Customer Reviews

Royal Machines RP8s Electronic Reference with American Heritage Dictionary, Roget Thesaurus, Barron's with 4-Line x 1w Character Display

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

 

 

I purchased from Walmart for $14.95 as a electronic Dictionary / Thesaurus about 3 days ago. The bonus was all the other functions: synonyms, 7 language translator, scientific calculator, currency convertor, F / C degrees convertor, carb convertor, weights and measures, airport codes, world capitals, SAT tester, phonebook, scheduler, memo pad and it includes 3 simple games! The size of the unit makes it very easy to have in a pocket or purse. 4 line LCD readout is adequate.

The howevers are: It is not a phrase translator. The QWERTY keypad is tiny and if you have normal to larger sized hands you'll have difficulty just striking one key. I have also found the battery compartment touchy and you must get the batteries seated just right or it will give you a low battery indication or cutoff. It did this twice on the first day I had it. The frosted plastic flip up keyboard protector, while it works, does not flip all the way around to the back... so you have this Captain Kirk communicator looking thing when you use the unit. Though you can easily remove it.

UPDATE 6-26-10: I've been using this device for some time now and have lowered my rating due to frequent and annoying problems. It quits functioning if your battery charge level drops by 1 volt! Since it is so "voltage sensitive", rechargable batteries won't work in this unit either. Another major annoyance is the intermitant lock up which forces a reset and thereby losing your date & time setup. I currently only use it for a dictionary/thesaurus when I have no other option.

My old "spell checker" was many years old, and the keys began to stick on it. With this new Royal unit I just purchased, it has a cover over the keyboard. That will help keep years of "crud" from falling into the keyboard and creating the problem that made me get rid of my old unit. The Royal works fine. My only complaint is the teenie keys on the keyboard. When you've got big, clunky fingers like I've got, it's a bit awkward to push just one key when entering each letter of a word. But, other than that, all of the functions work fine and I have no complaints.

I paid 19.95 at Walmart which beats Amazon and for the price you have excellent unit.
What I didnt like--no slang or offensive words and display too small.

Bought this electronic dictionary/thesaurus last year...at least one of the models. The display ink started to seep out within a month of purchease and my child was no longer able to use this. Thought he might have damaged it but there was nothing wrong with the outer casing in the front or back. But, I still thought my child might have damaged it. Turns out that 2 other friends has the same exact problem with this product. Not sure what causes it but I would strongly caution buying this product.

This was purchased for my daughter to use for College. It's small enough to fit into her backpack, but just the right size that she has no problem seeing the words. Great product for the price, and she uses this on a daily basis. I always shop around before I make my final purchase, and was surprised to discover that Amazon had a better price than Walmart!! Thanks again Amazon for coming through.

This product really does not work at all. Every time i put a word i knew how to spell and misspelled on prepose in didn't even give the right word it gave me something else. Not a good product.