Review by Daddy Shawn

As long time user of Dragon, I fully endorse the product. It’s great! This version is no different. But you don’t necessarily have to spend $200 or need the latest and greatest.

But as a long time user of Dragon, the updates aren’t exactly mind blowing. The Dragon toolbar, the better integration with apps, etc. is all fine and good but it’s just slight. The only compelling reason I’ve found is that the Windows 8 computer seems to work better somewhat. But if you’re using Dragon 12 on Windows 8 fine then you probably aren’t using the features that you’d notice.

If you’re totally new to Dragon NaturallySpeaking, it’s an excellent piece of software that will translate your words into text. The newest versions even allow mouse control. (I know that 12 also did this.) So you can go totally hands-free. Just find a quiet space to work, configure it to your voice and away you go without using your hands at all. I do find that it’s easier to do without others in the room and I have not had great experiences trying the software on the bus/train/coffee shop. Plus talking to your computer does tend to make others stare at you. But at home or in an office it’s great. I’ve also been able to record to a recorder and then input into Dragon, but it’s less successful than live voice into Dragon. I’ve tried a few recorders and it always suffers from ambient sound noise. A laptop just seems to work better for me than recorders.

I’ve used this software for dozens of setups for those with disabilities and injuries. It’s amazing how productive you can be without the use of your hands. A very, very small investment to save your wrists. And you really don’t have to tweak this version much at all to get it to recognize your voice. I really love it. One key is to use an accurate microphone. I use the Sennheiser ME 3-EW headset EW microphone http://www.amazon.com/Sennheiser-ME-3-EW-headset-microphone/dp/B002FOFW52/ref=sr_1_16?ie=UTF8&qid=1410457352&sr=8-16&keywords=dragon+microphone right now and it’s great. But there are cheaper alternatives that appear to be just as good.

Basically Dragon is very similar to Adobe Acrobat Pro in that it’s a wonderful application that works. But it’s not one that you really need to upgrade every year. If you aren’t using Dragon now and want hands-free computing then this is what you need. I will say that I’ve always found the Premium version to be worth the extra investment, no matter what version I got. The Home versions are just too limited IMHO.

New User: Get this verison.nDragon NaturallySpeaking 12+: You can probably wait for at least one more version.nDragon NaturallySpeaking 1-11: Upgrade when you move to Windows 7 or 8. You’ll find it works better with the newer OS. Especially if you’re using a recorder.