Franklin BES-2150 Speaking Merriam-Webster Spanish-English and Advanced Learner's English Dictionary (BES-2150)

I haven't used many talking dictionaries, but this one is great. The screens and keyboard are pretty intuitive. I haven't looked at the instructions yet because, honestly, I haven't really needed them, so I don't know how comprehensive they are. The voice function is pretty clear, even on the highest volume setting. The size of this device is very convenient as well: small enough to fit comfortably into your pocket, but large enough that you're probably not going to lose it. Also, I figured out how to work the backlight on my second try: if you're familiar with laptop keyboards, you'll recognize the FN key and the little picture of a lightbulb next to the Enter key and go from there. (The first time I tried, I just pressed the FN key and then the Enter key, but on my second try, I realized I'd have to hold down the FN key while pressing Enter.) It's really not that difficult. There is a bit of a delay sometimes while the device is "thinking", but what exactly do you expect from an electronic dictionary like this? It's not like Franklin would have/could have put a mega-powerful processor in the thing. Overall, this is an excellent little device, and I'm very pleased with my purchase.

This device is HEAVILY biased toward the English language and English learners. It CANNOT be configured or easily traversed to serve as an optimum tool for learning Spanish. It appears to have been mainly a marketing trick for Franklin to put this thing across as the best tool for learning Spanish. Well, they tricked me -- I now own a $100 door stop -- and I am very angry about it. I've purchased probably 6 different Franklin tools for learning SPANISH, from most basic to top of the line, and this is the worst by far in terms of USABILITY (which mostly means quick ability to look up a Spanish word and find conjugations, etc. It has a massive English dictionary...English words defined in English and with NO cross reference to Spanish. If you don't know English very well maybe this is what you need. If not, look elsewhere. This device is too stupid to even remember that the last time you had it on you were looking up Spanish words and come up in that mode. If they had at least that basic functionality, or a one button way to switch to that functionality, I could at least make use of this. Franklin as a company appears cunning but stupid. They have have packaged the same basic information into a million different Spanish-English devices, with an endless variety of interfaces, and they are forever dropping old interfaces and coming up with new ones. If the new ones were BETTER than the old ones or there was any way to effectively sort through the confusing and continuing flood of devices, or if they would even keep old interfaces on the market longer, this could be viewed as there best effort to evolve. But they don't do any of that, either. Their devices break pretty regularly if you are using them much and then, when you try to buy a new one, you find its been discontinued with no clear upgrade path, and you are sort of lost at sea about what to do except take a GAMBLE. Well, unless you don't know English, don't gamble -- don't buy this. I wish I could buy another model "DBE-1470" as it had high functionality, the best interface by far, of any model I've owned. Unfortunately it has been discontinued with no obvious upgrade path. Someone ought to take Franklin on in the translator space. I don't think it would be too hard to obsolete them as they don't appear to have any common sense.

The BES-2150 is simply amazing. Before owning this model, I used the DBE-1500. While quite amazing itself, it was a little slow from time to time, especially when loading the conjugations for verbs. Also, the screen was hard to see when in a poorly lit room. The BES-2150 solved all issues I had with the DBE-1500. It has almost no load time between conjugations, and has a backlight that can be turned on when in poorly lit rooms. Also, one other improvemment is the use of triple A batteries. The DBE-1500 used a watch-type battery which was harder to find than the triple A's, which can be bought almost anywhere (cheaper too). Background: College student, Biology major, Spanish minor. -Also, Kudos to Amazon for shipping me a new model within 2 days of filing a return for the first deffected model that I received. (It had a memory issue, wouldn't save time and date after turned off. The new one works perfectly though).

I think it is pretty dumb, if not stupid, I want to say (for example to someone in Spanish) how are you today, I type it in in English thinking the machine will say it in Spanish, it tells me in English, wtf, or I am stupid and do not know how to work the machine,the machine is great if you want to teach yourself the language you already know, a and trying to get support ,forget it,stupid purchase, falsely advertised, useless for me

Don't bother spending more on the 2150. This is the third Franklin dictionary I have purchased, and this was the greatest waste of money. The "backlight" is non-existent, the screen is difficult to read except under well-lit conditions. I owned a BES 1650 with a manual back light that was far superior to this model, but alas, it finally wore out. I see virtually NO difference in the 2100 and the 2150, despite what other reviewers have stated. I agree with the reviewer that stated this model is a BIG disappointment. I will NEVER purchase another Franklin product, despite my delight with the BES 1650. Being ripped off twice, first with the 2100 and then with the 2150 is too much.

I bought this as a Christmas gift for my mom who is studying Spanish. Technology is usually just beyond her, but this device had a simple user friendly format. It covers so much important detail it will not only be valuable for learning, but invaluable when traveling. The voice feature can often come out fuzzy if volume is turned in too high. Other than this, the product had been exactly what we needed and was well worth it's price.