I'm probably the only person who will give you a positive report on Beltone.
That was the brand my parents went with when they discovered my hearing loss in the 1960's (I was 4 at the time). So it was what I grew up with and that's what sounded normal to me.
My Beltone HA's always lasted FOREVER. I got 10-15 years out of them easily. Once I was an adult and in charge of getting my own HA's, I did try other brands. I couldn't stand them. Nothing made me hear as well as Beltone, so I stuck with them.
The pair I was wearing most recently were analog bi-CROS Beltones that I got in 1993. They were 15 freaking years old and worked great still -- the only repair I ever had on them was for the T-switch. I wore it out when I was working a job that (foolishly) had me on the switchboard quite a lot -- I was constantly switching the t-switch back and forth. Other than that, I never had problems with them.
I had to retire my trusty HAs in April when I suddenly went completely deaf. Nothing, not even the strongest HAs they had me wear for a CI evaluation, would help me hear anything. So I have my old HA's in a box in my bedroom now.
(I'm getting bilateral CI's on July 22nd, BTW)
My husband also wears a HA and he swears the Beltone bi-CROS HA's I had were Phonak brand with the Beltone name on them (he has Phonak bi-CROS HAs and they look identical). Who knows though -- most hearing aids looked alike at that time, in the 1990s.
In any case, I actually never knew Beltone had such a bad reputation til I met my husband and he mentioned it. All I knew was that they really helped me and were very, very dependable. I guess I just got lucky!