I think that is in part, because many of us have one at work, and one at home, and feel they're too valuable to chance transport damage on. However, I transported mine on the road 1978-89, and had no transport related damage--but I did carry it in it's leather case inside the soft pack. My soft packs, Margie's and Mine are in deplorable shape because of the foam. I surely wish I had a replacement of proper size and durability! Nick On Wed, 5 Mar 2008 17:20:04 -0500 (EST), Catherine Thomas wrote: Without actually meaning to start this thread, the replies it received on and off-list have accounted so far for forty-five Optacons in the possession of 19 people. It doesn't take much math to see that the average number of Optacons per person is just over two. I'm placing these replies in a file called howmany. Maybe it is worthwhile from the development and preservation point of view to find out how many machines are being used. Amazing! Catherine ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ -Catherine Thomas braille@xxxxxxxxx / ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe at any time, just send a message to: optacon-l-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with the word "unsubscribe" (without the quotes) in the message subject. Tell your friends about the list. They can subscribe by sending a message to: optacon-l-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with the word "subscribe" (without the quotes) in the message subject. To unsubscribe at any time, just send a message to: optacon-l-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with the word "unsubscribe" (without the quotes) in the message subject. Tell your friends about the list. They can subscribe by sending a message to: optacon-l-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with the word "subscribe" (without the quotes) in the message subject.