[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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