Home > Consumer Reviews > Franklin MWS-1840 Speaking Merriam Webster Dictionary and Thesaurus

I wanted a dictionary that I could take on the road and wanted it to be able to store a word list. I was pleased to have found this item and at the price.

It has met might my first need quite well. It's small and light enough to throw in backpack, suitcase or take in the car. I find most of the words I look up and the definition(s) is often sufficient. I wasn't expecting that it would be as good as my 20 lb. dictionary (it's not) but it's definitely better than a similarly sized paper dictionary.

Concerning the word list, it's not as useful as I had hoped. I often find in my reading that I come across words that I recognize, but am not sure about the definition and after looking up once it doesn't sufficiently stick, so having a word list helps. With this unit I can press the learn button on a word that I've looked up to add a word to my word list, which is exactly what I need. But there's a major drawback in that it doesn't store my words in permanent memory, so once you lose the power source you lose your list. They've obviously engineered the battery compartment to easily open and it is. But it can be clumsy in closing and more importantly it opens too easily (I also wonder about it's durability). As such I recently lost my entire list (2 - 3 books worth of reading) and that's a real bummer. As well the flash card feature could be improved. Placing words in the middle of the screen in bigger bolder letters would be nicer. The randomizer algorithm isn't that great, it will often reselect the same word 2 even 3 times in a row and it will often cycle between a small group of words.

The speaking feature was a nice bonus. It won't speak in a human voice obviously, but the pronunciation is sufficient enough for a EFL speaker (I've seen some ESL complaints). The thesarus, bookman expandability, games and calculator are nice plusses.

The LCD screen could be better. Depending on lighting it will throw a shadow over top line.

Overall I am pleased with this unit, but would've paid more for a better word list capability and a better screen.

I received my Franklin Mws-1840 today and I must say I was pleasantly surprised with the unit after reading so many negative
reviews. I think it is a great product.
One reviewer said he could not read the first line.
This happens if you read the screen at an angle.
If you read the screen directly the first line is
as clear as the others.
There was a complaint about the clarity of the
pronounciation.
I found the pronounciation to be clearer than
I expected. Remember the speaker is at the
back of the unit so you have to be careful not
to cover the speaker with your hands.
There was a complaint about limited vocabulary.
This can be corrected by plugging in the
Advanced Dictionary and Thesaurus Bookman
card ADV-2002AE at the back of the unit
for $ 19.95.
There was a complaint about the size of the letters.
The unit has adjustable fonts which means you
can adjust the size of the letters.When you
put in the batteries the unit comes on with
medium sized letters.You can increase the
size to large by selecting:
Tools/Tool settings/Type size from the main
menu and changing type size to large.
One thing I agreed with the reviewers on is the shape
of the unit.I would have preferred the face of the
unit to be flat rather than curved.
I also think that the keyboard could have been about
half an inch longer so that the keys could have been

bigger.After all this is a desktop model so it does
not have to be as compact as it.
Otherwise I think it is a great product. I'm impressed.

There are four main things that need to be improved:
1) The letter keys are very, very hard to press and enter. It takes forever to enter even a short word.
2) The screen is too small. It takes a long time to scroll down all the definitions. The first line is also hard to read due to the shadow.
3) The speaker is in the back, not in the front that it should be. This causes a lot of problem for me since while I can't hear the pronunciation very well, the persons opposit of me usually complain that it is too loud.
4) The game selection key gets stuck easily causing the problem that a reviewer in Brazil described. This problem happened to mine and my friend's machine as well. You should try to pick the game selection key until it got unstuck. After I got mine working again, I no longer dare to play word game on it...

I bought this item a year ago. It is a very handy dictionary. Excellent idea, however its prroly designed. Keys get stuck, I kept a pin just to free the key. After two months it just died. I discovered a problem with battery case. It's a weird design. I suggest you wait for their better designed product. Check out their newer model FRA SCD1870 (Franklin Merriam-Webster's Collegiate® Speaking Dictionary) It has a larger screen and hopefully better designed keys.

I have been using different electronic dictionaries, but I am deeply sorry to against some or most of the positive comments here about this product: this product is designed for English speaking people and not an tool ideally for ESL or even kids to learn English.

1) the explanation or defintion not using easy understanding explanation or words, causing hassle on finding a bunch of words in order to understand its original meaning.
2) The pronounication is a machine program based not human voice base, it could mis-spelled the word. Try "dove" and you will hear it pronounced as "damn".
3) The pronounication only works on a complete word that was factory-stored in the chip, meaning you cannot expect it to say any name or any combination of letters that was not programmed.
4) The word search is an avaliable option but useless. It doesn't start to show the words list and then narrow down when you are entering the spelling. So you need to make sure that you have the word spelled right otherwise not much help from the machine, pretty on your own.
5) The batteries need to be installed carefully for getting the power contacts.
6) The screen display and the audio are OK only
7) The size is too big for travel carrying.

My advice is to check the return policy before purchase. Using website "The Newbury House On Line Dictionary" will worth more of your times and cost nothing. In fact, I purchased one but switched to other brand within 2 weeks.
Beside, I just can't understand how this company been in the market for a pretty while and still using the old technology? even way behind the "Made in China" product.