[blindkid] affordable brailling options

[Richard Holloway]

Mountbattens are nice. As I understand it, they have been made in  
Australia since around 1991. Humanware has apparently started  
distributing them fairly recently (I saw them at Humanware's booth for  
the first time earlier this month in Dallas.) Last time I checked, the  
low cost model was still about $2000.00 and the deluxe design was  
around $3800.00.

Sounds like you have had some good luck with them-- that's great. The  
main down side I have heard from a number of parents is that  
Mountbattens tend to get outgrown somewhat as opposed to a similarly  
(or slightly higher) priced PDA or computer system and conventional  
embosser, but obviously it depends on the specific needs you are  
trying to address, and they do indeed offer braille embossing to some  
degree at a comparatively affordable price. Mountbattens are not going  
to be as well suited to large batches of braille production as  
something like a Romeo Embosser.

Also, and someone please correct me if I'm wrong, I believe the unit  
is sheet-fed only (no way to use tractor paper) and it seems like it  
won't accept paper as large as the (fairly standard) 10 x 10.5 inch  
sheets. In short, the Mountbatten falls in the gap somwewhere between  
a Perkins and a computer (or PDA) coupled with an embosser.

Here is the link to the humanware page on Mountbattens:

http://www.humanware.com/en-usa/products/blindness/braille_embossers_and_writers/_details/id_84/mountbatten_braille_writer.html

Richard



On Jul 22, 2010, at 8:30 AM, Rosina Solano wrote:

>
> This sounds like some of what I did when my son was younger with  
> books we already had.  Don't know if anyone mentioned it yet but  
> what about a MountBatten Brailler?  I think it is great, as it can  
> work many ways.  It is an electronic brailler.  Sort of like the  
> difference in the old typewriter to the new ones.  We hated the  
> Perkins, but it did have its use.
> Anyway, the MountBatten came with a keyboard that you could use to  
> hook up to it, so I could type away (I am a fast typer) and it would  
> print out on the Brailler in braille.  I used clear label sheets and  
> typed each page with a double space between pages then when full, I  
> would cut them out and put on pages.  My son particularly loved this  
> since he had some vision and could still look at the pictures.
> You can braille in either beginning braille or contracted, then when  
> they get older they still have it as a brailler to use.  I love ours  
> and the only drawback was the cost of $2000 or so, but my son uses  
> his everyday after school for his homework, so it was a good  
> investement.  Now, he is preparing to convert to the braille note as  
> he is older, but we are still trying to get funds for that.
>
> Good luck.
> Rosina
> mother of Roman 12, Ethan 9, and Kaile 3
>
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