Some questions about braille displays

Hi Eoileen and others, I have one of the Braille Pen 12 cell displays. At this point it will be going back fro a repair but that is my fault and no fault of the unit. It is very small and works rather weel although the battery time is shorter than the Refheshabrialle I also have. As an assistive technology instructor I decided to get the Braille Pen after having the Refreshabrille in order to have a couple displays to show folks. In addition to the agencies for the blind purchasing equipment, many states here in the United States have equipment loan funds where by people can qualify for low interest loans to purchase equipment as long as the equipment will benefit them in their life.

Hi, I have not used either display, but I do have a bn Apex which I use as a display for iOS a lot. One feature you will want to watch for is the touch cursor, where a button over each cell can route the cursor to that cell. This is, to me, an indispensable feature and is one reason I would not go for the Braille Pen, despite its low price. I know that Humanware's displays come with touch cursors, and I believe they sell a 12-cell, 20, 32, and 40, all of which should work with all the screen readers the original poster is looking for. I am not endorsing hw over other companies, I just am pretty sure they all include touch cursor buttons and I feel that, as a programmer, a way to jump to a particular cell will be very important..

The proceeding poster brings up one of the other key differences between the Braille Pen and the Refreshabraille. The Braille Pen does not have cursor routing buttons, whereas, the Refreshabraille does. I know the Refreshabraille is compatible with all the stuff you had originally mentioned, and I think, but can't verify for a fact, that the Braille Pen is as well. I have not had enough time with a Braille Pen to really review it fairly, but here are a couple things I don't like about the Refreshabraille. 1. The USB connector design. This is the one and only flaw in the design of the display in terms of hardware. The plug was designed so that if someone stepped on a USB bord while it is plugged in, the cable will not be pulled out by accident. However, this also makes the USB cable hard to plug in. Since this is the only means by which the RB can be charged, you have to use it. The work around I've used is to keep a very short USB cord, the short one that comes with the display works fine, connected at all times to the display. I then put the cord in back of the display when it's in its case. I've had the display like this for several months, and it works fine. If you want a longer USB cord, purchase a USB extention cord from your local electronics shop. 2. This is a firmware issue that they will hopefully remedy soon. I, and a few others, have brought this issue forth to APH. When the battery low message flashes up, which it does with 3 hours or more of battery life remaining, it stays there for 15 seconds, no matter what you do to the display. However, if you're typing or scrolling through something, the display still does whatever command you ask it to, even though the changes will not show on the display until that stupid battery low message goes away. Other than those 2 issues, I think it's a solid display. Works great with NVDA, VoiceOver on both the iPhone and Macbook, and also with JAWS. I hope this info is somehow helpful and wish you luck in your hunt for a braille display!

Yay for the braille Pen being a Polish display... yay. Now getting serious, I don't think you'd want a BP, because first the sell size and no cursor routing, but also it doesn't have a NVDA driver which could be a problem. If you go for the refreshabraille, any of the humanware displays or the alva bc 640/680, those are the ones I know definitely work with NVDA and the apple stuff.