Eclipse's new writer

[Danielle]

Hello. After the long anticipated wait...is there anyone out there who is using the writer and has any feedback? The rep in my area doesn't have one to do demonstrations with(????). It's a big investment to buy blindly and my writer is on its last leg.
Danielle

[Tim Floury]

Danielle,

I bought the Passport. Got it the end of August. So far so good. I know it's tough thinking about buying something so expensive sight-unseen, but I have total confidence in Advantage, that they wouldn't produce equipment that didn't work, and they would definitely stand behind their product. I also looked at the benefits of the Passport: Anti-stacking technology, showing shadowing in your notes, the two extra keys on the left, useful for editing from your steno machine, and the fact that it would work flawlessly with Eclipse. I'm liking the machine very much so far. I'm in Michigan and would demo to anyone who wanted to take a look-see.

Tim

[Deborah Leonard Lovejoy]

I also purchased a Passport at the end of August... and here it is, the start of October and I'm still writing on my trusty old clunker. sheesh

BUT I do want to say that, little as I've done yet with the Passport, the support has been, shall I say, heartwarming and confidence-inspiring. You get to talk to very astute technicians. You're given an hour or so orientation over the telephone. Downloadable software updates are available online as the writer gets further tweaked and refined. As I understand, usage of the two extra keys is not yet written into the programming, but as the keys will be user-definable, on the Passport forum people are "spec'lating" on various possible uses the keys can be put to. All in all, the machine is feature-rich, lots of capability built in, with plenty of headroom for future growth.

If you're looking to replace your old steno writer, Advantage Software is definitely a company with reporters' interests at heart.

[Margaret M. Ledvora]

Hi Deborah,

Why aren't you using your Passport? Do you have a problem with it? I got my Passport at the end of August and have been using it ever since. Any problems I have had, support has also been very very helpful. If you have any questions about it, just let me know. Maybe I can help you put away your trusty old clunker.

It's a fun machine, and there's lots to learn. Just give it a try.

[Laura Axelsen]

I used to feel the same way about advantage - but I have found out that the rep with whom I spoke to buy the product knew that there were problems and sold it to me anyway. She admitted so in a phone conversation, and I'm hoping it's one they recorded so I can get a copy of it. I am trying to get in touch with all the reporters who have asked for their money back so that we can together approach Advantage and beg if need be.

:-)

[Laura Axelsen]

Hello! I got my Passport in August and had one problem after another. Although support tried, they haven't been able to really help, but there are updates in the works. I have found the Passport unreliable - sometimes one type of connection works, another time it doesn't. The audio doesn't sync up, and I use the audio and notes as a backup. My last job with the Passport everything went awry, and I have stopped using it. There were so many problems that I asked for my money back. I am currently researching and trying to find Passport users out there to see of their experiences. So far since last week I have come across two reporters who have asked for their money back and been refused, as was I. Along with that, on the Passport support forum, there are many other reporter problems.
They are sending me out a new one (same story with two other reporters with whom I've communicated) and even if this one APPEARS to work, I am afraid to use it a real jobs in case the losing of notes off of ALL of the backups happens again.

I would love to hear from other Passport users with good or bad experiences, and also from those who want to get their money back.

Thanks!

Laura
laxelsen @ cs. com

[Lisa Breiter]

I too was on the waiting list, but decided to buy a Lightspeed and don't particularly want one now. Advantage unfortunately took too long to produce the Passport and I went on looking for other options.

[Carla Miller]

Hey, after returning the Passport I ordered a Lightspeed. I got the touch on the Passport to like a lighspeed touch, but then it never registered that I was hitting strokes. Annoying.

How has your experience been getting used to the Lightspeed? I've heard good and bad on that. I like that it's a no questions asked, 90 day return policy. 15% off of 2,400 is a hell of a lot better than the 15% I paid off of $5,000 -- and I had to jump through hoops to get Advantage to return it.

[Lisa Breiter]

To answer your question, Carla, getting used to the Lightspeed has been an adventure, but it was so light and easy on my fingers that I am determined to do it. I still have some stacking problems after about 3 months, but I also still had stacking problems on my 1st gen Mira. It's just that now the problems are with different outlines.
what I did was read all the forums I could get my hands on, I looked at Mark Kislingbury's videos in the Magnum Steno Club and I read the Lightspeed manual. I practiced on it every day for about 2 weeks before I took it on a job and then it was a few more months before I took it on a realtime job. I found that I could write on it slowly just fine, but when they got going fast, my fingers got tangled up. That's getting better now. Also, you have to adjust each key individually as you go along. So I'd write a job and find that the H key was coming up everywhere so turn it down, write a little more, turn it down some more and so on. I haven't got it perfect yet, but I'm getting there. I can write most jobs now with untrans at 1-2%. When I started, I was at 5%!!!

[Carla Miller]

I would absolutely wait until you get to see it firsthand, whenever that may be. I had one -- and wanted to send it back that night. First of all, the size of the machine is way too big. I liken it to the size of my old Meritwriter I had when I got out of school, but it's made out of plastic so not as heavy. Ridiculously big. I still had stacking issues, splitting strokes, the keyboard had a "cheap" feel to it. I have no other way to describe it. It seems like it had a lot of play in the movement back and forth. They said they were still working on the anti-stacking technology and the audio, so maybe that has taken care of the stacking issues.

I was lucky enough to be able to return it -- for the 15% restocking fee, which is huge for an almost $5,000 purchase, but I keep hearing that they won't return other machines, so I do consider myself lucky on that front.

Maybe when they get the bugs worked out it will be a machine to look at in the future. My feeling is right now it's not ready to be sold. Good luck, but as much as you want your hands on one, as I did, I wish I would have. I think just seeing it in person and not even trying it would have cooled my jets on that one.

[Michelle]

I haven't bought the Passport yet, but I've heard both good and bad reviews of it, and I suppose there are both good and bad aspects to all the machines. In the end I guess it all comes down to which company and products you feel most comfortable with.

[Laura Axelsen]

For any who are thinking of buying the Diamante - you should know that you cannot adjust each individual key - Stenograph support told me that you can adjust the tension, but not each keystroke, and that was something you could fix on the software end, but I asked the tech, what about making one or two keys harder to register - for example I tend to hit the P by mistake all the time so if I were to make the tension enough so that it would be harder to make register, then my poor weak pinky wouldn't be getting the TSDZ's I need. The tech kind of uhmed, auh, hmmm'd about that one.

[Laura Axelsen]

I did have some Passport problems as I've stated, and they are going to send me a new one - but after writing on my former writer now for a couple of weeks, my wrists get tired again whereas with the Passport they didn't. I think it's the vowel keys - I think the configuration of the Passport is better on the wrists. At least for me.
And miss the ease of adjusting the keys.

:-)