Multilingual Talking Travel Translator ECTACO PB-7 B-3: English, Spanish, Russian, French, Portuguese, Italian, German

I can't believe this thing - it is so cool! I just got back from a trip to Russia and am really satisfied with the way this thing works. It took some getting used to like any new gadget but once I was up and running with it, people were really impressed. The best thing is that when it says something it uses a real voice. For me that is downright amazing. Like that I was able to let it do the talking for me - using the speaker that comes with it. I also used it to teach myself a bit but in the end mostly let it do all the talking, as everyone seemed to understand it. Several even made me show them how to use it! I also got an extra MMC card with Ukrainian on it because I spent some days in the Kiev. It was the same there - everyone got a real kick out of it. I think it made all the difference between my trip being a success and a disaster. I only wish I had gotten the extra MMC card for mp3 files too - so I didn't have to bring my mp3 player.

I purchased a Partner B-3 for Thai from ECTACO. The first model arrived and did not work. The Partner is actually a Franklin EBookman which has to load a proprietary operating system from either the computer using a USB connection or from an MMC. The one I was sent would not load from the MMC. After spending 10 days working with their tech support person, I returned it for a new one. The new one arrived a week later. I tried to work with it, but found it totally unacceptable. The screen is very difficult to read, the documentation is non existent for the desktop module and very limited for the Partner itself, and if you want to run the music option, you have to remove the MMC and install a different one which disables the translation software. In addition, I tired loading 19 MP3 songs and it took over an hour. This was after spending several hours trying to figure out how to do it. They do not use the native MP3 file, but have to translate into some proprietary format so you have to load them through a desktop synchronization program. When loaded, all of the song titles were mixed in with the organizer options. They appeared just like additional organizer tools making it very difficult to find the organizer options. The sound quality for the music was marginal at best.

While there may be work-rounds for some of the above problems, the lack of documentation makes it near impossible to find them. I also note that the eBookman by Franklin, which the Partner B-3 is based on, provides a reference book and help function for the eBookman AND the desktop. The ECTACO does not.

Lastly, after I returned the 1st Partner, they sent me an e-mail offering a significant discount for the Partner B-3. This is apparently unavailable for the one I just received putting me at a significant financial disadvantage.

The bottom line is I was completely dissatisfied with this device and wanted to return it for a refund. They said since I was outside of the 7 day window (it expired while I was working with their tech support trying to get it to load the operating system off of the MMC) they would not refund my purchase price.

Strongly recommend against this product. A real dog!