Lou,Same here, but actually worse. The first couple of months I had my Braille Plus I loved it, and I recommended it for one of my clients. He thought it was fantastic, but he had it less than three months and had problems that required it to be sent in. With no correspondance from APH or Levelstar for almost three months it finally came back only to have more problems 3 or 4 months later. This time it was gone almost 3 months again. This was enough for me to be very sure that I wouldn't recommend it again because of his problems, knowing that he was taking good care of his other technology, and that there were other people having the same problems.
Given the repair problems with the Braille Plus, and the record of having a device for months at a time leaving the user without their unit makes me very unsure that I would want to depend on a better track record for the same companies a second time around. There is little assurance that the track record will be better second time around, and particularly given that there is a Braille display involved this time.
Talk to me a year from now and there is a good track record and lots of happy customers and maybe I'll change my mind.
Meantime, I will be following the mailinglist to see how things develope. And, I hope it will be good news.
----- Original Message ----- From: "lou smith" <lousmith07@xxxxxxxxxxx>
To: <kriegler@xxxxxxxxxxxx> Cc: <icon-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> Sent: Saturday, July 02, 2011 4:20 AM Subject: [icon Discussions] Re: orionLes, I have to agree. I see that day coming as well. As someone who works for voc rehab in Maryland recommending technology, I'm waiting for the price to see what I think. My wife saw how much I liked the Braille Plus, and bought it for me. I'm sad to say I only recommended 3 since the device was released for various reasons. I have recommended one iPod touch and an external bluetooth keyboard. I really think this is the way the market will eventually go. Having said that, I
can't wait to get my hands on the Orion. Lou On Sat, 2 Jul 2011 02:28:52 -0400, Les Kriegler wrote:
Hi Richard, Given the way the accessibility market works, you can forget about further development of the Braille Plus. I expressed my concerns about this when the Orion was announced. But we blind people are largely responsible for this, in my opinion. As soon as a product is announced, you see people droolling to get their hands on the latest and greatest. Then those same consumers will go to their state VR reps and ask for what they think they want and need to be purchased. Now, before anybody jumps down my throat, I know some of you by your own equipment and if you decide to purchase this with your money, that's fine. But I believe the majority of individuals have someone covering their costs, be at family members, state rehab, etc. So we as a group have ourselves to blame for much of what happens. There's no money made in software development. The cycle is to put a product out there for a few years, put out a couple of relatively minor updates, and then it's on to something else. This is particularly the case in the notetaker market. But the day of reckoning is coming, as voc rehab will at some point face cuts as everyone else has, and fiscally, these overpriced devices will start to take a hit. It can't happen soon enough, in my opinion. Les -----Original Message----- From: icon-discuss-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:icon-discuss-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Richard Fiorello Sent: Friday, July 01, 2011 8:38 PM To: icon-discuss Subject: [icon Discussions] orion Hi list; Haven't seen an Orion but from the information provided it does much more than I want or need. Long ago gave up on gps or cell phone and purchased other divices that did the job. The built in text recognition is nice but I really don't need it. I'd really love! a continued braille plus with some of the kinks worked out. Checked out the braille note list and they didn't sound at all positive. The folks on the hims list are a very up beat positive group and their divice might be more of what I want but unfortunately it won't support nls and their primary focus seems to be on the unit with a built in braille display like the Orion. I like braille in its place but 18 cells requires lots of scrolling and doesn't do good things to the price. I guess I will just have to put my thinking cap on and see what comes. -- richard If you reply to this message it will be delivered to the original sender only. If your reply would benefit others on the list and your message is related to LevelStar or APH then consider sending your message to icon-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx Icon Discuss Mailing List icon-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx //www.freelists.org/list/icon-discuss To unsubscribe from the list send a blank message with unsubscribe in the subject line to: icon-discuss-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx To post to this list, send your message to: icon-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxxFor answers to the most frequently asked questions about Icon and Braille +,Visit the LevelStar and APH FAQ pages: Visit the LevelStar FAQ page at http://www.levelstar.com/support-faqs.php Visit the APH FAQ page at http://sun1.aph.org/webcast/brailleplus2/faq.htmlIf you reply to this message it will be delivered to the original sender only. If your reply would benefit others on the list and your message is related toLevelStar or APH then consider sending your message to icon-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx Icon Discuss Mailing List icon-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx //www.freelists.org/list/icon-discuss To unsubscribe from the list send a blank message with unsubscribe in the subject line to: icon-discuss-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx To post to this list, send your message to: icon-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxxFor answers to the most frequently asked questions about Icon and Braille +,Visit the LevelStar and APH FAQ pages: Visit the LevelStar FAQ page at http://www.levelstar.com/support-faqs.php Visit the APH FAQ page at http://sun1.aph.org/webcast/brailleplus2/faq.html
If you reply to this message it will be delivered to the original sender only. If your reply would benefit others on the list and your message is related to LevelStar or APH then consider sending your message to icon-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx Icon Discuss Mailing List icon-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx //www.freelists.org/list/icon-discuss To unsubscribe from the list send a blank message with unsubscribe in the subject line to: icon-discuss-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx To post to this list, send your message to: icon-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx For answers to the most frequently asked questions about Icon and Braille +, Visit the LevelStar and APH FAQ pages: Visit the LevelStar FAQ page at http://www.levelstar.com/support-faqs.php Visit the APH FAQ page at http://sun1.aph.org/webcast/brailleplus2/faq.html