[blindkid] Braille Sense Plus Vs. Braille note

[Brandy W]

O the apex is wonderful!!! Love it! I had a key pop off so I'm using a loner
empower and it just doesn't compare! The biggest problem I've had is having
all these different units using different flash card sizes. 

I've used Braille note products for 7 years now so can't seem to get used to
or love other units yet. I'm not much for change however. Technology is
becoming harder and harder to choose because we have choices.

Bran

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-----Original Message-----
From: blindkid-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:blindkid-bounces at nfbnet.org] On
Behalf Of Richard Holloway
Sent: Saturday, December 04, 2010 10:21 AM
To: NFBnet Blind Kid Mailing List, (for parents of blind children)
Subject: Re: [blindkid] Braille Sense Plus Vs. Braillenote

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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