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I bought two voice recorders, one for a voice recognition program.NEVER AGAIN will this device be used.PICS PICS and more PICS is the way to go.All it took was getting home to find ...............................................instead of serial the numbers, to convince me.If you take a close up how can you not remember what it is for.How long does it take to write down the numbers compared to 3 hours inspection time.Not much.

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Originally posted by Martin Lehman

QUESTION:

Kurt, what is the actual model. Is it the Panasonic TZ1S 5MP 2.5" 10x Optical 40x Total Image Stabilizer? Costco has it on sale with a 2GB card for $200

The tough thing around here are the crawl spaces though - all the crawling in dirt destroys more cameras than anything else.

Yep, that one.

The dirt in the crawlspace thing is very true. Either be careful, or buy the waterproof housing; another couple hundred, but worth it, sort of.

The more I do this thing w/lots of photos, the easier it gets. One gets much better skilled at logistics, shot selection, and framing shots to reflect the problem or condition. You have to think like a photographer, in addition to being an HI. I don't even use the audio tool anymore; the visual cue will make me remember why I took the pic in the first place.

On houses w/lots of stupid stuff, I'll often simply say something like "The roof has lots of defects; see photo file." Having a photologue of the defects works really nicely; folks like it, I don't have to explain anything, and it looks cool.

I can run down through a bunch of photos & notate them much quicker than trying to assemble a comprehensive narrative report. Most folks are looking for a list; I give them a list.

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That is exacly my line of thinking.

With yellow pages it was let your fingers do the walkin

Now it is let your pictures do the talkin.

Just wish somebody at Best Buy had heard of that panosonic camera.

That seems like a good tool.

Just bring two cameras Kurt .

One can be the dirt camera.

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when using pictures exclusively, are you simply finishing reports onsite? I cant imagine remembering which interior door was in need of a strike plate adjustment from my morning inspection when I have performed 2 more inspections since. I try to get my notes down on laptop before I leave but it isnt always the case. Are you sifting through the pics at the inspection, or later on at home is basically what I am asking :)

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I don't finish any report on site anymore. Ever. Much nicer back @ the office, or @ the corner coffee shop.

The audio tool on my camera can be cancelled by hitting a button; I leave it on all the time, but only use it w/something like you said, i.e., an obscure item. Sequence as follows....

1) Take picture

2) Talk into camera..."strikeplate @ NEBR closet door"

3) Download photos into my Filemaker Photolog; any photo that has an audio has an accompanying Quicktime Movie right next to it. Filemaker container fields will play Quicktime movies. I hit play, and the photo "tells" me what I'm looking @.

4) Type what the photo is telling me.

I batch download all the photos, usually several dozen. They import to something I call the LightTable. I tap on each photo in the order I want it to appear in the report. I hit a "numbering" button, and all the photos are given a reference number so anyone reading the report can say "What about #27?", or whatever.

It all sounds weird, but if you saw it in action, you would get this big grin on your face. I "designed" the software, built it, and it works wonderfully for me.

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I use both a camera and a voice recorder myself. You can't take too many pictures, but you can't take a picture of everything (literally). Little things like windows that won't open, doors that don't catch, which bedroom had three outlets that were wired backwards, all go on the voice recorder. I'm still taking some written notes too, but less and less as time goes on.

I take more reference photos than I used to, which are a big help sometimes. At least the first 5 or 6 cover the entire outside, and I shoot the kitchen and bathrooms as I come to 'em (before inspecting them). When I get one of these with 5 bathrooms that really helps keep me straight on which photos were in which similarly decorated bathroom.

Brian G.

Document Till You Drop [^]

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Ummm so you never experienced what happened to me,and don't you feel a little unatural talking to the thing in front of the people that are present.I mean it does throw you out of sink with what ever conversation is going on at the time.Please don't tell me you play it back .

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Hi Bob,

I've never lost any work on a recorder to date (knock wood). I almost never have anyone with me when I'm working, so that hasn't been an issue either. The stuff on there is usually the last thing I run through when working up the report back at the office; all the little details that weren't in the pics or the notes.

I can't imagine how screwed you must've felt when yours crapped out on you. Not good. How did you work it out...the report?

Brian G.

Betting Bob Said Some Bad Words [:-taped]

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Originally posted by chicago

Ummm so you never experienced what happened to me,and don't you feel a little unatural talking to the thing in front of the people that are present.I mean it does throw you out of sink with what ever conversation is going on at the time.Please don't tell me you play it back .

I basically mention early on to the client that I am not talking to myself, just using a digi recorder. They tend to remark that is a great idea.

We operate a little differently than most by sending 2 inspectors to most inspections

[background; my grandfather started our company in the early 80's and my father, brother and I migrated into it from other careers back in the 90's. We are strictly family operated. ]

Having 2 inspectors present allows me to slip away and get my notes down on the laptop while my father/brother occupies the client.

we always finish the reports at home, but getting the notes down on the laptop allows us to go right down the list of what we are seeing with the customer at the end.

I will look into the camera w/ voice. I have a voice w/ cheap camera sitting around but it is not even close to functionable lol.

I am certainly a proponent of using technology...I sure dont miss the days of filling out check-box carbon paper and hand-writing summaries at the inspection lol.

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Originally posted by chicago

Two people is certainly an advantage.

Just not looking for a fifty percent pay cut.

Some where on this site is Rosie the riveter Home inspections maybe I should check and see if she is single, as long as I can deal with the biceps.

I understand the pay cut issue, but we make that up in volume. a few other advantages to this approach:

realtors love the reduced inspection time

2 sets of eyes are better than 1

we stage ours closer together so one of us can swing out towards the end and go start the next one

we split the report writing duties in the evening

on smaller homes, we tend to only send one inspector, but we do a significant number of large homes(over 3k sq ft)

we average 5-6 inspections day during the spring and summer and 4-5 in the fall and winter. (over 1200 last year)

My mother runs the admin side as she owns a realty company and works from home. That is a great help with her being on MLS, she can look up the house in most cases and see what we are getting into, then price accordingly :)

we do not charge extra for sending 2 inspectors, but it certainly delivers us more business.

I am not sure how well this would work hiring "outsiders" though. My grandfather used to run it as a single inspector with grandmother taking care of the admin. It sort of developed this way by accident.

just thought I would pass on some info about how our structure works, maybe it will help someone else. Your mileage may vary lol

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  • 1 month later...

I use a Canon Powershot 200. Its an older camera, but fits in my shirt pocket. It has a voice memo mode that saves my audio notes in .wav files.

When I batch download my pictures, the audio comment for that picture is right next to the picture (.jpg) that it concerns. When I write the report, I reference the audio comment if I need to for some reason (like old timers memory loss). I only make audio comments if there is a reason to do so. Time in the house is minimized this way.

I take a close up of all info tags (HVAC, compressor, appliances, etc.) and check the pics to make sure I can read them for the report.

I need to make very few written notes.

Bill M.

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I'm also a proponent of taking lots of pictures and few notes, then finishing later. Nobody is waiting around for me to finish up, picture review is easy in HomeGauge (they're right there in a film strip on the right side of the sreen). A simple pen drag brings them up to add arrows, etc. Windows Explorer enlarges those I need really large. Damn there goes my battery.

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Love these battery operated gadgets, but ya gotta charge them now and then. Thankfully, some kind soul invented power inveters so you can plug in on the move.

HomeGauge's PPC version supposedly allows recording directly to the particular item you're inspecting at the time so that when you are writing the report, you can listen directly to the recordings pertaining to that item without having to skip backward and forward like I did when I was using a straight voice recorder. (reason I quit the voice recorder, I got tired of skipping back and forth trying to find what I was writing about and it was an equal pain to listen to it straight thru. Guess I needed one of those foot pedal dictaphone playback machines).

Haven't quite made the decision to jump to this but it sure sounds handy.

Do any of the other programs with PPC capability offer this?

Is it worthwhile? (to those who use this type of PPC recording)

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The TZ1K is a nice camera for HI work: proprietary battery and a bit noisy at higher ISOs, but compact and image stabilized. At the moment you can get them at refurbdepot.com for or $165 w/ the 90 day coverage from Panasonic or $225 with the third-party 5 year extended warranty. I still like the Pentax Optio 33/43WR (also with voice notes) for wet/dirty areas, though.

http://www.refurbdepot.com/productdetai ... e#features

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BTW, someone mentioned Axims above (don't remember if it was with Homegauge, or some other software).

Homegauge needs WM 5.0, so you can't use the Axim X50, you need a X51.

Dell has discontinued the Axim line entirely - you can still find lots of them on eBay, but they are still pricey and will probably remain so as there are a lots of medical-based apps for the X50/51.

Also the Axim/WM5 combo is buggy if you attempt to add a lot of third party apps or hardware (for example none of the CF card based camera will work - too bad, as I would have liked a device which was and PDA, voice recorder and camera in one) and there will likely be no more patches/fixes from Dell.

So if you are starting for scratch with any of the WM 5 reporting packages, you re probably better off with the HP products or a tablet-based unit.

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BTW, someone mentioned Axims above (don't remember if it was with Homegauge, or some other software).

Homegauge needs WM 5.0, so you can't use the Axim X50, you need a X51.

Dell has discontinued the Axim line entirely - you can still find lots of them on eBay, but they are still pricey and will probably remain so as there are a lots of medical-based apps for the X50/51.

Also the Axim/WM5 combo is buggy if you attempt to add a lot of third party apps or hardware (for example none of the CF card based camera will work - too bad, as I would have liked a device which was and PDA, voice recorder and camera in one) and there will likely be no more patches/fixes from Dell.

So if you are starting for scratch with any of the WM 5 reporting packages, you re probably better off with the HP products or a tablet-based unit.

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  • 4 weeks later...
Originally posted by zeb

Looking into maybe using a palm or smart device for reporting. Does anyone have pros or cons for using one of these.

I use a Dell Axim and it has done a ok job over the last 18 months there are downsides. No keyboard, small screen, requires an additional memory card. I also heard that Dell was getting out of the handheld market. My next step would a UMPC, ultra mobile pc. Sony makes one and there are several other manufacturers.

Steve

Buyers 1st Property Inspections

www.buyers1st-az.com

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