[blindza] Re: Next pseudo gadget got hold of this past weekend

This answers my previous questions, both sender & receiver are battery powered. 
Would this extend battery life of net books (etc) appreciably? Or is battery 
drain from earphone use, negligible, and not an issue here?

From: Jacob Kruger <jacobk@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: NAPSA Blind <blind@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
Cc: BlindZA <blindza@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Tue, June 21, 2011 4:43:42 AM
Subject: [blindza] Next pseudo gadget got hold of this past weekend

Ok, this is partly relevant, since I got hold of it  specifically for use along 
with my screen reader in an open plan office  environment, etc.
Anyway, had been looking for some form of wireless  headset for a little while 
that would preferably be somewhat portable, would be  battery powered or 
rechargeable on both ends - base/transmission unit as well as  
headphones/receiver, etc. etc., with part of the idea being that while do use  
normal headphones, the lead sometimes gets in my way when I am trying to do  
things with my hands, inbetween typing on the keyboard, etc., and sometimes it  
would just be nice to not be restricted by an audio lead, etc., and the sort of 
final thing is sometimes it might be nice to use an audio gadget of sorts  
without it being too obvious that I had earphones in my ears, etc., but that  
one's still not perfectly doable due to the size of the headphones, but at 
they're relatively comfortable/lightweight.
Basically it's a base unit around 20cm high when  standing up, around 3cm 
and around 10cm back to front, and it can run off  3 AAA batteries in both base 
unit, and headphones, which while they're ones that  fit over your ears, 
relatively lightweight, and quite  comfortable.
The base unit also has a DC power socket, but it  didn't actually come with the 
relevant power unit, but that should be easy  enough to find at the right sort 
of shop since it's generally just the diameter  of that socket that makes sure 
it's the right voltage, etc.
What you do is turn on the base unit, and then turn  on the headphones, and it 
has it's own volume control, and a microphone input  socket, and then also 
another 2 press buttons on it, which let you reset it to  base unit reception, 
or to sort of scan through FM radio channels - so it sort  of doubles as a 
battery powered FM radio if you want that.
On the base unit, there's an on/off slider switch,  and another slider switch 
that lets you switch it between audio input, or acting  as a form of baby 
monitor/spy device where it uses a built in microphone to then  let you listen 
to what's happening around it, and the stereo audio line it comes  with also 
a standard RCA converter lead to let you plug it into things like  TVs, etc., 
but anyway.
The range is meant to be around 10 meters, but  depending on surroundings, it 
actually seems a little bit further transmitting  than that - sometimes anyway, 
and while it's not the loudest set of earphones,  they do seem to provide 
decent sound quality, and it does also handle  stereo well enough.
Lastly, while had been asking one of the local,  decent computer shops to look 
for something like a bluetooth unit for me, etc.,  they firstly seemed to think 
these weren't too easy to find, and the prices they  came back with were around 
R700+, but when happened to be in a smaller local  computer shop this past 
weekend, that, among other things sells some other  gaming accessories, and 
second hand PC games, etc., I asked them, and they had  this XGR set there on 
the shelf, for R140, and it's full name is something like  an XGR 6 in 1 
wireless headset including FM radio, microphone support,  etc.
Like said, primary thing is it will let me avoid  using normal headphones with 
lead, but would also let you, for example, listen  to an audio book/podcast 
a little bit of distance away from the output  source if you wanted to, or 
be used as a sort of spy device to listen to  something happening next door 
whithout being physically present - sit in on  meetings, whithout being 
Stay well

Jacob Kruger
Blind Biker
Skype:  BlindZA

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