Category: Geeks r Us
What does everyone think of the Orbit Reader 20?
Just wondering.
There have been several topics created about this display, and it looks very promising, I'm not going to lie. If only they would keep with the schedules that they put forth on release dates. As I said in another topic, my understanding from listening to an interview from a representative from APH was that it was supposed to be released and purchasable before or around convention season. Last I checked, it's still not available for purchase.
I have my eye on it, too--I want to get one for my husband, since he keeps threatening to reclaim the Braille Edge, and I don't want to give it up! LOL . But Orbit Reader 20 is still showing as "available soon" on APH's page. What's holding them up?!
My understanding from talking to the APH folks is that the supply isn't yet there to be able to release and keep up with the demand. As for my thoughts on it, well, I haven't seen the final product, just 2 prototype versions. Both were very sturdily built, but both had rather noisy pins. The refresh rate also appeared to be slower than what you would find on a conventional braille display like the edge.
Maybe it just isn't standing up to claims.
I guess we'll know when they finally release it.
Other displays have come and come, so to speak, and we're waiting on this one.
In my opinion, APH has never done well with technology products. It is not what they are great at. Just focus on the educational stuff. I could go on and on about discontinued products like: APH Braille Plus 18, RefreshaBraille 18, and others.
I saw a model at CSUN and for $500 was impressed. I would not have wanted to use it in a lecture hall or at an office do to the loudness of the pins. For use at home though it looks pretty good.
In response to post 6:
The underlying issue is that currently, braille displays are expensive. Even those companies who are all bragging ever so delightedly about having braille displays under a thousand dollars are selling them at like, $995, so that's really not saying much. A device like the Orbit reader appeals to those folks who don't have thousands and thousands of dollars to throw around on these really expensive devices. You can probably understand therefore why people are hoping that APH turned a new leaf with their partnership with Orbit Research when it comes to their technology-related issues. Anyway, in the pricing alone, I'd say that they seem to be doing pretty good. I listened to a podcast earlier this week which suggested that they had 30 of the final version of the units at the NFB convention, and they sold incredibly quickly. Far as I heard from that podcast, at this time the production cannot compete with the demand that is out there for these devices. However, apparently that's supposed to change soon or something, but we'll see. The timeline is another month or two before they're available for general purchase, but well, they also said at one point that they would be ready in spring of this year, fall of last year etc. So, we have to just wait and see.
Long story short, I have an Orbit Reader 20 for a bit of time. The final product works well at reading books in US and UEB. When connected to USB, the pins are not any more delayed than they are when reading books internally. The lagginess seems to only happen with Bluetooth where it can become an issue. As for the Refreshabraille, I think APH is doing fine with those, and also with Nearby Explorer, but the Braille plus was indeed a major bust.
This may be a silly question, maybe all Braille displays now have it, but just to verify, there is some type of auto-scroll feature on this machine, right? I browsed the user manual, but didn't see reference to it, and that's crucial in order to enable the reading of books.
Pretty sure if that feature was available it would've been hinted at in the manual, which I have not yet read! I do know that it has two panning bars from what the descriptions of the device have said, so maybe that's supposed to help or something, but I guess we'll see. Speculation will get us nowhere! At this point, I'm just hoping that they stick to their timeline of release so that I can grab the device and do some of my own testing with it. I'm not a fan of either the NFB or the ACB, so going to either of their conventions to test out the device was out. I don't want to test it -that- badly!
Anyway, expect the display, even though it's supposed to be promising, to have some limitations. It's cheaper, so remember, you'll be getting what you pay for. it might meet your needs, and if it doesn't, then you might just have to consider one of the more expensive options. To me personally, autoscrolling is not a deal breaker, since I generally prefer to do my own scrolling.
Hopefully they'll have some return policy on it.
Sure, most things do come with, but because this machine seems like it is having problems coming to market, there has to be a reason other then supply.
The Perkins Braille and Talking Book Library is supposed to have a loaner program for these units; I've indicated interest in taking part; no response yet. Hoping I can ttry before I buy.
I have also heard the same.
There is no autoscrolling functionality with the Orbit Reader braille display. It does have a rocker button on each end of the display which will pan the braille left by pressing upward, and right by pressing the lower end of the rocker button. Both rocker buttons have the same functionality. Several braille displays have autoscrol capabilities for internal documents, but the only company that produces a series of devices which have autoscrolling capabilities on external devices that I'm aware of are HandiTech. IN the U.S, Triomph Technologies is there distributor. The Actilino, which was recently release, does also contain this function. Maybe you are confusing that display with the Orbit Reader?
Off my wish list, then, because pressing a key every time I need to advance a line isn't going to work, for reading lengthy files such as books!
Sounds useful as a notetaker, though, and for that I may still get it for my husband, who doesn't read full length books in braille.
Uh ... doesn't every single braille display out there involve pressing a button to advance the line? Just saying ...
No, there is at least one display that I'm aware of that does have an autoscrolling feature. Read post 15 for more detail about that. However, like I said earlier, I prefer to advance my own lines anyway, and would probably find autoscrolling to be annoying, myself.
No,. Reyami.
The Braille Edge, for one, has auto-scroll. You can increase or decrease the rate, so that it advances at the speed that is comfortable for your reading speed.
You can also use the up/down keys to move back/forward as needed, without turning off the automatic scrolling, so if you missed something, it's easy to go back.
If you use Jaws, I guess this would be like the difference between using the down arrow to read a 300 page document, or using the more convenient Control+A Read All command.
The focus 40, 80 have had audio advance feature for a while. Its like a tella prompter, your able to read at your own spead with out moving your hands off the display. Cool, learned something new about my edge, audo advance for reading cool!.
Dan Mathis