if hearing aid gets the signal and the other does not do so). It also means that you cannot use these aids to broadcast on Bluetooth, which is a more important problem today than ever. At this point, it is probably time for Eargo to explore something more reliable, even if it means selling a larger device.
The units support the double physical paving stones on the ear, but only to switch from the three environmental programs that you can choose in the application. The taps registered reliably in my tests, although I did not notice much difference between the different modes.
The aids are very comfortable, partly because of their very light weight, although the ear of ear eargo are a bit of itching. After a few hours of wear, I invariably had to remove them to give my ears time to recover. (Curiously, only three pairs of ear tips are included: small, medium and large, with open vents.)
The Sids Eargo 8 is not cheap, which now flows $ 2,699 per pair. (The SIDS EARGO 7 now costs $ 2,399.) Although EARGO products have always been expensive, on the current market, a price requested nearly $ 3,000 puts these aid almost in the prescription prices, which is difficult to justify. EARGO 8 aid remains excellent in audio quality, and the small size is perfect, but upgrades here are simply not enough to deserve this type of price, given the surfing of just as excellent competitors for free sales for less.
