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From: Chip.Orange@f778.n115.z1.fidonet.org (Chip Orange)
Newsgroups: misc.handicap
Subject: KPR VS. Arkenstone
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Date: 20 Jul 90 20:20:38 GMT
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Index Number: 9373

[This is from the Blink Talk Conference]

I've had a chance over the past two months to work with a Kurzweil 
Personal Reader at home and an Arkenstone read at work and would like to 
share my impressions of both of them.  I think I'll list various 
categories, and give each machine a rating from 1-10 (where 10 is the 
best).  This is not something carefully thought out, so if you have any 
questions afterwards, don't hesitate to ask.
  
Over-all recognition capabilities: KPR 8, Arkenstone 7.  The KPR does 
seem a little better over-all, much better at reading books and small 
print because of the 400 DPI book-edge scanner.  The arkenstone is better 
at dot-matrix print if you need to read that, I never have had the 
ocasion.
  
Ease of use:  KPR 8, Arkenstone 5.  Even with the Easy-scan software I 
beleive the KPR is much wasier to use.  This is especially true if the 
blind person contemplating the reading machine doesn't know how to type.
 
Reliability:  KPR 3, Arkenstone 8.  My KPR has had a miriad of hardware 
and software problems, and I understand from other owners this is the 
norm, not the exception.  The only problem with the Arkenstone is that 
documents scanned with the sheet feeder turn out much poorer than when 
manually fed.  I beleive the feeder is out of adjustment, but can't get 
Arkenstone to do anything about it.
  
Warantee service:  KPR 8, Arkenstone 5.  When I had my problems with the 
KPR, they did Fed Exp. me a new one and paid to have my old one returned 
to them.  I couldn't even get Arkenstone to agree to service the document 
feeder that seems to be giving problems, even if we paid shipping both 
ways.
  
Unusual features:
     Here I'll list unusual features possessed by one or the other 
machine.  The KPR has the ability to "learn" the text it is reading. 
This means that a second scanning of a page is usually much better than 
the first scan, and all subsequent pages keep improving.
     The Arkenstone allows you to scan just a small segment of the top or 
bottom of the page.  Especially helpful if you're looking at page 
numbers.
     The Kurzweil can read one page to you while it is scanning the next. 
 For reading books this is especially nice.
     The Kurzweil's maximum reading speed is 350 WPM.  I can barely 
understand things at that speed, so have no trouble with this, but others 
have mentioned to me that they would like a higher speed.  The 
Arkenstone's speed is determined by the synthesizer being used.
     The KPR does need "lightening" or "darkening" adjustments for 
scanning like the Arkenstone, it does this automatically.
     The KPR does have the hand held camera as an option, but I didn't 
purchase it because I simply couldn't make it work in my demo.  Others 
may be able to use it and if so, it would make a nice addition.
  
     I hope things ramblings help someone in selecting the right reading 
machine for them, and would be interested in any comments from others who 
have had significant time with both systems.
  
    Chip Orange

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