[gps-talkusers] Re: Earthmate, Magellan, BrailleNote and Pac Mate

  • From: Diane Garrett <dianegarrett@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
  • To: gps-talkusers@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
  • Date: Thu, 22 Jul 2004 13:29:13 -0700

Hi, List!

Mike, I appreciate your soap box. I bought a BrailleNote QT back in December 
and am looking forward to purchasing the GPS system to go with it. I have to 
find some funds, first, though, before I can do this. However, everything I can 
find out about the system before my purchase is beneficial to me on how to work 
the system.

I am watching the emails to learn as much as I can, and am getting more and 
more excited as time goes on. I've never used a GPS system, so it will be 
exciting and refreshing to be able to know how to get to somewhere without 
having to find someone to ask instructions. Being blind and hearing impaired, 
it is very difficult to understand the finger pointing and vague explanations 
of where to go. People tend to talk too loudly which distorts my hearing aids, 
or they talk so softly that they cannot be heard over the traffic noise and 
other noises out on the street. Also, it will be neat to give sighted drivers 
instructions on how to get to a place when they are driving around in circles 
because they can't find the place you want.

Again, thanks, Mike, for your email.

 Diane Garrett/Leader Ruby
Email: dianegarrett@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Phone: (918) 664-5731


> ----- Original Message -----
>From: Michael May <MikeMay@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
>To: "GPS-talkusers-freelists.org" <GPS-talkusers@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
>Date: Wed, 21 Jul 2004 15:46:06 -0700
>Subject: [gps-talkusers] Earthmate, Magellan, BrailleNote and Pac Mate

>To the question about the Earthmate's size, the receiver that goes on your
>shoulder strap is about 2 inches square and an inch thick. There is a
>separate battery/serial cradle that is twice that size and goes in the
>accessory pouch of the BrailleNote.

>There have been 2 Magellan receivers used with the BrailleNote. The first
>was the 310, which did not have WAAS. The Sportrak does have WAAS as of
>course does the Earthmate.

>In addition to Chip's comments about the BrailleNote GPS verses some other
>systems, a couple other points. The Pac Mate GPS to be out later this year,
>is more like $500, but it doesn't do many of the things the BN GPS does. It
>primarily is a Point A to Point B routing system and it appears to do a
>good job of that. If you are already a Pac Mate owner, it is your only
>option. If you are considering which PDA to purchase the BrailleNote GPS is
>a very good reason to choose it. Four years of user input and 10 years of
>experience with accessible GPS does give maturity to the BrailleNote GPS.

>Many GPS systems for sighted folks understandably use arrow and click menu
>driven user interfaces. Both the Trekker and Pac Mate interfaces operate in
>this fashion. You can't just type Chord F, Starbucks and Enter to find the
>location of the nearby coffee shop like you can on the BrailleNote. You
>have to choose Points of Interest, then Restaurants, then Fast Food, then
>arrow to McDonalds. On some systems, you can choose each letter, one at a
>time. Think of the BrailleNote GPS as the Cadillac of accessible GPS
>products but not everybody likes or needs a Cadillac.

>After being on my soap box for 10 years about accessible location
>information, I am very happy to see alternate accessible GPS products.
>Choices are good for consumers and first and foremost, I am a consumer.

>Mike





>Michael G. May

>CEO Sendero Group

>Developers and distributors of BrailleNote GPS
>Now distributing BrailleNote, VoiceNote, Miniguide, The Tissot Silen-T
>tactile watch and the ID Mate, bar code reader

>MikeMay@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
>http://www.SenderoGroup.com

>(530) 757-6800, Fax (530) 757-6830, Mobile (530) 304-0007
>Sendero Group, LLC
>1118 Maple Lane, Davis, CA 95616-1723, USA

>Latitude, 38 33 9.239 North
>Longitude, 121 45 40.145 West

Other related posts:

  1. Home
  2. gps-talkusers
  3. Archive
  4. 07-2004