Which processor or processors do you use now?

[Mary Beth]

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[Mary Beth]

I will tag some members to get us started . Scroll up for the Poll

@Percy

@Jewel

@Marv

@Tracey_66

@Neil

@Tommy C

@phobos512

@Kylie

@@Dylan

@Valentin

@DarlaHS

@daisydee

@Lori m

@Dave in Pittsburgh

@Jdashiell

@Joan

@Mary Featherston

@Steven Ulven

@Earshot

@Kirk S.

[Tommy C]

I am presently using my Rondo2. I have a sonnet2 at the medical center that has not been mapped yet. I have an appointment for that July 1. I am happy with the Rondo2 so I expect the sonnet2 to be my secondary processor.

[Mary Beth]

@Tommy C

Lots of happy Rondo 2 users here 

[daisydee]

I am happier with my Rondo 2 (vs. 1) but unhappy about not having a Bluetooth connectivity and bad accessories. They definitely should have included BT in the Rondo 2.

[Mary Beth]

@daisydee

I forget.  Have you tried the Artone 3 MAX BT neckloop?  I use mine almost every day.  I love it!  (Amazon $129)

[Percy]

I use sonnet 1, but I just got my sonnet 2 in the mail today so I have to get it mapped from my audiologists. 

[daisydee]

54 minutes ago, Mary Beth said:

@daisydee

I forget.  Have you tried the Artone 3 MAX BT neckloop?  I use mine almost every day.  I love it!  (Amazon $129)

@Mary Beth  No, I have not bought it yet, I'm still using my Quattro 4 (I have 4 of them) and will get the Artone when I get a job. I am however trying to replace my Sonnets with Sonnet 2, which is what I'm using now for phone/video interviews (with annoying cable).

[Mary Beth]

@daisydee

Have you tried your Sonnet 1 with your Quattro?

I used the Quattro for a year and a half before I tested out the Artone.  The Artone is so much better for me that I donated my Quattro systems immediately and never looked back.

I haven’t gone through an upgrade process yet but soon it will be time for me to upgrade.

[@Dylan]

 

I am surprised how many like the Rondo 2. I am happier with the Sonnet 2. The Rondo 2 felt too bulky on my head. I may have to try it again though. 

Quattro is great. I also finally figured how to set up the Audiolink for streaming from my phone! It sounds great!

[Jewel]

I am so happy I have a Rondo2 especially now when we have to be wearing masks. Rondo2 feels so light on my head that I don't usually remember I'm wearing a processor. 

I have parked my Sonnet 1. To me Rondo2 is lighter than Sonnet 1.

I hope the next generation of processors will be even lighter. 

[daisydee]

18 hours ago, Mary Beth said:

Have you tried your Sonnet 1 with your Quattro?

I used the Quattro for a year and a half before I tested out the Artone.  The Artone is so much better for me that I donated my Quattro systems immediately and never looked back.

@Mary Beth to be honest - I hate the Sonnets, they are so uncomfortable. The only reason I went with Med-el to begin with is because of the Rondos.

The Quattros work great with Bluetooth - I use them for online training and they are perfect (other than the batteries getting older). They are not great for phone conversation because the loop is too far from the Rondos and I lose clarity. I used to HOLD the loop over my Rondos to achieve the results I could have gotten if my Rondos had Bluetooth. This is why I'm using the Sonnets for phone conversation with the cable directly connecting my Sonnets and the audio from my phone or video conferencing on my laptop.

At the same time I have another cable (a splitter) connecting to a desktop during the conversation, so the audio from my phone is also re-routed to this other desktop, where I have the Otter software, which provides a real-time transcription of the audio. This is an AI-powered software that is 95% accurate, and very instantaneous. This is captioning as close to real-time as it gets. I pay for it $10 a month but it is really priceless for me. You can also have the phone on speaker while the software is running and it will transcribe the conversation. Highly recommended! (https://otter.ai/) I don't work for them and I don't make any money from this recommendation. I just wanted to share something that is really helpful to me. 

 

[Mary Beth]

@daisydee

I have otter.ai too.  They give 10 hours each month for free.  Works great on my iPhone.

LiveTranscribe is free for unlimited hours on Android devices and works great.

The Artone 3 MAX BT neckloop is a much stronger (louder) neckloop than the Quattro 4.  I use it with my Rondos without a problem.  I do not even come anywhere near max volume output on my devices.  If you get a chance, check it out.

Sonnet 2 is the same design as Sonnet 1 so will feel the same on our ears.

It is very convenient to wear off the ear processors like Rondo 1 and Rondo 2.

[daisydee]

@Mary Beth - I know Otter has a free option but I was doing a lot of interviewing before the lock-down and ran out of the free hours. Now I'm happy to be a paid subscriber to support their business so they stay in business

We're a MacOS family - all our devices are configured to use MacOS tools so Android is not an option.

The problem with the neckloop is not loudness - it's clarity. Did you notice any difference in clarity between the two devices?

I know the Sonnet 2 has the same design as Sonnet 1 but if I can upgrade for free then why not? when I upgraded to Rondo 2 I had to pay out of pocket because I wasn't eligible yet for the free upgrade and I didn't want to wait, but I can upgrade to Sonnet 2 now. At least it has Bluetooth!

[Mary Beth]

@daisydee

I prefer the clarity of the Artone over the Quattro.  But as we all know, tech preferences are very individual.  If you get a chance, test it out and then decide what is best for you.

Sonnet 2 does not have BT unfortunately. It uses the same intermediary device as Sonnet 1.  It is called AudioLink.  I have it and still prefer the Artone. If you look at our AudioLink topic you can read posts from several HP members who have it.  Direct from phone to processor audio is not yet an option for Med-El processors.  Many of us hope it will be soon.

Let us know what your experience is with Sonnet 2 when you upgrade.  I am still undecided.....upgrade to Rondo 2 or upgrade to Sonnet 2.  I love reading people’s experiences.....good and bad reviews.

We are an Apple household too.  I do have an Android tablet though to teach others about LiveTranscribe.

 

 

[Valentin]

Hi there, no changes, I continue with Rondo. I have no external accessories or gadget yet.

[Mary Beth]

@Valentin

How long have you had Rondo 1?

[Mary Beth]

I love all the comments!  Thanks everyone.

Please remember to also scroll to the top and participate in the poll.

[Valentin]

I'm user of Rondo 1 since November,  2016 (3 years 6 months)

[daisydee]

@Mary Beth - thanks for the clarification about the Sonnet 2 Bluetooth but it comes with the AudioLink which does have Bluetooth and replaces that dumb MyLink device. I didn't get the Artone from Med-el when I purchased the Rondo 2 out of pocket - I got that useless MyLink that needs to be used with either the Roger Pen or Select. Now I need to purchase the Artone separately (Makes me mad when I think about it).

Rondo 2 or Sonnet 2? for me it's of course Rondo 2. Not having to replace batteries in the middle of a sentence (or ever, for that matter) is priceless. Also not having to worry about that mic cover when I wear a hat is also fantastic (my covers broke so many times I got tired of replacing that top part and then just attached the cover with super glue or scotch tape). I also like that it's about half as thick as Rondo 1 and really don't feel it at all when wearing it. I love not having all these huge blinking red lights that even my audiologist couldn't turn off for some functions.

[Mary Beth]

@daisydee

Thank you for sharing your experience with Rondo 2.  So many people love it.

I wonder why your audiologist could not turn off those alert lights?  My alert lights are turned off.  The only lights I ask to keep on are the lights that tell me which program I am in when I turn the processor on.  I keep the low battery beep on also.

 

In the US, during the 5 1/2 years I have been activated a lot of accessories in kits have changed but the Artone 3 MAX BT neckloop has never been an option.  It is included in some Med-El kits in other countries.  I don’t know why that is the case because it is MUCH less expensive than the Select/MyLink and MUCH more user friendly.

 

Lots of Med-El users here have purchased it on their own.  No one that I know of here received it In their kit but possibly some have that I am not recalling.

 

There are a lot of similarities between the AudioLink and the Roger System but also a few differences.  I will be eager to read your experience with the AudioLink.

 

 

[daisydee]

@Mary Beth - There is no option in the programming even for the audiologist to turn off those lights - the ones that you wanted to keep on. Imagine this: I'm sitting at my desk in an open floor plan with 60 - 80 people around me at any given time. It's too noisy so I turn the devices off. Somebody, usually my boss, comes over to talk to me so I have to turn them back on. If I'm on program 4, it'll flash 4 times, right in front of their eyes, since they're standing and I'm sitting. Not something I wanted. With the Rondo 2, since I don't have that same on/off switch on the devices, I asked my audiologist to give me a "quiet program" - basically one that turns off all sound. It's a life saver, and a much better and more elegant solution than the on/off, but I didn't think about it when I had the Rondo 1. Really useful when my son is playing video games while I try to get some work done!

Considering Med-el used to give the Quattro for free with Rondo 1, and the fact that Artone is the device they list on their website as "the" accessory for Rondo 2, I would really expect them to give the Artone for free as well. They are obviously not very proud of the MyLink connectivity , or they would have listed that as "the" accessory to use with Rondo2. (https://www.medel.com/en-us/support/audio-processors/rondo2/connectivity).

[Mary Beth]

@daisydee

A friend posted a video a few years back.  She is sitting in a parked car, in the evening waiting for her husband to return from a store.  All the while the red low battery alert lights are flashing.  They looked hysterical.  She has since had her audiologist turn them off.  So funny 

[Kylie]

6 hours ago, Mary Beth said:

@daisydee

Thank you for sharing your experience with Rondo 2.  So many people love it.

I wonder why your audiologist could not turn off those alert lights?  My alert lights are turned off.  The only lights I ask to keep on are the lights that tell me which program I am in when I turn the processor on.  I keep the low battery beep on also.

 

In the US, during the 5 1/2 years I have been activated a lot of accessories in kits have changed but the Artone 3 MAX BT neckloop has never been an option.  It is included in some Med-El kits in other countries.  I don’t know why that is the case because it is MUCH less expensive than the Select/MyLink and MUCH more user friendly.

 

Lots of Med-El users here have purchased it on their own.  No one that I know of here received it In their kit but possibly some have that I am not recalling.

 

There are a lot of similarities between the AudioLink and the Roger System but also a few differences.  I will be eager to read your experience with the AudioLink.

 

 

My med-el kit in Australia came with the Artone. I did not realise that was not the same everywhere. Among lots of variations I have come across lately!

[Mary Beth]

You have a great set up there in Australia @Kylie!