Nuance Dragon Dragon NaturallySpeaking Home 13 (Old Version)

After two days of installing and trying to set up my Dragon Naturally Speaking Home 13 I finally called tech support because although the windows speech recognition worked fine, Dragon could not recognize my microphone. I was unable to go online to do tech support because when I tried to register my product it said it was having technical difficulties. So, after waiting 20 minutes, the technician registered my product for me. She then informed me that the headset that was sent with Dragon is not compatible to Dragon. SERIOUSLY??? She told me I had to go out and buy a USB connector for the headset for it to work. This is not acceptable business people. When I pay for something Id really like to get my moneys worth and not find unexpected extras I have to buy. Im going to buy the usb microphone because at this point I have no choice. But when its time for an upgrade, I will be looking somewhere other than Dragon Speak

Ordered this for my friend who is not a quick typist. He absolutely loves being able to dictate directly in Word files. Its a great tool for those who arent used to typing, cant type, have a disability or simply want to relax without using the keyboard. Dragon learns your speech patterns and words over time so the longer and more you use it, the better it becomes at recognizing your distinct speech. You can even tell it to recognize British English, Indian English, southern US English, Pakistani English, etc. so it will adapt to your language. Granted it also works with many other languages, not just English. Heres my Pros & Cons List PROS: 1. It has a very accurate Speech to text system. It understood almost every single word very quickly. 2. It was very fast. I was able to finish my document just as quickly as I had typed it. 3. It comes with a Headset and microphone already in the box. 4. It has many short cut commands like backspace, delete, next line and space. CONS: 1. It took 30 minutes to install from the DVD.

I write a weekly newspaper column and flash fiction for an on-line magazine. I can compose at the keyboard, but am equally comfortable with pen and paper. I was interested in this program to capture handwritten first drafts. I put off buying Dragon for years because of the expense and the many negative comments. Decided recently to try Dragon 13 Home and wish Id ignored the negative reviews sooner. Installed the program on an X220 ThinkPad running Windows 10. Did five minutes of setup and gave it a spin using the included mic. Sorry I waited so long. With no training, Im getting great results. Dictated a 980 word story. Had to correct five mistakes. Thats 99 percent accuracy. I have a bit of a raspy voice, so make an effort to enunciate clearly. Cant tell my speech rate, but Im dictating a darn sight faster than the 55 words a minute I can type. Even if my accuracy was considerably lower, I would still find Dragon useful because I usually do several rewrites and a final polish at the keyboard anyway. Am happy to have a pet Dragon to do my bidding.

I purchased version 13 for home usage. its accuracy is amazingly superior to versions 10 and 12, both of which I have had. However, at times my computer appears to have too many resources running, resulting is painfully long response times. Even a single word can take minutes to display. One time when it happened, I shut down Google and almost immediately got a better response time. Be prepared to do the same. But if you hate to type or make many typing errors, Dragon Naturally Speaking is your remedy. My only warning is that you discipline yourself to learn the commands that make corrections an easy task. Dragon Bar occasionally misunderstands a word and displays wording that must be changed. Some other words it seems to know from context and can, therefore, distinguish among homonyms like to, too or two, or for, fore and four. I cant say enough good about this product except for the times the computer over-load simply wont let it function.

I am extremely upset as I was sold an obsolete product that cannot be installed on my computer. Why are these obsolete products still available? Now I am inconvenienced by having to return the product. Pi$$ed I am. AND it will cost me money to return the product. NOT HAPPY. Be careful of what you buy folk.

Its too early for me to review this yet; I just got it loaded. First of all Amazon sells it as a bundle with a headset/microphone that you dont need as one comes with the software. Even so, it was cheaper than buying it directly from Nuance. Installing it only took me an hour or more. :-( First I tried to do an advanced install and not load the things I did not need like Australian English, Asian English... After clicking the final go, the pop-up said it was installing, but nothing happened. I finally told it to install everything and it then loaded without a hitch. I then tried to use my USB headset and mic that I already owned and it kept telling me that it couldnt recognize what I was saying, so I tried switching to the one that comes with the software and that kept telling me that I had to press the on button on the headset and there isnt one. I finally created a new profile with my USB headset again and dang, that worked. Again, I havent used it much, but I can tell that it is heads and shoulders above the speech recognition in Win 7. Im not a blazingly fast typist, but I still havent decided which I prefer. I write short stories and occasionally my ideas get partially forgotten before I can type it all out so Im hoping that DNS will help. I hope to edit my review in the future.

I used to use Dragon NaturallySpeaking back in 2012 when I first started freelance writing. I found it to be extremely helpful and my accuracy was easily at 99.5% or higher. However, I stopped using it for some reason. But, Im back at it again. I picked up the 13.0 edition, hoping that it would work with Windows 10, and it has not had any problems at all. I did a little accuracy training, and now this thing is quite accurate. I write anywhere from 1,000 to 4,000 words per day using DNS and have been doing so for the past month or so. I write faster and better now that I am actually saying the sentences out loud, as opposed to typing them out and hoping they flow well during the editing process. I highly recommend it for anyone who wants to preserve their hands and/or increase their productivity.

It works. Sometimes, it takes a while for it to start especially if it has been idle.

Using Dragon would be great if you cant type. But if you can type you will find that you have to say every word; like cap, new line, correct and that all slows down your writing and then you may lose your flow of thought. It works well but its not for me because of the above. Just learn to type.

Unlike others I dont type 100 wpm so VR has been the holy grail for me. After reading a glowing review I was so excited abt getting Dragon 13. What I didnt realize is that you cant use it with any other software programs other than Windows related ones or easily with web browsers. (Just found out thiisnt even true!) I primarily bought it to use with Nolo willmaker which Ive been putting off...but now cant use. I called tech support and even he felt bad for me, lol. He told me to return it but it isnt possible. And PLEEEEASE its a nightmare to use unless you enjoy having a manual next to you while your trying to use it. I have ADD so concentrating is a bit difficult and I thought it would be so much easier to speak my thoughts but with each sentence I have to figure out how to issue about 10 commands. Its also soooo slowwww. I type faster when I hunt and peck. OK, after reading other reviews by longtime competent users who are still frustrated I dont feel as bad but Im stll so dissappointed that my slow typing is actually easier. It seems the Voice Recognition Id hoped for is still out of my reach. Ps I JUST FOUND OUT THAT DRAGON 13 WILL NOT WORK WITH WINDOWS 7!!! So now I can only dictate text into their text box...this was a total waste. I guess theyre working with Microsoft to force you to upgrade!!