Baum has been around for roughly 35 years but has now decided to open an office in the United States. Meanwhile, the VisioBook S is the latest version of their compact video magnifier and it was introduced to the world at CSUN. David Bradburn, President of BAUM USA, joins us to talk about the company's direction and their latest products in this podcast. Blind Bargains audio coverage of CSUN 2014 is generously sponsored by the American Foundation for the Blind.
Transcript
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Hide transcriptANNOUNCER: Direct from San Diego, it's BlindBargains.com coverage of CSUN 2014. The biggest names, provocative interviews, and wall-to-wall exhibit hall coverage. Brought to you by the American Foundation for the Blind.
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Now here's J.J. Meddaugh.
JM: We're here at CSUN 2014 with David Bradburn. He's the president of Baum USA. Yes, you heard me correctly. Baum actually has a US office now and David's here to talk all about it. Welcome to Blind Bargains.
DB: Thank you very much JJ. And hello to everyone out there.
JM: So, as I just said, Baum, obviously a company that's been around for many years doing braille displays and low vision products and Cobra screen reader, but you now have an office here in the United States. Tell us a little bit about that.
DB: Sure. So as you correctly pointed out, Baum's been around for a while. Actually 35 years at the moment.
JM: Okay. Wow.
DB: And while there have been individuals that have seen and ultimately purchased some of the Baum products from the company manufacturer in Germany, they haven't in very large numbers because, of course, sometimes people want support and sometimes maybe something needs to get fixed or repaired. Sending things back to Europe each time that happens is not very good. So myself and Wolfgang Baum, the owner of Baum B-Tech in Germany, were speaking last year. We've actually known each other for over 20 years. And we determined that the timing was right to actually establish a US presence that could take care of both sales inquiries, but more importantly, and we know this is important to your listeners, to the support, technical support, and potential repair and maintenance of devices that they might purchase.
JM: What are some of the factors that went into this decision? Obviously we know in recent years, Hims has kind of made that leap and it seems to work really well for them. There's a couple others that have done it as well.
DB: Right. Well I think in the case of Baum, one of the things, one of our products is the VisioBook. It's a very portable, foldable, battery-powered video magnifier that's sold exclusively through the American Printing House.
JM: Right.
DB: That's done well. But there is more to Baum than just that product. And so part of this was to provide more exposure. So for example, we've been attending a lot of the national conferences this year. We'll continue to do so throughout this year. And we're showing people, in some cases for the very first time, the products from this company. And that was something you can't do when you're remotely in a different country.
JM: So the dynamic has changed a little bit and many people might not even be aware that Baum, some of your products were in the US but branded under other companies. You know, Humanware and some others in the past.
DB: That is correct. Yes. So products that we sell. Some of them will look familiar to people. So you mentioned Humanware, and yes, their former brailliant products were, in fact rebadged.
JM: Right. First generation. Yep.
DB: Exactly. First-generation Baum products. That aside, we do have, of course, newer versions of those products available.
JM: Sure. Absolutely. Speaking of new, we have a brand-new VisioBook here. The VisioBook S. Tell us a little bit about that.
DB: Yeah, thanks. So the standard VisioBook, like I said, is sold through APH. And what we are introducing at CSun, it's the very first time we're showing it publicly, in fact, is the VisioBook S. It features a simplified interface, so whereas the standard VisioBook has six buttons along the front plus a magnification dial, the VisioBook S only has two buttons, on off. And then a button for switching between color and black and white or white on black. And of course, the magnification dial. From the perspective of weight and dimension, it's identical to the standard VisioBook. It runs on battery for five hours, just the same. However, one other difference, and I think for customers in the school marketplace, this is significant. And that is that the distance viewing camera, that is the ability to adjust the camera's direction so that it can look at things, such as the blackboard, is not something you can do with VisioBook S. However, for younger children, for libraries, perhaps for a senior citizen who's just looking for something that is a very, very easy-to-use device, VisioBook S fits that need perfectly.
JM: So how does this, what are the advantages of this over other magnification products that are out there?
DB: Well, just looking at VisioBook in general, I mean a clear advantage simply is the portability aspect and the fact that you can use it for up to five hours on battery.
JM: Sure. Most of the other portable products have much smaller screens in them.
DB: They do.
JM: Right.
DB: In some cases, other products will include more than one component. So you're actually carrying around two things. So it doesn't necessarily make them as portable. By example, the two VisioBooks that we have on display here, I actually had folded up and put in my computer backpack and flew with me on the flight from Boston to Los Angeles.
JM: Sure. What do they weigh?
DB: They're about 10 pounds each.
JM: Okay. And you said about five hours of battery life.
DB: That is correct.
JM: So the S being for simple, so besides the distance camera, what other functions were taken out of this one?
DB: So autofocus is always on. Whereas, on the standard device, you have the ability to switch it off and on. There are four levels of brightness control on the standard VisioBook. Those are not present here. And then, as I mentioned before, the color and black-and-white are condensed into one button. And then finally, the kind of the false color pairings, this is to say different contrasts such as yellow and black, blue and black, that sort of thing, has also been removed.
JM: All right. And the pricing and the availability on that?
DB: Is $2895 and availability is immediate.
JM: All right. Moving quickly to a few other things for people who may be not as familiar with some of the products that you are now carrying here in the US. Give us a little bit of an overview of some of your braille displays and some of the things you have.
DB: Certainly. Be happy to. So the fact is, there are three families of braille display products from Baum. The first is called SuperVario 2. This is the latest generation of our braille display. It's very compact, very lightweight, and like all of our braille products, it's forged from aluminum. So it's very lightweight, very durable. It connects to essentially any device that you can think of, such as iOS and Android devices via Bluetooth.
JM: Okay.
DB: Or to PC or Mac via, well Bluetooth in some cases, but also by USB.
JM: All screen readers?
DB: Yes.
JM: Okay.
DB: And stepping up from that, and actually it's not that much of a price premium. In many cases it's about $150 price increase. You get to the VarioConnect. VarioConnect, dimensionally, is just a little bit bigger than SuperVario because it also contains a braille keyboard.
JM: Sure.
DB: So for inputting into your device, your iPhone and so forth, it's ideal. One other thing to say about both of these products, we offer different sizes. So we offer 24 cell, a 32 cell, and 40 cell variants of both SuperVario 2 and VarioConnect.
JM: So at the low end, the 24 cell Vario, how much is that?
DB: It's about $2000.
JM: Okay.
DB: Excuse me. $2200. It's the SuperVario that's $2000.
JM: Okay. Sure.
DB: And then on the SuperVario, we also offer a 64 cell version for $5900 and an 80 cell version for $7900.
JM: Okay.
DB: Now, I told you there was a third family, and that is the, well I guess we should really, since it's a German product, say it's the Mercedes braille display, and that is the VarioPro. And the VarioPro is not a portable device. It's very much a desktop device that you would place a conventional, full-size keyboard on top of. It's offered in 64, 80 cell, like I said. It features thumb bars for very quick and easy navigation around the screen. But it also is available with, what we call, the Taso modules, which, among other things, can provide you with vertical and horizontal sliders that, along with a series of tones, can give you information about the screen and also information that's just elsewhere on the screen.
JM: Now these sliders, is that more of a product where that would only work with the Cobra or…?
DB: That's a great question. And yes, that's absolutely right. While the standard braille display, the VarioPro, can work with all of the other screen readers, if you wish to use the modules, the Taso modules, you must use it with Cobra. And the Cobra screen reader, which we make, is offered in three variants. There's CobraZoom, which is large print with text, speech to text. Or text to speech, I should say. CobraBraille, which is braille and speech. And then CobraPro, which is all three. And those are available at $649, $749, $849, respectively.
JM: So how is the development of that coming with all of the touch interface and Windows 8.1 and everything else?
DB: I'm probably not the most qualified to answer those questions at this point. I'm afraid, I'm sorry.
JM: Okay.
DB: But in any event, we're at version 10 right now and I do know that we are hoping to have a newer version that's coming out for the summer.
JM: Well we'll keep an eye out for that.
DB: Yes. Thank you.
JM: Great. Thank you so much David. If you want people to get in contact with Baum USA, your website and perhaps a new phone number.
DB: Absolutely. Thank you. Yes. The website's pretty simple. It's BaumUSA.com. BaumUSA.com. And our toll-free phone number is 855-620-7985.
JM: Thank you so much.
DB: Thank you JJ.
ANNOUNCER: Blind Bargains is your home for the latest assistive technology news and reviews. Visit us at blindbargains.com. Or follow Blind Bargains on Twitter for the inside scoop. This has been another Blind Bargains audio podcast. Visit blindbargains.com for the latest deals, news and exclusive content. This podcast may not be retransmitted, sold or reproduced without the express written permission of A T Guys. Copyright 2014.
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J.J. Meddaugh is an experienced technology writer and computer enthusiast. He is a graduate of Western Michigan University with a major in telecommunications management and a minor in business. When not writing for Blind Bargains, he enjoys travel, playing the keyboard, and meeting new people.
