Home > Consumer Reviews > Franklin Merriam Webster Spanish English Dictionary (DBE-1500)

The Franklin DBE-1500 is an upgrade / replacement to the DBE-1490. It's a full-featured non-speaking, calculator-like device (fits in a men's dress shirt pocket - barely) that contains the complete Merriam Webster English-Spanish dictionary / Spanish-English dictionary, English and Spanish conjugations, English and Spanish Phrases and the full Merriam Webster regular English Dictionary (a nice added feature). In addition to these core "books" it comes with a number of miscellaneous features such as SAT and TOEFL vocabulary lists, usage examples, English and Spanish grammar lessons and a few learning games (hangman, etc), a calculator, metric-standard measure conversions, and a currency converter (you obviously have to pre-configure the rates). You won't use some of this, but the added features don't get in the way.

The Merriam Webster dictionary is't the best one out there, but I think it's as good a one as you'll find in any electronic device. The main difference between this and more expensive devices is lack of speech - a feature I didn't really want. It does a decent job both of picking up on misspellings and suggesting alternatives and of mapping conjugated verbs back to their root (both of which are shortcomings of hard-copy dictionaries). The user interface is simple and straight forward. The device boots up immediately. You can configure it to use either English or Spanish as the master (menu) language and set the default entry screen (e.g. boot straight to the Spanish to English dictionary). This means looking up a word is very quick and easy - much easier and much much faster than thumbing through a hard-copy dictionary. It has a configurable auto-off power-saving function, which is nice. The default is 2 minutes of activity. I bumped mine to 3. There are also screen contrast settings, time settings, Etc.

As far as the application / user interface goes, the DBE-1500 is the same as the DEB-1490. The main difference between the models is an improved case design. The flip cover hinges of the 1490 were thin and were on the outside back corners of the device. So, if you dropped it on a hard floor the cover would break. (That is the reason I ended up buying the 1500 after owning a 1490.) The 1500 has recessed hinges with about 4 times more surface area. It looks like a much-improved case design. The liquid crystal screen may be a little sharper than the earlier model. The keyboard has a slightly tighter and more modern look (color scheme), but otherwise is the same. It's pretty comfortable / easy to use. I would guess the 1500 also has a slightly faster micro processor because it's newer, but that's only an assumption. Basically the 1500 is the same as the 1490, but with an improved case and probably a more modern circuit board.

Like its predecessor, the 1500 uses two CR or DL-2032 lithium calculator batteries. I read Spanish language newspapers on the train going to work, so use my dictionary every day + some at night and on weekends. The batteries in my 1490 lasted through 5 months of heavy use before needing replacing (much better than one would hope from AA or AAA alkalines). If you only use it casually, I'd imagine they'd last years (like a calculator). The batteries can be found in any U.S. drugstore for between $2 and $6. However, they might be difficult to find in some Central and South American countries, so if you're there, you might want to bring a spare set.

This dictionary is great. If I type in a conjugation of a verb, not knowing its root, it automatically gives me the root form and will show its various conjugations. This is what I was wanting. I'm a Spanish-speaking novice so perhaps I'd be more particular if I was advanced, however; I can see myself using this translator as I progress in my studies. Time-wise, it sure beats looking up words in a book.

I just ordered this bilingual dictionary as a replacement for my old Franklin DBE-1450, which fits easily in my shirt pocket, but is an abridged dictionary. The DBE-1500 does not fit in a shirt pocket and is a very awkward size. But the most glaring deficiency is the fact that it, too, is a dictionary geared toward middle school and, at best, high school students. It appears to be highly abridged just as is the 1450 - not very useful for real world adult use. I used to have an older "speaking" dictionary, an 1890 I think, that was more like an adult dictionary. It was useful but was not very portable (unless you carry a purse or backpack) and the sound was terrible. What I hoped I was getting in the DBE-1500 was a good unabridged dictionary without the sound. Oh well; I'll give it to my high school sophomore grandson, I guess. Would appreciate advice from anyone who knows of a good unabridged electronic dictionary.

This is a great item to have if you are learning spanish either self-taught or taking a class. i'm taking a class and it's really helping me out, of course its much easier to use than looking up every word in the dictionary the old fashioned way. there are even some games on there which are exposing me to new words i wouldn't have thought of on my own -- hangman and guess the word, etc. but keep in mind the technology probably predates our current cellphone and smartphone age - so the keyboard does seem to have a lag between when you press the letters and when it appears - back in the day this wouldn't have been an issue but nowadays this is something people would notice. also, the screen is not so bright - meaning the differentiation between the black of the letters and the greenish of the background is not that well pronounced...however all that being said i still like it a lot - i'd say for the 40-some-odd dollars I paid for it, i think it's worth it. **note you can't write in phrases -you can only write in words...but they respond with entries that put the words in to sentences so you get the idea of how to correctly use them. also, there is another section where you can look alphabetically for a word and just press it to see examples of how the word is used - i find this very helpful.

The dictionaries are great. I purchased them for my classroom and the students love them. They really encourage the students to look up words plus they have a couple of word games. They translate either English to Spanish or Spanish to English. They have conjugations and find the infinitive when a conjugated verb is entered. They are thin and easy to store.