Welcome to the Elan Mira Users Group. Your place for all your Mira rants and raves!!

I do not have a Mira, but I am looking to purchase one. I need to know if there are any issues with the Mira. Were you every sorry you did not have paper? Also, have they corrected the stacking issues?

Thank you,
Susan

Hi Susan! I've had the Mira for almost 3 months now and I've been very happy with it. I absolutely do not regret buying it and I definitely don't miss paper. I don't know if the stacking issues have been corrected. I would assume so since I haven't encountered any problems. But a couple of my friends bought the Mira after trying my machine and they also love it.

I know some teachers are against students purchasing a Mira and I understand their views, however, it's really up to you and whether you feel comfortable writing without paper.

Dear Susan,

I have my Mira going on four years. When I first purchased my Mira I also worried about writing without paper. I like it much better without paper. First of all, you still have access to your paper notes, if you need them, if you use a laptop -- I very rarely do. The stuff that translates is really easy to read and the untranslates come up as steno. Plus, the Mira has a fantastic feel to it. I love it!!

I hope this is helpful.

Karen

So, Anthony, my Mira (G2) is bulleting. My RT is getting shattered. Do you know of any way to get it to stop doing that without a service call?

-B/-B/-B

etc.

Tami, what are you using to hook up? Serial connection? Bluetooth? USB? Check what you have running in the background on your computer such as an antivirus program which might be causing this to happen.

Let me ask, what do you mean by bulleting? Is it that your RT freezes and then a whole bunch of lines of text shoots out? And what exactly do you mean by your RT is getting shattered? Just describe for me what's going on.

Guess a better word is dribbling. It drags a letter to the next line, sometimes in the middle of a two-stroke word. Yes, I do two stroke words on occasion. :)

(So of course all that dribbling is causing my RT to not be up to par, which really pisses me off.)
It's getting worse, so I just think it needs a trip to the shop.

I have one of the original Elan Miras, the kind where the screen doesn't flip up. I absolutely love the touch, but ever since I have had it I have had stacking, doubling, and splitting problems. I have constantly adjusted it. I have worked with Stenograph on the phone to adjust it. I've taken it to a shop and had it adjusted. Nothing every cures the problem. My RT is not as accurate as it used to be with my old Stentura 6000 and Smart Writer models. I was frustrated for years but now I just accept the fact it won't stop messing up. I used to compete in RT contests prior to using my Elan Mira but now I don't dare. I'm hoping someone out there has a solution.

Too funny, Sheila. I posted on your page an hour ago about my stacking Mira of Murrieta, and then I read your post here and now know you feel the same way. You're going to love the story I posted over there about Gary! Guess it won't shock you a bit.

I, too, had one of the first models you are talking about, and it was a complete lemon. Think Trina has one, too.

Mine was sooo bad. When the asterisk started registering eight times with a single depression -- erasing the last eight words and not having them register to notes because of Procat's software features at the time -- it put me to tears.

Yes, I could get the missing strokes by retran'g, but that wasn't very helpful when you're in trial writing RT to a judge and needing to be able to readback on a moment's notice. Well, he did all the reading back, but it still needed to be there!)

So, anyway, after numerous attempts at loaners and fixing the situation, a V.P. from Stenograph sent me a new machine. My new one worked so much better, but still had the same issues you talked about, but not nearly to the degree of the first writer.

I think Trina's Mira is in her closet collecting dust. Think she's pretty happy on her new Stylus, so that's why I've been seriously considering the purchase. I, too, feel the writer costs me on the contests.

I talked to a reporter about the brand new Mira model at work, and she says hers still stacks. She uses a very deep stroke, too. I've never been able to write on my Mira using the shallowest stroke. It goes stacking crazy if I do.

So I, too, would love a solution, but I'm not sure there's one out there, especially for reporters who can kick it up a notch -- like you!!

I guess the stacking issues have not been solved.

Susan

Tami:

I think you are talking about Gary Sonntag. He's a great guy. I saved my old Smart Writer just in case I ever need to do captioning in the future. I have sentimental attachment to that machine. I did all my competitions on it, and it never failed me.

I don't know what the touch on the Sylus is like. Karen Heggi has one of the Stenovations {?} writer where it looks like a laptop. She puts it on her lap and writes. You barely touch the keys. You can also put it on a stand. I like attaching the external keyboard to my Elan Mira and editing while I'm on the job.

No, not Gary Sonntag.

Did you know he passed away a while back??? Had a massive heart attack at a Midyear conference. What a loss to our industry!!

I just sent my Lightspeed back. Hopefully they will get all their problems ironed out and I'll get another one, but I just wasn't up to being one of their Beta testers. :)

Clay has my Smartwriter now, so that's what he did the five errors on. Yes, it never fails! Maybe I should consider using it next contest. It's a slightly deeper stroke than the Mira, but that's probably something for me to consider.

I always have to wait to see how my hands are doing whent he time comes, so we'll see if I make it to D.C. I sure want to go.

Would love to have reporters join the group who are writing on the A3. I have heard about reporters who love it.

My question is: Does it stack?? (not counting human error)