I love how the Vet's Best smells but I think my boy may be allergic to some of the herbs. I use witch hazel and if they are yeasty a mix of isopropyl alcohol and white or apple vinegar. He has good ears they only have problems when his food isn't right.
I use Thrive ear cleaner, when they are flaring up with allergies. When they are good and I'm maintaining them, I wipe them out regularly with a unscented baby wipe to clean the ear area, and I will use either Hydrogen Peroxide or Witch Hazel to clean the ear.
I use a 50/50 mixture of apple cider vinegar and hydrogen peroxide for normal cleaning and I keep Zymox on hand for episodes of any redness/itching/bad smell. I used Zymox for the first time about a month ago for a pretty bad ear infection and Zymox cleared it up within a week. It is amazing stuff.
I also like Zymox otic solution for ear infections and then periodically for maintenance. It's made of enzymes so the ear doesn't and shouldn't be cleaned before using unless you use the Zymox cleaner. I also like to wipe if I notice my dogs scratching their ears with a cosmetic pad soaked in a solution that I make (5 drops of oil of cloves and 5 drops of tea tree oil in 2 oz witch hazel ). I llke 2BullyMama's mixture of witch hazel and apple cider vinegar but I'd personally mix 2 parts witch hazel to 1 part apple cider vinegar to make it less stinging if the ear is red at all.