[blindkid] Braille Sense Plus Vs. Braillenote
Richard Holloway
rholloway at gopbc.org
Sat Dec 4 16:20:40 UTC 2010
I haven't compared them side-by-side, but we have looked at the
newest BrailleNote, the Apex (in Dallas at the convention this past
July) and would really like to get one. I have only read about what I
believe is the current version of the Braille Sense Plus. Looks like
about $6,000. I think the Apex is in the same price range.
We still have an mPower BrailleNote which is our 8-year-old's
constant companion and she likes it very well, but I think she'd
quite willingly trade the mPower and her little brother for an Apex.
(Okay, perhaps I exaggerate a bit.) It is smaller, lighter and has
many features not included on the mPower. If you're market for a new
unit, I'd definitely give some consideration to the Apex. Here's a
link to the Apex on HumanWare's site.
http://www.humanware.com/en-usa/products/blindness/braillenotes/
_details/id_161/braillenote_apex_qt_32.html
And here is what looks like the current Braille Sense Plus on the GW
Micro site:
http://www.gwmicro.com/Braille_Sense/
With that said, part of why my daughter wants an Apex is undoubtedly
that she is already familiar with the mPower and this is a nicer,
newer version of what she has already. In your case that might be a
reason to stay with the same unit you have in an updated model. We
also have a PAC Mate (from Freedom Scientific) which is a good piece
of gear and in some ways better than the BrailleNote. We bought the
PAC Mate for her first, then she was assigned a BraillNote at school
and (not surprisingly) she has grown to like best what she uses at
school every day. She still uses the PAC Mate now and then, but
mostly she uses the BrailleNote and then we pop the display off of
her PAC Mate and she uses that with her desktop computer which works
perfectly with JAWS (screen reader) on that. I think the Apex and
BrailleSense can also be used in display mode, but it certainly is
nice to just leave a display on the computer and not have to fiddle
with plugging and unplugging the display to and from the computer.
I do see that the latest Braille Sense Plus has a small LCD display
built in and both the Braille Sense Plus and the BrailleNote Apex
have built-in VGA ports for connections directly to a conventional
monitor. That's what I'm hurting for here-- an easier way to see what
is happening inside the machine as a sighted parent who sometimes
still has to use a braille cheat sheet to try and read anything in
braille. (We are forever loosing documents because they went in the
wrong subdirectory or we forgot the filename so I want to be able to
look at what is where for myself more easily.) Both machines also
appear to have Built in Wifi as well as conventional (wired) Ethernet
and Bluetooth. All three units (the two you asked about as well as
the PAC Mate) use the same Pocket PC style operating system, Windows CE.
If I might ask, what features are you needing the most and how old is
your daughter, etc.? There are probably several good solutions for
you but I suspect the answers you get might vary somewhat, based on
your particulars.
On Dec 4, 2010, at 9:27 AM, hpscheffer at aol.com wrote:
>
> Hi, wanted to get some feedback on anyones experience of the
> Braille Sense Plus Vs. the Braillenote. My daughter has been using
> the Braille Sense for the past 4 yrs. and loves it, but it is
> outdated and we are looking at which one would be best for her for
> the next few years. If anyone has had the opportunity to compare
> both I would like to get your opinion.
>
>
>
> Thanks
>
>
> Heidi
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