Do you recommend buying software and machine from acculaw?

Hello!

I have student versions on both my software and machine, and I am looking to buy professional versions.  I have heard good and bad things about different writers, and I am trying to hear more of that, I guess.

Has anyone ever purchased their equipment through acculaw.com?

 It's thousands of dollars cheaper than going through stenograph, and I am wondering if there is a catch to it?

Does anyone have any advice on what machine to get? 

I am thinking about the elan mira g2 or the new diamante.  There's a two thousand dollar price difference.  Is the new diamante worth the money?

Has anyone passed the CRR on the Mira?  Has it been good for writing realtime?

Well, I will appreciate any input anyone has on the machine and software they are using, and the companies who sold it to them.

Thanks!

I would say nothing wrong with buying anything from Acculaw.  They've been around for a long time.   I'm a big advocate of saving money where you can.   I don't believe there's a catch.   I never personally owned a Mira but have read many, many stories that have used the term "stacking tower of Mira," on other forums.   The Diamante, however, seems like a dream.   Also do some research on stenotech.com and www.courtreporterconnect.com there's reporters selling their machines, Ebay search word *Stenograph* and you'll see all the court reporting stuff.   I know people will revolt against me for mentioning Ebay, but I got my Stentura 8000LX on there years ago for $2,500 and she's still goin' strong!

Hello ...

I bought my writer (a refurbished ProCAT Flash) from Acculaw some years ago.  I ordered it with wide keys (asterisk and -DZ), and it arrived sans wide keys.  They invited me to ship it back to them (at my expense; $25) and they would put the wide keys on for me.  I declined, and had my local steno repair ninja put the wide keys on, saving time and that $25 shipping fee.

Outside of that, I have had no problems with Acculaw, but I have heard one too many stories (and found they had an F- rating with the Better Business Bureau), and both of those factors caused me to remove all mention of Acculaw from my website.

As for what writer to get, most schools will recommend that you buy a Stentura 400 SRT, or (nowadays) a Stenograph Protege.

The problem with buying these student writers is that they can only hold 50 pages in memory.  Sure, that's fine while you're a student, but when you finish school and start working, chances are you're going to need more than 50 pages for that 200 page deposition ... so if you follow your school's recommendation, you'll have to buy *another* writer when you finish school.

Do yourself a favor:  Ignore that "student writer" recommendation and get yourself a refurbished professional writer.  I highly recommend the ProCAT Flash.  You can read why here:

http://www.cheapandsleazy.net/flash.html

I would avoid the G2 Mira mostly because of the floppy drive.  While you can probably still buy floppies somewhere, Sony has quit making them, and their days are numbered.  There is also a problem with the G2 Mira in that it can't read flash cards larger than 32MB ... so if you put a 500MB card in there, it will only be able to see 32MB of that 500MB.

But if you must have a Mira, go for the A3.  Stenograph should have plenty of those, since folks that bought the Mira traded in their old Miras to get them.

If I had to take either the Diamante or the A3 Mira, I would take the Mira -- simply because you can actually adjust the individual keys.  The Diamante? Not so much ... and that is making a few reporters unhappy when they find a key or two not making a solid enough contact and they need to adjust it, but can't ... and Stenograph's return policy is -- well, let's just say very few people have returned a Diamante they were unhappy with; they ended up selling it to someone else.

As for where to buy writers, I highly recommend approaching the vendors first (Stenograph, ProCAT, Stenovations (for the LightSpeed), the Neutrino Group (for the Gemini) and (eventually) Advantage Software, for the Passport), and then I would go to StenoTech (http://www.stenotech.com) and StenoTrader (http://www.stenotrader.com).

As for software, you should know that Case Catalyst and Eclipse aren't the only CATs out there.  There's AristoCAT, StenoCAT32, ProCAT Winner, the MS Word-based TeLiTor, and a few others.

I'm using digitalCAT -- simply because it doesn't have a hardware key, and they give it to students for free ... and when you graduate, they upgrade it to the professional version and let you use it for free for another six months!

Oh, my! I've written a book!  Sorry about that.

In the meantime, check out Technolust and Technolust 2 for the skinny on writers, and "The Good Stuff" for the lowdown on CAT software (in need of some updating! Sorry about that).

Good luck to you.

--gdw

I forgot to mention eBay!

Yes, you can buy stuff on eBay -- BUT I highly recommend that you take a look at my article, "Doing it eBay" when you get a chance.  You want to avoid having  what happened to one of my fellow students happen to you:  She bought a writer on eBay, paid by check, the check was cashed, and the writer never arrived!

The article will help you avoid that, and other errors ... and points to the vendors you *should* buy from.

Good luck in your search!

Just an pdate to my original answer:

Since Acculaw has managed to fix their F- rating (it's A- now), I have added them to the list of vendors to buy from again ... BUT when searching for a refurbished writer, remember to go to the *VENDORS* first (you know:  ProCAT, Stenograph, Nutrino Group, and (eventually) Advantage Software).

Buying a writer from the vendor will get you (in most cases) a longer warranty than you would get if you were to buy from one of the resellers.

Good hunting!

I have only bought things like paper and key pads from Acculaw, but they did give me a nice rent-to-own deal once.  I didn't end up taking the deal, but their customer service seems to be quite good, in my experience.  If you are interested, I am selling a Revolution Grand made by The Neutrino Group.  It is a professional paperless writer with audio voice recording software, and lots of other bells and whistles.  It's only a year old, and I have only used it for lunch-time practice on drills, straightcopy, etc.  Drop me a line at sunshine8370@hotmail.com if you are interested.