When my vision deteriorated, I started to buy assistive devices, beginning with Victor Reader Stream 2. Six months later, I replaced the VR Stream 2 with a Victor Reader Trek because I realized that I could no longer find my way around city streets that I had roamed on foot and by bicycle for four decades.

FREEDOM TO ROAM

VR Trek has restored my freedom to roam. On foot, VR Trek announces and describes each intersection as I approach the intersection. On a bus or in a car, VR Trek announces the first cross street at each intersection and the name of the cross street, beginning on the right and going to the left if their is no cross street on the right. So I know where I am on foot, and where to get off if I am on a bus. If I am going to a new destination, I can set a route and get all that information plus instructions. With Trek, I can take public transit downtown, walk to several downtown locations, and return home by public transit.

I find VR Trek easier to use than GPS on a smartphone because VR Trek is entirely controlled with physical buttons that I can find by touch.

VR Trek does not reduce the need for the skills and tools you used before VR Trek, VR Trek only ads more information that will increase the effectiveness of your skills and abilities. Like other GPS devices, VR Trek will sometimes fail for short periods. . When that happens, you must depend on the information that you can acquire without VR Trek.

FREEDOM TO READ

Victor Reader Trek allows me to listen to the books I was previously able to read in print.

VR Trek can be used to create a portable library of DAISY books, ePubs and other items, organized for quick and easy access to any desired item.

When I download fiction, I choose human-narrated audio when possible. Otherwise, I look first for text, then for computer-generated audio.

When I download a user guide or other reference material, I choose text when possible because technical documents are often organized to fully support VR Trek's capabilities for navigating reference documents.

Books are often created with a hierarchy of headings. VR Trek can step forward or back to any desired heading while skipping many unwanted headings. In a suitably arranged document, that gives you quick random access to any topic in the document.

Text documents can be searched for one or more words, producing a list of all the places where those words appear. Any place can be reached by stepping forward or back through the list.

VR Trek can read through a document one step at a time, going to the next or previous step when a key is pressed. Some of the available steps for a text document are:
- paragraph
- sentence
- word
- word, followed by a spelling of the word
- single character
When I was learning to use the NVDA screen reader, listening step-by-step to the "Basic Training for NVDA" book (nvaccess.org) made it easy to practice while I listened.

All the powers of VR Trek are clearly described in the VR Trek built-in User Guide. The User Guide is also an excellent practice document for learning t use those powers.

REPAIRS

I walk in all weather, except high winds and severe storms.
Twice in 2.5 years I did not give VR Trek enough protection from the weather.

Repairs are easy to arrange, at least in Canada, by a phone call to Humanware. Humanware arranges for pickup and return by courier and gives an estimate of the time that will be needed for the round trip.

The first repair was expensive: a new mainboard and internal cleaning. Total cost was about one third the price of a new VR Trek.

The second repair was better: only an internal cleaning. total cost was about one tenth the price of a new VR Trek.

In both cases, my VR Trek came back, working like new, for much less than the cost of a new VR Trek.

CAVEATS

Maps for VR Trek are updated only about once a year. That may create difficulties for people who walk in areas that have new streets.

VR Trek is not weatherproof. If you walk in bad weather, as I do, you must protect VR Trek from the weather.

Keys are fitted with very little clearance, to prevent entry of dust. The small clearances make the keypad vulnerable to sticky fluids. Keypad operation requires clean dry hands.

Be safe. Remember that VR Trek is no more than a "usually reliable source" of valuable information.