[Nfb-krafters-korner] OT Money Talks

Sat Jun 12 21:10:52 UTC 2010

I have been interested in the iBill and it is always $99.00 and very small. 
I am including a review of the iBill for anyone who is interested.  I do not 
sell this product or make any money from its sale but I love te price and 
size.
I previously posted the news announcing the introduction of the iBill 
electronic banknote identifier, and now, I offer my review of this latest 
piece of assistive technology for the blind and visually impaired.

I'll admit that when I first read that
Orbit Research
was offering this tool at size, weight, speed, and price thresholds that I 
have never heard of previously, I was skeptical. I thought to myself that 
this must be a bit of exaggeration on some part. Surely, this device couldn't 
do everything they advertise and they can still sell the unit for only $99.

Well, the people at Orbit Research were right.

If you want to listen to my podcast of the review and hear a demonstration 
of the iBill in action, its on
www.blindcooltech.com

I'll boil the iBill down to a few words: Compact, lightweight, fast, 
accurate, easy to use, and, most importantly, in the realm of assistive 
technology, affordable.

The iBill is small enough to carry in your pocket. Measuring 3 inches wide 
(just wide enough to insert the end of a bill) by 1.6 inches long, and less 
than ¾ of an inch thick, it fits easily in your pocket or purse among your 
keys and USB jump drives. When you hold it, the iBill fits handily in your 
palm.

And, being lightweight is another one of its feature facets. At just 1.5 
ounces, you hardly even realize the iBill is present until you need it.

The iBill has only two buttons on it to operate the unit and change between 
the five output settings, the iBill is very simple to use. It comes with 
both a quick start guide and a user's manual, both of which are well written 
with clearly defined directions, and easily explaining the unit's design and 
operation.

I tried the iBill with bills in denominations or $1, 5, 10, and 20. I'll 
give the iBill the benefit of the doubt and figure it will do as well on the 
$2, 50, and 100 denominations that I didn't use.

I intentionally tried to test the limits of the iBill. I first inserted each 
bill correctly, making sure the corners and edges were smooth and flat. It 
correctly identified each bill I gave it in about one second. The iBill 
literature claims a recognition speed of one second. Check.

I tried to see if the product would give incorrect readings if the bills had 
folded or wrinkled corners. When it couldn't identify a bill, it beeped to 
let me know it was trying to figure it out, but after about 3-5 seconds, it 
gave me an "Error" message. It never misidentified a bill. If it couldn't 
recognize a bill, it announced, "Error." The iBill brochure says it is 99.9% 
accurate. Check.

The output settings on the iBill include low, medium and loud spoken audio, 
a vibration mode, and a tone mode. The spoken audio modes were very 
acceptable for different settings and announced clear, easy to understand 
spoken denominations in a female voice.

The tone mode worked very well to identify the bills, too. There is a low 
tone in sequences of 1, 2, and 3, tones for $1, 2, and 5 bills, and a high 
tone in that same sequence for $10, 20, and 50 bills, all respectively, as 
well as a low-high, low-high sequence for $100.

However, Where I see this as a powerful tool, besides as a quality bill 
identifier for those of us who are totally blind, is as an equally great 
product for anybody who is deafblind. With the vibration mode, there are 
sequences of short or long pulses in identical sequences of the tone mode to 
quickly identify the different denominations. There's even a very long pulse 
for an error message.

The iBill I tested was a pre-production review unit. I was told that there 
was a design change to the battery compartment cover, as the pre-production 
model's cover was difficult to open. I didn't need to change the battery, as 
they had a brand new one installed, but was curious to see how difficult it 
would be to open. After trying several times, I never did get it open, so I 
hope the new model is easier to open.

I also demonstrated this product to several visually impaired students and 
professional staff members who work with these students. With a brief 
introduction, all but one of the students was able to quickly make the iBill 
work. The one who had the most difficulty was the only one who was totally 
blind. All were impressed with the design speed, and accuracy of the iBill.

The only constructive feedback anybody offered was a suggestion that there 
might be an inset on one of the rear corners where a key ring might be 
attached. This was suggested as possibly aiding in orienting the user to the 
iBill. There were no complaints about how the iBill operated.

To conclude, let me compare the iBill to previous models of similar 
products. In the past, I've handled a bill identifier that was probably 
three times the size of the iBill and several times the weight. That device 
was bulky and not easily carried in one's pockets. Additionally, the lowest 
price I've ever seen for one of those units was $189. On those three fronts 
the iBill charges to the front of the pack, and it does so with a hard to 
beat accuracy rate and identification speeds faster than the KNFB Reader 
Mobile. For giving independence to people who are blind and visually 
impaired, this is a product that should find its way to one's toolbox of 
assistive technology.
----- Original Message ----- 
From: <Blindhands at aol.com>
To: <nfb-krafters-korner at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Saturday, June 12, 2010 4:02 PM
Subject: [Nfb-krafters-korner] OT Money Talks

>I just wanted to let you folks know that Maxi aids have a money identifier
> that is half price for a limited time.  I don't know how long the deal is
> for, but I was at a demonstration of adaptive equipment in May and they 
> had
> one  of these there.  I liked it a lot because it was small, a lot smaller
> then  the one I have.    The price was $199.99, but Maxsi aid has itt  for
> $99.99   They call it Money Talks.
>
> I have to order one the end of this week.
>
> Joyce
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