Franklin DMQ221 Collins English Dictionary with Thesaurus

This item is great value for the money and is an excellent solver of crosswords etc.

Product specifications incorrect(Specs given refered to the box it wasdelivered in)

My dads an avid Telegraph crossword fan and was in a panic when his go-to Franklin dictionary & thesaurus stopped working. New battery didn't fix it so I got a phone call - can I order a new one please. Sound familiar?So I trawled Amazon and review after review, with my dad saying "don't bother with that just the same as the one I've already got", only it's donkeys years old and no longer available. No worries, Franklin have a new and improved model (allegedly). Only some of the reviewers comments made me concerned, with similar people in similar boats saying the new machine had FEWER words than the old one, and was infinitely more complicated and less intuitive to use. Surely not?I stumbled across 3 main brands (well more on paper but just looking at the photos and description there are really 3 different manufacturer models). Rebranded versions of the Franklin, Lexibook and Seiko.I did as I was told, although I also ordered the Lexibook model as it had good reviews.Surprisingly, dad found the Franklin difficult to use and generally WORSE than his old Franklin... and didn't get on with it. Instead, he found the Lexibook way easier to use and more or less told me to bin the others. Turns out the other, more cautious, reviewers comments were spot on.Having said that, everything is a personal taste so you might disagree and love this Franklin.If nothing else I hope they, as a company, take note of these reviews and think carefully about what is important to people, especially considering the age groups of those generally wanting to use these 'pocket dictionaries.1) Make them easy to use.2) More words and better thesaurus suggestions the better - obviously, that's not rocket science or asking a lot.3) For the price I'd really expect a larger, clearer display. A 1980s digital watch has a better LCD.4) Larger keys as well as display. Seriously...Make a slightly larger version if needs be but make it more useable.

Bought this to replace the Seiko Oxford crossword solver I’ve had for a while, which has just packed up. This Franklin is quite different to operate in comparison but I should get used to it. The Seiko is apparently no longer available - other than used ones - which could be no better than the one I had before, which just broke. It was quite a wait for this because I think it has come from the USA. Seems expensive for what it is though. ******having had this machine for a few weeks now, I am a quite disappointed with it - it doesn’t find the simplest words when I am using the crossword mode. It just flashes up,” sorry can’t help”! Today I punched in u?e?e??? And it didn’t find UNEVENLY! It has failed several times previously to find very common words. My last machine never failed me. This is dated 17th Feb 2024.

Product easy to understand good r many uses

works well but to small for comfort,

When I switched on, the message showed "did I want to erase all data Y or N". I put N and switched off when I had finished. The following day I tried to switch on but nothing happened. I checked the battery and it was still plentiful but I replaced it with a new one but I still could not switch on. I followed instructions in the User Manual but without any success. I've been unable to make locate customer services in order to get some help but again without success. A happy bunny I am not!

After sending and returning other versions of this item I have decided to keep this. They are all far too small. My old Franklin was much easier to use and the thesaurus much better. This is very fiddly and I find that using a rubber pointer is better than fingers. The makers of these should realise that quite a percentage of customers are in the older age bracket. The screen is too small for older eyes and especially one of the other types had a green screen which was not good at all. Black printing on yellow or white background is the best.It also switches off too quickly and you have to reset it again each time.It would be much better to improve the dictionary and thesaurus rather than have calculators, clocks, phone number storage, etc.One of the plus points of these is supposed to be that they are pocked-sized. My old Franklin was a good big bigger but still pocket sized. Smaller is certainly not better.