PAC Mate^™ and Braille Display Comments

PAC Mate Omni Helped Radio Dispatcher on the Job

"I finally graduated from the Braille N Speak 2000 to the Pac Mate Omni QX 400. As a blind person, I've been using the Braille N Speak 2000 along with a desktop computer by using Windisk. The Pac Mate has made my job as a radio dispatcher for our county road department so successful. I can easily transfer my phone numbers and other files pertaining to the job over to my desktop computer by transfering them through ActiveSync or putting them on a flash drive. When my files were on the Braille N Speak, Windisk took so long to transfer the file if the file was large. But now I have the PAC Mate, things are moving much more swifter. I want to say thanks to Freedom Scientific for putting such a product on the market. I love my Pac Mate."
- Bruce Davis – Naunta, Georgia

PAC Mate Makes the Grade

"I received my PAC Mate on the 11th of March. After I got home from work, I started reading the user guide on the PAC Mate documentation CD and trying the features as I read along. I haven't tried the e-mail yet, but I know it will be a lot faster then a regular computer. On the 14th of March I used it at Clark State Conmunity College to take my final exam. My instructor put the exam in an Office 2007 format. I opened it in Word Mobile® on the Omni, and it worked like a breeze. I like to thank Freedom Scientific for a wonderful device. Keep up the good work."
- Kenny – Springfield, Ohio
>Focus 40 Blue is a Lifesaver for Blind-Deaf Man

"As a totally blind and hearing impaired person, I had no more possibility to overcome social isolation but to acquire a computer with a Braille display. So I've bought the Focus 40 Blue display, and I cannot help saying (and I say it without a slightest exaggeration) that, thanks to my Focus 40 Blue, I feel as though I was to be killed but then was somehow saved. My fantastic display makes it possible not only to read, or to browse the Internet, not only to use e-mail and many other applications - I can also maintain and develop my intellectual and spiritual levels, I can create serious articles which are willingly published by magazines and allow me to be a useful member of community. Thank you very much dear Freedom Scientific team. I do not imagine something might be designed better than this Focus 40 Blue! You have given me back my life. Please take my sincerest and best wishes!”

- Hamzat Tsurov, Astrahan, Russian Federation

He Made the Switch from BrailleNote to PAC Mate

"I was a user of the BrailleNote before switching to the PAC Mate Omni. I had heard of the PAC Mate, but when I went to the 2009 NFB Convention and realized all the things the BrailleNote couldn't do that the PAC Mate Omni could do, I knew it was time to get one! Now that I have, I can honestly say that I am glad that I did, and that I will never regret my decision. Thanks goes out to Freedom Scientific for producing such a great product! Woot!"
- Shaun Williams – Clio, Michigan

Former BrailleNote User Loves His PAC Mate

"I just got a PAC Mate a few days ago, and I just wanted to say how grateful I am to have this device. I used to have a BrailleNote, and this PAC Mate is a million times better than a BrailleNote! This product pretty much slaughters the rest of the note taker products. Thank you all for coming up with this great, powerful product. Keep going with it, and don't slow down!"
- Michael Postlehwait – Albuquerque, New Mexico

Polish Student Describes a Day with his PAC Mate

"I got my PAC Mate last year in January. I've been expecting a lot from the unit. I'm very active at my school, and, in general, it takes a lot of going from class to class, taking out the Brailler, and writing. But you know how it's like, you bump into people or sometimes walls. My Brailler broke a lot. But then when I got my PAC Mate, things changed. Here is a usual week:

Before sleeping, I pack the unit into the bag. The next morning I always have to catch a bus and go 70 kilometers to the school. The trip takes aprox an hour or two. At school, usually, on a usual lesson, I have my PACM ate in its carying case, which is really easy to handle. Up on the start of the lesson, I remove my QX440, and power it on going into FSEdit, waiting for things to write down. On the end of the lesson, I save the file in a separate folder on my storage card and put the unit back in the case, going to where I hang out. When going home, as soon as I catch the bus home, I actually take out the unit again, usually I undock the Braille display, put on headphones, and immerse in reading a text file or playing a game. Then when I come home, I sit down at the PAC Mate again, to do homework. On weekends, I always watch a tv show in the morning, so I set up the PAC Mate to wake me up five minutes before the start, only on week ends. The unit is in another room, which ensures I don't reach in and shut it off, going back to bed.

Ending thoughts: the PAC Mate is a great and easy-to-use device. It's built-in, yet removeable, Braille display allows for easy reading without headphones. The unit has Windows Mobile, which lets me be very flexible. It also starts quickly, not slowing me down. I'd really like to say thanks to Freedom Scientific for making such an superb and useful device! "
- Peter Mahach – Poland

The Gift of a Focus 40 Blue Opens the World to Russian Student

"This summer, one Moscow organization bought a few Braille displays and other products of your company (for blind students). I was very glad to get such a wonderful present like a Focus 40 Blue Braille display! To speak the truth, as early as six months ago, it was very difficult for me to read English texts and documents. Now, the Focus 40 Blue is my little electronic friend that helps me to get a lot of important information and makes using computers easier. When ever I go to the country, I always put it in a small bag and take it with me. It helps me with learning the Bible, create things, and learning at the University. I think, it would be very wonderful if many blind people would get a Focus 40 Blue.”

- Julia, Russian Federation

PAC Mate was the Overwhelming Notetaker Recommendation for Visually Impaired Teacher

"I am a thirty-two-year-old teacher of the visually impaired and have been blind, but with a degree of useable vision, since birth. The PAC Mate is one of the best accessibility products that I have ever used! I had heard about it for years, but it wasn't until after my vision began to further weaken, necessitating the need for full time Braille use and speech output, that I knew that I wanted to delve into the world of notetakers. I asked many of my blind co-workers for their advice or opinions, and the PAC Mate was their overwhelming recommendation. The decision to get it has been one of the best that I could have ever made! I was able to actually begin to use it straight out of the box with no formal training. The very next day, I started to use it to take notes in my master's degree classes.

I am still learning many of the ins and outs of the machine, but I can already tell that it will open many doors for me. I can't wait to access e-books that I can now obtain instantly from a variety of sources through the JAWS speech output and the twenty-cell Braille display. The PAC Mate puts all the information you need to get through your day in one easy-to-use package that can go anywhere! I highly recomend it to any professional who is thinking about purchasing a notetaker or a laptop. If you are already computer literate, you will have no trouble transitioning to the PAC Mate. The PAC Mate has everything you need and so much more! It definitely is the answer to the same old laptop!   "
- Jaimie – Gaffney, South Carolina

No More Brailler

"I used to use the Mountbatten Brailler, as this is what my teacher said I would use for the rest of my life! Just a few weeks ago, I got my trial PAC Mate Omni 6.2. I used it for a few minutes, and I was completely won over. Just a tip for you: If you use the PAC Mate, you won't go back to a traditional PK (Perkins) or Mountbatten!"
- Finn – City Unspecified

PAC Mate and JAWS Deliver "Epiphany Days" for Blind and Partially Deaf IBM Programmer

"I've been using JAWS since 2001. As a system support programmer at IBM, I used a Braille display with JAWS at the office and while working at home. I've particularly appreciated the PAC Mate Braille Display. I am blind and totally deaf on one side, so Braille was a necessity, especially when I was on the phone helping with mainframe system support problems. I could work so quickly that most of my colleagues didn't realize I was blind until they came to my office or I went to theirs. After I retired a few years ago, I didn't stop using JAWS or a Braille display. My PC is on all the time, and e-mail and the Internet are always available. I also use PAC Mate, primarily for reading books from NLS and other documents from the Internet. I love sitting outside on a sunny day, enjoying a good Braille book with the PAC Mate. I call those days my 'epiphany days!'  "
- Mary Emerson – San Jose, California

Braille Challenge Winner Finds JAWS, PAC Mate Ideal Study Aids

"I use both JAWS and the PAC Mate. I find them both very helpful. I record things with my PAC Mate to remind me of what I have to do. I use JAWS when I'm on the Internet. I can do almost anything on the Internet now that I have JAWS. The PAC Mate I use to print things out for my teachers. I'm only 10 years old, and I've found many uses for these products. I won the PAC Mate at the Braille Challenge, and I borrowed a laptop computer from my school. My technology teacher, who is blind herself, installed JAWS on it for me. All of this happened in the last few months. "
- Cricket Bidleman – San Diego, California

PAC Mate is Good for Children

"It (the PAC MAte) is a cool little device. You can surf the Web wirelessly, send e-mail, and a lot more. It's good that children are getting their hands on the PAC Mate. A Perkins Brailler is good, but the PAC Mate can do much more much faster. I have enjoyed every minute of my PAC Mate. "
- Terrell Jones – White House, Tennessee

Applause for PAC Mate Keyboard and Other Features

"I would like to congratulate the Freedom Scientific team on a job well done. I use a PAC Mate Omni and I believe it is the best notetaking device I've ever used ... the PAC Mate is miles ahead of the competition. As a college student with a full class schedule, it is a real time saver to grab my Omni and head to class with every function available on my desktop computer virtually in the palm of my hand. I am able to surf the Web, e-mail class assignments to my professors with ease, perform complex mathematical calculations, and chat with my friends or listen to music or read books between classes. I have also never received any complaints about my tap tap tapping on the PAC Mate's keyboard due to the fact it is so quiet and comfortable to use. I can't say enough about this wonderful device and I greatly look forward to what this versatile unit will be able to do in the future. Great job Freedom Scientific. ”
- Matthew Shaw - Austin, Texas

"I am a PAC Mate Omni QX user, and this product is the best I have ever used. The keyboard is brilliant to type on, and with the PAC Mate 40-cell Braille display I have, that is beautiful and crisp and smooth. I love being able to read PowerPoints for my degree studies, and I love being able to read PDF files, and accessing YouTube! I love that Web site! What I do is, I put the music that I want from there onto a CompactFlash card or a pen drive, and it plays, with out any bother! There is a wealth of things you can do on the PAC Mate Omni, and I would recommend the PAC Mate Omni be given considerable thought for those who like JAWS and who like an open platform! Good job Freedom Scientific! ”
- Sophia Brown - Manchester, England

Realtor is Sold on PAC Mate Omni™

"As a blind real estate and mortgage broker, I deal with numerous clients and companies and with a great deal of documentation and paperwork. I would like to take my hat off to the team at Freedom Scientific for developing the new PAC Mate Omni. After just a few days of doing my office work, I can tell you that this upgrade is the best I have ever seen. With my work, there isn’t one feature that the PAC Mate Omni has that I don’t use to the fullest. Congratulations for a job well done. I am very happy to have a tool like this. The PAC Mate Omni provides me with the cutting edge I need to compete with my sighted counterparts.

I use my PAC Mate Omni constantly in every aspect of what I do. I’m very appreciative that Freedom Scientific is so willing to develop new tools like this that enable those of us affected by a vision disability to be able to be employed, to remain active, and to be self-sufficient. Even though I’m blind and 65 years of age, as long as I have access to
the types of tools that Freedom Scientific makes and continually improves
upon, I have no reason to ever think about slowing down.”
- Erodio Diaz - Miami, Florida

PAC Mate is the Cool School Tool

"The PAC Mate has exceeded all of my expectations. It is a wonderful tool for students. I love its compact size, and the fact that it supports third-party programs. It truly is a hand-held computer for the blind. I love browsing the Web, Instant Messaging, e-mailing, listening to music, and reading books with my PAC Mate. Freedom Scientific has done a phenomenal job with this product, and if you want an extremely up-to-date notetaker/PDA, the PAC Mate is for you!”
- Kolby Garrison - Greensboro, North Carolina

Going Mobile with the PAC Mate

“The wireless ability, I would say, is one of the PAC Mate's more attractive features, so you might want to invest in a wireless router and a wireless CompactFlash™ card if you take the plunge. You will be able to use your PAC Mate anywhere in your house, or at a public WiFi hot spot ... If what you are looking for is the ability to browse the Web, synchronize your unit to your desktop with MS Outlook, and effortlessly share documents with teachers or co-workers, then you will love the PAC Mate, as it does all of this quite well ... The PAC Mate, I think, is a worthy product, giving you the ability to do things that you just can not do with other adaptive products. The ability to use wireless technology alone puts the PAC Mate ahead of other similar products on the market for the blind.”
- Rick Alfaro - Davie, Florida

PAC Mate Portability

“Is (the PAC Mate) worth it? Absolutely! You get much better portability, especially if you are a Braille user. With a laptop, you have to lug around the computer and the Braille display. With the PAC Mate, you have one small unit that will perform most tasks that you might use a laptop for: reading, word processing, working with spreadsheets, playing audio files, reading e-mail, and accessing the Web. I have found mine to be invaluable!”
- Donna Goodin - Lansing, Michigan