Customer Reviews

Dry and Store Professional

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

We had the Professional Dry and Store for the last 3.5 years and I knew it helped a bit, but to be honest I couldn't really tell. Then last weekend, my husband washed my child's hearing aids along with the attached FM receivers in the washing machine for the whole wash cycle. The hearing aids were so full of water that drops of water poured out when they moved. Of course this happened over the weekend, while our Audiologist was closed. All the websites said that there was no hope and that we just needed new hearing aids.

We ended up running the Dry and Store most of the weekend and on Monday the hearing aids worked! We had the Audiologist check them and there were no problems. YEAH!

I bought this nearly 10 years ago for my husband. After all this time, I am shopping for another one. He uses it daily at home and a can type when traveling. It has been wonderful for him. Just drop the aids in, close the drawer and hit the button. When he is ready to wear his aids again, open the drawer, put in the batteries, and go! The audiologist is suprise when at the year check-up, his aids still are like new. The dry-blocs say they last a month, in the summer that is so. In winter 2 months is a low average.
We have recommended it to many.

I really don't want to give poor reviews but this product (and the other Dry and Store product I purchased) have so many problems that I just have to.

It is a wonderful idea, combining an ultraviolet light to kill fungi etc. in the hearing aid tubes and on the surface, with warm, circulating air and a dessicant to dry the hearing aids. Easily holds two hearing aids.

But it is much larger than it needs to be. It's really big! Takes up a lot of space on the counter. The other product takes up much less space, but does not have the UV light.

Worse, though, the mechanism quit working after about 6 months. I phoned Dry and Store for advice, they told me I would have to take it to a hearing aid dispenser to get it repaired. In a more recent phone call they offered to repair it, but with shipping and handling it would have been about $100. I know for sure that UV lights deteriorate over time, and I wanted that replaced as well, but they said that they don't do that.

I opened up the device to make repairs myself (I am pretty handy.) I was amazed that such a simple, poorly-designed appliance could cost so much. The only expensive item was the UV light, which can run about 10-15 dollars. And there was a small amount of electronics (simple timer, a switch) that can't cost more than 5 bucks. No fan for air movement, just convection would do that.

And a small, cheap switch placed where the drawer would press the button when it is closed. Actually, that was the problem. The switch and all the other elements were not securely fastened at all, and in fact it was obvious that daily use would quickly cause the switch to move. When it is not in perfect alignment, the appliance cannot tell that the drawer is closed and it will not begin a cycle. I rigged up a metal brace for the switch (everything inside the box is flimsy plastic) but it went back to its malfunctioning ways within a few weeks. After the third repair I tossed the whole thing. Went back to a Hal-Hen Dri-Aid.

Also, the rubber seal around the drawer compartment opening had deteriorated and needed to be replaced. The manufacturer rep said that they would not sell them and probably could not replace it.

Also, I don't believe that the UV light is a type B, which is used in most antiseptic applications. I might be wrong.

I give it two stars because it is a great idea. But only an idea. It is really constructed cheaply, a big empty, plastic box that contains almost nothing inside, and it will inevitably fail. And repair is available only through the manufacturer, who would not sell the parts, and repair would have been unconscionably expensive. I checked with two audiologists, both of whom work on salary (they prescribe hearing aids but do not sell them) at large medical institutions. Neither of them recommend it. They both recommend dessicant jars, like the Dri-Aid.