Customer Reviews

Franklin Spanish - English / Merriam - Webster Dictionary with Access to 5 000 000 Total Translations & Over 274 000 Definitions for Quick English Language Reference

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April 2011. I gambled a bit when I ordered this English-Spanish translator from TripleNet Pricing, because it did not have a model number and only weighed a suspicious 0.3 ounces. However, the listing did state that it had 5,000,000 translations, 274,000 definitions, etc., and otherwise the image looked remarkably identical to the DBE-1490, the predecessor to the DBE-1500.

I've been carrying a Franklin TES-121 around with me every day for 11 months now and was really happy with it, because it was such a good value, so useful, and still has so much more information in it than I have been able to use (see my review of the TES-121). I particularly like the fact that it has the English and Spanish together, side-by-side translations of the different conjugations of the verbs, a feature even most Span-Eng verb books do not have. However, I was occasionally miffed when it came to certain irregular verbs, which translated the verb, but did not set out all the conjugations. Anyhow, that led me to start reading about the DBE-1490 and DBE-1500. I assumed, correctly as it turns out upon opening my new DBE-1490 just now, that these models also had the side-by-side verb conjugations, but just a whole lot more complete. Well, that's the case. The listed item IS A NEW DBE-1490, and it includes the side-by-side translations of the irregular verb conjugations that the TES-121 did not have!

Plus, this product was delivered within 3 days of my order. I'm thrilled!

Oct. 18, 2011 Update: Replaced the two 2032 watch batteries after about 5 months of daily multiple uses. Not bad. However, ONE PROBLEM AREA IS SLOW SPEED: the DBE-1490 takes a painstakingly long time (in terms of typical electronics speeds) to get to certain side-by-side verb conjugations. E.g., while the present and past tense can be got to within a few seconds, it takes 39 seconds to get to the IMPERATIVE, after one has first sequentially clicked through OVERVIEW, PRESENT INDICATIVE, PRESENT PROGRESSIVE, PRETERIT, PAST PROGRESSIVE and seven more tenses. I.e., there's no short cut to the IMPERATIVE, but first you have to click through 11 or 12 prior tenses at about 3 seconds each! Yet I still give this translator a high recommendation for its overall usefulness, as per the above.