TOPIC: A New Tablet!! CTL2Go

The handwriting software crashed or windows did? I used the handwriting software quite a few times and never had a problem. Have you installed anything else on the computer that might be conflicting with it?

How'd the inspection go?

The handwriting software crashed a couple of times at first but I have had no problems since.  I have not (and most likely will not) install anything on the tablet. My plan is to only use it to do the inspection, then transfer the inspection file over to my Mac to add photos, create the report and upload.  IMHO, that way I am not worried about loosing anything if the tablet gets damaged.  Also, the MacBook is bigger and thus easier to edit the photos.

Now for the review:

First of all, I found this at Home Depot to carry the tablet on my belt when I need both hands. It worked great yesterday especially since it was raining and it allowed me to keep the tablet under my duster and out of the rain when I was looking at the electrical panel. www.acetoolonline.com/BIGG-LUGG-2-PLUS-C...KS-p/big-bl2-3bm.htm

During the inspection, I did find at that brightness (or lack thereof) of the screen might become a problem on bright sunny days, but then using bright white paper was a problem as well due the glare, so I figure that I will just start moving out of the sun when I need to.

This was the first inspection with the tablet, and it did take some time to get used to since I have been using a paper check sheet for a while now, but by the end I was getting the hang of it.  It is really no different from when I started using the form, which was different from the one used previously; just a slight learning curve and I will be up to speed.

The work done after the inspection was still about the same as before, but that was mostly due to me going back through the entire inspection to correct things I either missed putting in or typos due to still learning the handwriting software.  On that note, the ability to correct the text (after writing it in) via the virtual keyboard is pretty slick.  Once I get the handwriting trained properly, I should not need the virtual keyboard much, but it sure is nice to have for corrections.

Another thing that took extra time (but which will help in the long run) was me going through my template and making changes.  Before, I would have a lot of stuff that would require me to make a change to it for each inspection, e.g. "Tiles missing / broke / loose". I would just go in a delete the parts that did not apply; not really hard with a full sized keyboard and some typing skill.  Now with the tablet, I realized how much work that is, so I changed the template to have separate lines for each condition to allow for the easy selection with the stylus with no changes needed.  Sure I will have to make SOME changes for unusual situations, but that will be the exception rather than the rule.

One little annoying thing I did find about HIP when using the stylus:  If I made multiple selections in the Damage or Selection boxes, on the 2nd selection the program would open up an edit box for the first item selected. In other words it thought that I double clicked on one item instead of single click on two different items.  I am not sure if it was because I selected the items too quickly or what, but it happened a number of times.  Dom, maybe you could look into it?

All in all, I am happy with the tablet and once I get more comfortable with it I see a potential for huge time savings, plus I think the clients will have a better opinion of me than if I was walking around with a pen and paper; that is SOOOO 1990!

Hey Julian,

Did you adjust the brightness when you were outside? As soon as you unplug the device it goes into battery saving mode and will decrease the brightness.

You'll definitely find that as you add in the narratives rather than changing them, you'll have a huge time savings. Same with learning the handwriting program.

I'll look into the double click. I changed the last version of HIP so that a double click was anything within .5 seconds. It's possible there's a bug that it's including the click from the item before but I think I would have heard about that by now. Try slowing down the single click to a second in between and let me know if that happens. I'm looking at that area of the code right now anyways because of an issues with one model of HP tablets that refuses to cooperate like any other tables.

You also want to look at possibly reordering your menus now that you're on site. You can move everything into one or two menus that mimic the order you go through a house. This makes things a bit faster. Remember it's the Report Settings->Section Colors & Print Order that sets the print order. The order within the program is just for you.

Keep us updated! How'd the battery life do?

Yes, I increased the brightness on site, which was fine for a cloudy day, but may not be enough when the sun is out.

I will try slowing down the clicking and see if that changes anything.

Yes, I had reordered a lot of stuff already, and tonight I will be doing it some more; along with adding more sub-categories.  For instance, I had originally had a category for Wiring (under Electrical) that included the Receptacles, Lights, and Switches.  That made for having to hunt for the proper description from a large number of items, now it is 4 separate categories (Wiring, Receptacles, Lights and Switches) which makes it easier to find the correct description as well as making the report easier to read, IMHO.

As for battery life, I didn't have any issues yesterday, but it was a small home so it only took me 2.5 hours.

Of course making the report easier to read is definitely important, as is input speed.

Another option to creating more tabs, which you might want to use in some places is to separate out comments within a tab. So if you left wiring alone you could sort your comments by adding in separators like:

** Receptacle Comments **
receptacle comment 1
receptacle comment 2
** Lights Comments **
lights comment 1
lights comment 2
** etc.... **

Just another idea that I've seen guys use!

I was thinking about doing something like that as well.  My first thought was it would be nice if I could make the text within the comment fields be different colors (but only be black or red when the report is written) to make it even easier to separate while doing the inspection.