Customer Reviews

Dragon NaturallySpeaking 5.0 Preferred Edition USB

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

I used an older version and found it frustrating. I bought this version, with the USB connection for clearer transmission and better performance, and I am quite impressed. I use it to dictate medical notes and it has learned most of the technical/medical terms. I have spent, probably, 5-6 hours on it training and teaching it the medical terms. It doesn't cease to amaze me at how well it does. If it makes a mistake it can be corrected and will be much less likely to make the same mistake again.The digital USB converter can be a nightmare to install!

I am a trial attorney who has been using Dragon Naturally Speaking Preferred USB 5.0 for about 8 months on a lap top computer. The system is very accurate and useful. I use it to dictate correspondence, deposition summaries and pleadings. The system is over 95% accurate at 150 words per minute. I am concerned about the bankruptcy of L & H since the product is the best voice activated system around. Hopefully someone will pick up the product and move forward.

This product really works amazingly well. Right out of the box (after 5 minutes of training) you can get close to 92% accuracy. The program learns from errors as you correct them so it quickly becomes even more accurate. I generally get no more than one or two errors per paragraph.

The USB mic makes all the difference on a laptop. (Laptops generally work less well for speech regcognition because the density of components produces interference when using a standard headset mic.)

Not sure what happened with Carol (review below) but there must be some basic configuration problem with her system, incompatible sound card or microphone. The problem could be that if her daughter is using the product she may not be using the correct speech model for teens. The software is normally tuned for adult voices only, so recognition would be terrible if you used the regular 'speech model' for a teenager. I'd reccomend calling tech support for help since they'd be keenly interested in getting it to work properly for her.

This stuff really does work and PC Magazine and PC world seem to agree on that if your read their reviews. PC Magazine got 98% accuracy after initial training and half an hour corrections.

I have attempted to use this product on machines running Windows 98 SE, Windows Millenium, and Windows XP. I have found that in each of these operating systems, this product continually generates system errors (approximately every 5-20 minutes) and each error generally requires reboot. Although the speech recognition seems to be reasonably good (when it works), this is an extremely unstable product. I would not recommend this product at all. (Wait lines for customer support calls are also very very long.)

I am a college student and I will never type again with Dragon Naturally Speaking 5.0 Preferred Edition USB. I had Dragon 4.0 and now have 5.0. The USB makes all the differents. It doesn't pick up background noise which was a problem with my 4.0. For anyone who has had problems with typing or spelling this is for you.

When I received this product, the software CD was cracked on its underside. When I called Dragon technical service and customer service, I was told that my only alternative was to wait for them to mail me a replacement CD. Waiting time: SIX WEEKS, no ifs, ands or buts. They have a huge backlog. The program cannot be downloaded from Dragon's website. Still, be careful as a 6-week wait does not speak well of the manufacturer.

I purchased this product to assist my daughter with school reports, etc. The program installed perfectly, the instructions were simple, clear and easily followed. The problem is the product just does not produce what it says it can. I spent 6 hours doing voice recognition readings, practicing the tutorial and still the program could not produce a simple three sentence e-mail. The quality of the voice recognition feature of the product is TERRIBLE. I recommend you not waste your time and money.