I have to admit, the first time he took the thing and bashed it on the table they kinda had me.
Pros about the Maestro compared to ipad:
Dedicated to speech, made by speech pathologists so it is easy to use
The therapist said it is 10x easier to program and to use than the ipad
Has camera, internet, and many of the great things the ipad has
Our current insurance will pay for all of it
Very durable
Has 1 year warranty
Can pay for warranty after that (although it is $300-$500 a year)
From 8-5 I will have tech support
They come to your home and school to teach everyone how to use it.
It uses PECS pictures (unless I choose to change them)
Cons about Maestro compared to ipad:
Someday we will have different insurance and even if it pays 80%, the Maestro is $7,000...that's still a lot
The ipad has about 1 million apps that at some point Josh will want to use (unrelated to speech) and although the Maestro is essentially a computer (PC) and you can do just about anything on it you can on a computer...it isn't an ipad
It is 3.5 lbs (and when you are only 36 lbs, that is a big deal)
It is thicker than an ipad
We will still have to pay for the warranty which is like buying an ipad once a year
His teachers are used to using ipads, not Dynavox. (Although the guy will teach them)
That is all I can think of right now. I went ahead and signed up for the Maestro with the understanding that I can call it off in the next few months without losing anything.
Do any of you have any experience with any of this? What do you guys think?
