Hi,  here are some purposes and benefits of braille displays.
Ability to proof read.  Many many people could use this including myself.  The 
document editing capabilities of a braille display far outstrip the keyboard 
and speech setup for speed and accuracy.
Ability to read and absorb information through reading. Myself, I like reading 
books in braille but can't stand paper braille.  Some of my clients just simply 
learn better through reading.  Some people are just like that.  I know I cant 
make myself sit through a nonfiction audiobook, but I love reading them in 
braille.
Portability, I can connect wirelessly to my mobile phone, read books on the bus 
or train, send and receive textmessages and email privately, and take notes 
quickly.
Multitasking, , I can control my computer with my braille display, turn off 
speech and listen to music or sounds on my computer.  I can edit sound files 
more comfortably.  I can take better notes over the phone with braille than 
with speech, and I can look up information more easily while I'm talking to 
some one.

Personally, I use my braille display as a control surface for my computer,, so 
I want a read/write display.  I love the braille connect and find it extremely 
comfortable to use.  Alva BC640 is also OK, but I'm not happy with the layout 
of it's control surface at all.  Focus blue has extremely mixed reviews.  It's 
easily the biggest and clunkiest of the read/write displays, and is a bit 
behind the times in terms of technology, considering that it only incorporated 
input and bluetooth last fall.  Handytech braille wave is the other big player. 
 Unfortunately this is the one I know least about because we can't get them 
here in Ontario.
When buying your braille display, ask yourself what size you want, 40 sells? 
more? less?
Decide if you want to both read and write, or if you only need reading.
Try a few on loan and see which one feels right to you.  This is the most 
important thing.  The sells on each one feel different.  some are sharp, some 
are flat.  some are ergonomic, some are not. They all have different routing 
key textures and control surfaces.  When it comes to window-eyes, you will get 
very good joy out of all of the above mentioned, except for possibly the focus 
blue.  Unfortunately there's bad feeling between the two companies, and the 
makers of the focus are not proactive in getting their hardware supported.  I 
haven't tested it myself.  Maybe it works great, but I would make absolutely 
sure before investing.

Best,


erik burggraaf
A+ certified technician and user support consultant.
Phone: 888-255-5194
Email: [email protected]

On 2010-03-16, at 9:12 AM, Juan Gonzalez wrote:

> Hi everybody!
> I maybe missing something here but what is the main purpose of a Braille 
> display besides putting everything on the screen in Braille? Why do people 
> need a Braille display when the screen reader reads it to you already? I was 
> looking into getting one but then I realized that there is no need for it. At 
> least for me. Is there more functions to it that I am missing here? If there 
> is which one would work the best with window-eyes?
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