I'm thinking of getting a new mobile Braille display and wanted to see if y'all here had experience with either/both, and could share your thoughts, and recommendations?
This is so hard. It'd sure be nice if we could just try them all out side by side wouldn't it?
Recall the Actilino uses the Handy Tech concave cells, so they kind of slope away from you if you've not seen them. Some hate it and some love it. I like them. I use both styles of cells. But if you wouldn't like it that would be a clue.
I've not used the Chameleon 20, but do have the APH Mantis Q40. Other than the keyboard and amount of cells they operate simularly. The software has more features, such as the ability to download books directly from BookShare and NFB Newsline. The Actilino does not have this. Both displays you can load your own files onto storage for off-line, non-connected use.
I think the HumanWare Brailliant Bi-20x (I think I have the name right) which is teh sibling/bigger brother to the Chameleon which is the APH branded version and removes a few features, would be the better by feature wise and I'd go that route over the APH model. Both are made by HumanWare anyways and with the HumanWare version there are a few more features. I encourage you to compare them.
Lastly and this is surely obvious, Actilino has 16 cells, and the Chameleon has 20 cells. I don't have a 20 cell portable display, but I think it'd be nice for leading 40 cell line length formatted books such as from NLS BARD. I am not in the market now but definitely have this line length on my radar for the future.
Let us know what you decide and how it turns out!
I have used the Actilino back in 2017, but I think this is a newer device. It's hard to point you in any sort of direction with such a general question. What things do you plan to do with the display? What is most important to you in terms of a set of features? Is cost a factor?
Comments
Braille Displays
This is so hard. It'd sure be nice if we could just try them all out side by side wouldn't it?
Recall the Actilino uses the Handy Tech concave cells, so they kind of slope away from you if you've not seen them. Some hate it and some love it. I like them. I use both styles of cells. But if you wouldn't like it that would be a clue.
I've not used the Chameleon 20, but do have the APH Mantis Q40. Other than the keyboard and amount of cells they operate simularly. The software has more features, such as the ability to download books directly from BookShare and NFB Newsline. The Actilino does not have this. Both displays you can load your own files onto storage for off-line, non-connected use.
I think the HumanWare Brailliant Bi-20x (I think I have the name right) which is teh sibling/bigger brother to the Chameleon which is the APH branded version and removes a few features, would be the better by feature wise and I'd go that route over the APH model. Both are made by HumanWare anyways and with the HumanWare version there are a few more features. I encourage you to compare them.
Lastly and this is surely obvious, Actilino has 16 cells, and the Chameleon has 20 cells. I don't have a 20 cell portable display, but I think it'd be nice for leading 40 cell line length formatted books such as from NLS BARD. I am not in the market now but definitely have this line length on my radar for the future.
Let us know what you decide and how it turns out!
That depends on your primary use case
I have used the Actilino back in 2017, but I think this is a newer device. It's hard to point you in any sort of direction with such a general question. What things do you plan to do with the display? What is most important to you in terms of a set of features? Is cost a factor?
Brailliant
I placed the order for my Brailliant BI 20X! So excited and look forward to it!