Motion LE1600 review

Greg Mellies, Mellies Appraisal

The prototype release of DaVinci by a la mode gave me the final motivation to go out and buy a tablet pc. I did some research before making my purchase, but was still not sure I made the right decision. I took suggestions from several different angles while making the decision, which included fellow appraisers, technology professionals, and software developers. Most of the suggestions were regarding screen size and type.

My final decision was the LE 1600 from Motion Computing. Based on overwhelming suggestion, I got the View Anywhere Display. My tablet has the 1.6GHz Pentium processor with 1GB of Ram. The operating system is Windows XP Tablet PC Edition. The screen size is one of the larger versions available at 12", but the overall size of the tablet is very similar to the clipboard I've used for years. I don't know the exact weight of it, but it's definitely lighter than it looks, and is easy to carry around, especially in my Field Case.

I got my tablet on a Friday afternoon, just in time to spend the weekend playing with my new "toy". It didn't take long for me to get past the learning curve of the handwriting recognition. The hardest thing to remember was that you can't slant your handwriting. The system recognized even my bad handwriting when I made sure to make my letters straight up and down. Installing software also threw me a small curveball. The tablet pc not having a built-in CD/DVD ROM made me use a little "out of the box" thinking to get Outlook, Street's & Trips, and other CD based programs installed. I would suggest anyone that is not network savvy, to get the optional external CD/DVD drive. My moderate network knowledge with the help of Google got me through without one.

It took me several days of playing with the tablet and DaVinci to get comfortable enough to attempt my first inspection. That wasn't a problem because I didn't dare take it out of the house without a protective case. Since I bought my tablet from a small online company, I didn't get any of the accessories until I bought them from ebay later. Most of the suggestions that I got on cases were for the Bump Case, but I am so used to using a leather field portfolio for my clipboard, I went with the Field Case. The Field Case gives me the protection from bumps and drops as well as the strap to hang on my shoulder while taking pictures or measuring with my Disto. The added benefit of the Field Case over the Bump Case is that it has pockets for business cards, pens, papers, camera batteries, etc...

After getting all my software installed and the tablet wrapped up in a Field Case, I was ready to try my first inspection. I was amazed at how well the sketching worked in the field. The Active Pen screen of the LE1600 was much easier to use than the touch screen of some of the UMPCs. Habits such as resting my palm on the clipboard while writing do not effect the tablets with Active Pen. With the "touch screen" models I played with at the store, my palm would make the cursor jump around while I was trying to write, because I would forget I had to hold my hand off the screen. The benefits of the View Anywhere Display also became obvious. I have used a laptop in the car and on the hood of the car for a few years for mapping and mobile internet searches, but would often have trouble with sun glare. The View Anywhere Display of the LE 1600 was much, much better.

The overall size of the tablet with the Field case is very manageable. I was use to carrying a leather field portfolio in the field anyway, so the size and weight differences were very limited. I don't think the smaller tablet options would work for me, because of the limited screen "real estate”. The shoulder strap of the Field Case made it very easy for me to shake hands, take pictures, and measure walls without worrying about dropping my new investment. I can't wait to upgrade my Disto to the Bluetooth versions and take advantage of more Davinci features. So far I have to give the LE 1600 two thumbs up with only a hope that they might become cheaper. The $2,000 + price tag was tough to get approval from my boss (the wife), but I don't regret it at all. The 12” tablet is far superior to the smaller UMPCs for appraisal field work, in my opinion.