Some initial impressions after using them for two days:
-BT connectivity could be better with an iPhone X running iOS 11.2.1. I get the occassional lost connection (with the voice prompt notifying me of that) even if the phone is in my pocket, although it usually reconnects quickly, often instantly. I don't know whether this is an issue with my Hearphone unit or the iOS or the phone, or the position of the phone relative to the where the BT antenna is on the Hearphone, but it is annoying. If this continues, I'm going to exchange this for a different Hearphone unit.
-It's an improvement, and not magical, for my hearing situation: no hearing at all in one ear/normal hearing in the other. An improvement, however, definitely beats the heck out of the $3,200 CROS hearing aids that I no longer use. In "focused" mode, it is far easier to listen to conversations in a noisy restaurant, particularly those occurring on my "bad" side. Again, it's not magic. It's not as if all environmental noise falls away, and all you hear is conversation, but that wouldn't happen with someone with normal hearing, either. But I can make out conversations that I would not have been able to follow before without turing my head and cupping my good ear towards the persons speaking. Hopefully, as I experiment more with the settings, performance will improve.
-Regarding the "sum to mono" comments in this tread, in "focused" and "front" modes, I am definitely getting input from my "bad" side. Tapping on the earpiece on my "bad" ear confirms this. But it is softer than when you tap on the earpiece on my "good" ear, so although it seems that there is some blending going on, and it would be great if you could manually control the input balance. I'll keep experimenting with the settings, as perhaps the balance control will do that. Right now it is biased (at 40) towards my "good" ear. I'd ideally like to shut off the earpiece on my "bad" side while still being able to take advantage of the mics on that earpiece, to tailor the sound coming out of the earpiece on my "good" side.
-One thing that my CROS hearing aids do better is the sound of voices, including my own. You can clearly tell that the sound of the voices are "processed"; they don't sound 100% natural. Again, take that observation in the context that the alternative is not hearing other voices at all, so it's a fair tradeoff. Again, an improvement, but not magical.
-Ergonomics could use A LOT of work. I have a thick neck (19"+), thanks to years of weightlighting and neck bridges. The unit basically is a dog collar on me. I don't mind; it's not uncomfortable, but it's definitely not hanging loosely around my neck. As others have observed, the unit tends to rotate, and once rotated, stays that way until you straighten it out. This is Ver.1. Hopefully, by Ver.3 these are two separate ear units like the Soundsport Free. People: Keeping buying these things so Bose or some other company has the incentive to keep improving the technology for folks like us! 🙂
-The biggest observation is that for me, I'd find the Hearphones very helpful mainly in a limited number of situations where my partial deafness is most noticeable to me. The rest of the time, the hassles of the unit outweigh the benefits (or there are no benefits), so I would probably not use the unit then. But in those situations where the Hearphones helps, I suspect I'll really grow to like the Hearphones enough to keep them and keep using them.
-I am fortunate enough to have been able to just drop by my local Bose "showcase" store and buy the Hearphones. They said that they are selling well, and that folks are driving in from different states to get them (why they don't just mail order them, who knows...). Feedback at the store has been good.
-I'm mixed about the appearance issue. People cannot miss that you are wearing these, and it's unclear how that would play out in a formal business setting. Be interesting to see how that plays out.
Good luck to those considering these. Will post more with more experience.