Machine Recommendations

[Hillary Ryan]

Hi All,

I am interested in getting a steno machine for use with plover. I care most about the quality of construction, ergonomics, playing nice with plover/mac, and not having an LCD. I don't care too much about the price. Any recommendations?

Many Thanks,

Hillary

[Glen Warner]

Hi, Hillary.  

I highly recommend the ProCAT Flash ... and yes, it works just fine with my MacBook Pro and my 2008 iMac!

Sure, it has a LCD screen, but how else would you know if you were using TX Bolt/Baron or the ProCAT protocol? With the screen, it's right there -- more or less ... and by that, I mean that once you have it set up, you switch back to the main screen, which is just steno.  

The screen does not have the ability to display your strokes in English, which is what I thought it would do when I bought it (yeah, yeah, I know I should have read the description more closely!), but other than that, I have had no issues with it.  

Check to see if your friendly neighborhood steno repair company has one for sale.  If not, check to see if ProCAT has one available, then check the vendors' stores on eBay, or go directly to their websites and see what's available.

Unfortunately, however, it's not very ergonomic.  It also uses paper, though your steno repair tech should be able to make that not be a problem.    

Good luck ... and happy hunting!

--gdw   

[paulo paniago]

 

Hello Hillary, I’ve wanted a steno machine from neutrino group for some while already. If I were to buy one, I would probably choose the infinity ergonomic student; I guess it has the specifications you are looking for:

http://www.infinitytraditional.com/infinity-ergonomic-student/

from reviews, it seams to be very ergonomic and reliable when it comes to manufacturing, but I cannot say much since I never owned one. Neutrino groups sell it saying that it has the same keyboard as the professional models, with all techno accessories removed to lower price.

One big advantage I see in using that with plover is that it is a machine from the same company that the one Mirabai uses, and so I guess it is probably the most tested and compatible with plover, although I don’t remember people commenting about it’s usage on Macs.

Mirabai uses a professional model, and once I saw her typing in a video were she put the windows surface pro in the place were the lcd screen would be. And that for me was the ultimate steno arrangement.

If money is really not a problem you can look for a more equipped machine like the infinity ergonomic captioners:

http://www.infinitytraditional.com/infinity-ergonomic-captioners/

I don’t know exactly what is the difference from the student model but I think it has some wireless capabilities added like Bluetooth.

About the even more sophisticated models from that company, I doubt that the features they advertise would work with Plover.

 And if you also consider non professional steno machines, I always heard good reviews about the stenomod, it uses mechanical switches like the ones in computer keyboards instead of levers but I think it is much lighter then the professional machines:

https://stenomod.blogspot.com.br/

And I am very interested in opinions about the new SOFT/HURF splitography since it looks really nice:

http://plover.stenoknight.com/2018/01/iou-two-reviews.html

 

[Robert Fontaine]

Hello Hillary,

I am self learning and have no idea whether I will get to the point where steno is a valuable skill.

I am currently using Plover but I could easily be convinced to shift to another Theory and/or Software.

Phoenix, Magnum , something else

It's not clear what you are saying by don't care too much about the price.

Budget for a writer varies from a 200$ USD to 6000$ USD.

There are quite a few good student modern machines to choose from:

I just purchased a used "Infinity Traditional Student" without display 

because I got it for a price that I could afford AND believe that I can resell it for if I am not satisfied with it 

and it has all of the weight, depth, and software key sensitivity that I could want.

If I had unlimited budget I would have gone with either the Infinity Ergo or the Luminex.

The infinity ergo is the only split machine on the market and I suspect that this has the potential

to be faster and more ergonomic over time.

I was very tempted to purchase 

a used Wave as they are very popular for Steno students and a used Student Infinity Ergo because split.

I hesitated to buy the Infinity Ergo because it is really hard to understand what fair market value is 

and I wasn't comfortable that I could sell it easily if I didn't like it.   

I didn't buy the Wave because the price I purchased the Infinity Traditional for was far more competitive 

for the same feature set (for my use)

The Luminex is probably the best made machine out there some might argue for the Passport 

and you are paying for them at over $5k

Stenograph - Wave, Diamante, Luminex,     ( integrated display )

Neutrino Group - Infinity Ergo Student ( various version from student to court reporting  )

Neutrino Group - Infinity Traditional Student   ( various version from student to court reporting  )

Neutrino Group - Infinity Traditional Student  

Neutrino Group - Genesis RT ( extemely paired down intended to run only with a computer )

EclipseSat - Passport Touch ( integrated display )

Elan Mira  ( integrated display )

Not sure if that helped but those were my thoughts before I pulled the trigger on my first "real" steno machine to

use with plover last night.

 

--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Plover" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to ploversteno+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com.
For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.

--

Thank you,

Robert Fontaine
204 293 6253

[Hillary Ryan]

Howdy,

Thank you for your thoughtful responses. I ended up ordering an Infinity Ergo Student Edition. I'll let you know what I think when it comes!

Best Wishes,

Hillary

To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to ploversteno...@googlegroups.com.

For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.