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Volume 16, No. 2, Spring 2008 |
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The AT Bargain Basement
Marvin Williams, AT Specialist
New Castle County ATRC
Friends! Delawareans! Countrymen! Welcome to another installment of the AT Bargain Basement, your home for assistive technology bargains. I am Marvin Williams, your guide through this world of bargains. To those of you ‘Basement regulars, welcome back! For those of you who are new to our little party, welcome and what took you so long? Since not everyone knows just what assistive technology, or AT, is, let’s start there. Assistive technology is anything that helps folks improve or maintain their functionality. It can be made, purchased, or customized. Also, it doesn’t have to be just one thing. It can be a system of devices that help someone. So now that we know that, just what makes something an AT Bargain or “Basement worthy?” Well, it’s a piece of AT that can be purchased for $100 or less. I suggest that you check the prices because they are subject to change. Sometimes the bargains can be found in local stores, but in the interest of finding as many bargains as I can, I also include deals from the Internet. So now that the rules of engagement are in place, let’s go to the bargains!
Our first bargain comes from Sussex County AT Specialist, Dan Fendler, and it is a doozie. Dan told me about a great little website loaded with AT bargains for those with vision loss. The site is called Blind Bargains, and it is a treasure trove. The web address is www.blindbargains.com. The site has a lot of features including browsing by merchant, active searches of the bargains in their database, portals to low vision bargains on Amazon.com, and the “Ask Bargain Bob” feature which allows you to access their guru of low-vision bargains. Some of their listings include the VOX 3000 talking kitchen/office scale for $39.50, Dragon Naturally Speaking Standard v.9.0 for $39.99 (shipping included), a GeoSafari Talking Globe for $70.48, and a Hamilton Beach Talking Microwave for $89.96. Now, the products don’t come from Blind Bargains. They come from various places. Blind Bargains has just set up a neat and easy approach to finding them.
The next bargain on tap is the One Touch Jar Opener. You may have seen the commercials for this nifty little gadget. This product is unlike other automatic jar openers that may be constrained to a particular jar size for operation. Because this unit does not have a chamber into which the jar is placed, it is not limited by the size of the jar. To use it, all you do is place the One Touch on top of the jar you want to open, press the start button, and it opens the jar by itself. Now, you can buy the One Touch from the manufacturer’s website (www.onetouchjar.com) for $19.95 + shipping. I also found it listed at Wal-Mart’s web site for $18.44 with free ship-to-store delivery (the product gets shipped to your local Wal-Mart where you pick it up). However, the best deal I found was through a company called AmeriMark. I found it there for $11.99 with $1.95 shipping and handling. So ordering it through AmeriMark, you can get it for $13.98! You can reach AmeriMark on the Internet at www.amerimark.com, or by phone at 877-268-9594. I was recently made aware that Happy Harry’s has the One Touch for $14.00; however, do note that not all stores share the same pricing, and not all stores will have the same availability. For the price, that’s a heck of a bargain, and soon, the One Touch Jar Opener will be available to try out free-of-charge in our ATRC’s.
The next bargain is actually a hint from a Basement regular who wished to remain anonymous. Her tip was for making house hallways a little easier to navigate for folks with a balance or mobility problem. Her simple tip was to add a hand rail to both sides of the hallway. Having handrails down both sides of the hall takes a pretty wide hallway since the minimum distance between handrails is supposed to be 36 inches. So you may only be able to put up handrails on one side of the hall. Still, for those folks who have difficulty navigating a long hallway, handrails can be a godsend. If you are a do-it-yourselfer or you know one, this simple project can be completed for less than $100, depending on how fancy you want to get with your handrails. Now, handrails, like most everything else in a house or building, have design and building specifications that must be followed. Those can be found online, at your local library, or by contacting your county regarding specifications for handrails. As with any home modification or improvement project, never proceed unassisted if you do not know what you are doing.
My last bargain is the Olympus VN-4100 digital voice recorder. It’s a great little digital recorder for the price. It features 144 hours of recording time, timer recording, fast and slow playback, 4 folders for storing recordings, and 4 variable speed and quality playback modes. The unit is a nice piece of technology. It’s very compact and light weight. The buttons are very streamlined, which may or may not be a problem for a user with visual difficulties. We have these available in our inventory for a free two-week trial, and it is available through our BOLD program for our low-vision consumers. While our unit cost is $61, I have seen them for $40.99 at Circuit City and, for those of you willing to order via the Internet or telephone, you can get it for as little as $32 from Newegg.com online or 800-390-1119.
And thus we come to the end of another AT Bargain Basement. I would like to thank Dan and the other folks who have sent in their ideas. If you have an idea or bargain you would like to share with the group, don’t hesitate to send them to me and I’ll make sure your contribution is preserved in Bargain Basement history! So until next time, remember: just because it’s a bargain doesn’t mean it’s cheap!
