Time and money would be better spent learning how to use VoiceOver and gaining proficiency navigating apps. SeeingAI and Be My Eyes have made OrCam basically obsolete, and if you are going to spend that much money on something, you may as well just go for Aira which is much more manageable.

I used the OrCam at a tech event once and was very underwhelmed. The camera attachment is bulky, the controller device is obnoxious and you can't read through things granularly. If your family member misses some text in a long document, they'd have to listen to the whole thing all the way through just to get to it again. The face and object recognition was interesting, but that was the only thing it had going for it. SeeingAI, KNFB Reader, DigitEyes, Be My Eyes, Tap Tap See, Aira, combined with an iPhone will accomplish all tasks that the OrCam can do and a hell of a lot more.

You'd be better off calling their local phone company shop or apple store and trying to set up lessons to use Voiceover. If they spend $4000 right now on that device, by the time it comes in they could have learned how to at least open SeeingAI using siri and point their phone at text.

Another option would be the KNFB reader, which can be set up to have a lot of help offered as they use it to read. It's something that could honestly be picked up and used first try, even if they aren't comfortable with their phone.

Would they be more comfortable with a keyboard or a list of commands? I have a link that I practically spam in here because it's *really* helpful. I find using a bluetooth keyboard pretty helpful, and if you could record the instructions for your family member somehow, like onto a tape recorder or something similar, that could also be helpful.

I'm not big on audio instructions, I prefer TTS personally, but if they like audio, a pen friend could be very useful. Then, you could make a row of their stickers and put each command onto one sticker, and your family member could play them back at their leisure.

I just hate when people spend lots of money on stuff that can be done better for significantly less.

So, instead of a $4000 device, I'd suggest the $200 pen friend, the $100 app KNFB Reader, and a bluetooth headset like the LG HBS series which are like $60 and a keyboard which could be as little as $40.

The vast majority of people I've know who have used OrCam do not find it that useful. It can be useful for reading documents and such, although it depends on the complexity.

I am 25 and I don’t like touch screens all that much. I have ann iphone and an ipad. I prefer to use my bluetooth keyboard with it. I work off my bluetooth keyboard with my ios devices. So, absolutely he doesn’t have to work with the screne and it is fabulously accessible. I’ve gotten rid of my braille noteatker in favor of an ipad with ibooks. The KNFB reader is also a good piece of software.

Don't. As others have said, learning voiceover will provide much, much more long term gain. While learning to use OrCam might be slightly faster, they're eventually going to be forced to get to grips with voiceover anyway, if they intend to live an independent life. Sure, OrCam can read mail and paperwork, but most of that is moving online these days anyway (online banking, etc). And if they want to act on any of the things they read with OrCam, they're going to need to learn to use a computer to print out letters, at the absolute least. A cell phone is the primary tool of any blind person today; it offers access to the world of communication (websites, email, audiobooks, ebooks, OCR), it helps with travel (GPS, maps, etc), and it does all the other tasks that would be otherwise tiresome without access to print (keeping an address book, a calendar, etc). OrCam does only one of those things.

I would not recommend OrCam, not only is it expensive but it doesn't have any text memory. What I mean is that you can't take a picture of a sign and then have that sign read back to you when you get home.

If you could find a place for the person to test out the device, that would be great! Then they could tell if it's for them.

Hi. Like others, I would highly suggest having your family member master using their iPhone first. Either you or another friend or relative could possibly check out some YouTube tutorials together. I would highly recommend watching the iFocus tutorials by the Hadley School for the Blind on YouTube. The instructor goes nice and slow and is very descriptive. Additionally, you also mentioned that your family member has not received O&M training. I would approach what I am going to say with caution, but I think that is worth a shot. The National Federation of the Blind has a free cane program along with some basic cane usage instruction on their website if I recall correctly. Granted you are not a trained O&M instructor, so things could go very wrong quite fast if the proper safety precautions were not taken. I would consider this if I were you if resources are hard to come by in your state. I would also like to suggest researching residential training programs.

I'm telling you it's definitely worthwhile. My father had his for several months and it's definitely changed his day-to-day. Granted, the battery life leaves a lot to be desired, however, I bought him a portable charger he takes it with him and plugs it in when he's not using it. Also, it is not difficult to use (he's nearly 90). They have a 30 day return policy anyways (essentially a 30 day trial period) so worst case, if your family member doesn't feel like it's working for them, he/she can return it. I also heard there are organizations that can help fund it (granted, my family didn't go that route).

I don't have one myself but a co-worker does. They have had to send their unit in multiple times for repair and have received sluggish customer service. They also claim the company spends little or no money on research though I don't know if that is true.