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<DIV>Hi Sara,</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>I am always happy to learn of the experiences of other professionals and
consumers of blindness products. I'm sure the PAC-Mate is a fine product,
particularly the Omni--which has sought to make noted improvements over the
earliest versions of the machine. I believe that user preference is key to
purchasing decisions and fully concur that both parties, Freedom and HumanWare,
could do significantly better with their help documentation, particularly in
providing a hardcopy braille alternative. And, while I appreciate the
context-sensitive help afforded by the BrailleNote, I also appreciate individual
preference. Fortunately, the Apex has made strides in correcting some of the
earlier, very frustrating, internet woes of which you made note. I also like
that it has a user-replaceable, highly affordable, battery. But,
ultimately, believe that the more choices we and our students are given,
the better off we are as consumers. Company complacency can be problematic for
us. But, if fair competition exists, all companies will have to fight for market
share--which is how it should be.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Please send some of those cooler New York temperatures our way!</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>EG</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>
<DIV>In a message dated 9/20/2011 1:17:53 P.M. Central Daylight Time,
sararooz@gmail.com writes:</DIV>
<BLOCKQUOTE
style="PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: blue 2px solid"><FONT
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<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">Dear Eric:<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><o:p><FONT
face="Times New Roman" size=3> </FONT></o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">Thanks for providing the pricing
for the braillenote from Humanware and your experience about users learning
the braillenote and pacmate omni. <o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">I will just say that I did go down
to the technology center of the nfb and did sample all the note takers on the
market. My main consideration to purchasing a note taker for my own personal
and professional use was price, <SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN><SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>customer support And technical support.
The pacmate Omni from Freedom Scientific was the most affordable and I have
been extremely happy <SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>with the
technical support if any question arises regarding my product. I used the
Braille lite for sixteen years, prior to purchasing a new note taker. I was
happy dealing with Freedom Scientific when issues arose with my Braille lite.
<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Regarding the learning curve, I
was able to master how to use the mobile applications of Microsoft word and
excel and <SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>the pacmate omni's word
processing <SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>and calculator as well
as how to read books I downloaded onto the unit.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>The main issue I realize is that all
documentation of any manufacturer of assistive technology is that to learn any
product one must learn how to use the product from the help file on the
product or go online and use the documentation provided on the manufacturer's
website. Another blind consumer and I have felt that this practice inhibits a
learner to learn how to use the assistive technology product and its
capabilities. This observation applies <SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>for both the Pacmate Omni from Freedom
Scientific <SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>and the braillenote
from Humanware. Humanware offers documentation for the braille note in a text
format or pdf format which is inaccessible with a screen reader such as Jaws
for Windows. Freedom Scientific allows the user of a product to go online at
their website <SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>documentation to be
read continuously or by each topic. <o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">The best solution is for <SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>manufacturers provide braille hard
copies of basic commands of their assistive technology.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>I have discussed this issue with the
manufacturer Freedom Scientific and have been told that an owner of a product
can print into braille user documentation. As a result, I have printed the
appendix of all the commands and have found it easier to learn the pacmate
omni.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">The braillenote does contain some
problems though. <SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>I have also been
told by a consumer of the braillenote that when this product is used as a
braille display for a computer the note taker freezes. Consequently, the note
taker and computer have to be restarted. A blind friend of mine used a
voicenote from Humanware and found it hard to connect to many sites on the
internet and download emails and read emails as well as emails with
attachments. Ultimately, my friend has stopped using this product and has
learned how to use Jaws for Windows to type and use the internet and read
email. I do hope that humanware has been open to correcting the ability to
display sites using the internet and downloading emails and reading emails
whether the emails contain attachments or not. I also have heard that many
customers and teachers of students that use the braillenote are not happy with
the technical supportand the long timje for a unit to be repaired and shipped
back to the customer <SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>from
Humanware.</SPAN><o:p></o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">Sara Rooz</SPAN><o:p></o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">Certified Teacher of the Blind and
Visually Impaired in <st1:State w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">New
York</st1:place></st1:State></SPAN><o:p></o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><o:p><FONT
face="Times New Roman"
size=3> </FONT></o:p></P></FONT></DIV><BR><BR>_______________________________________________<BR>Pibe-division
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