Franklin Electronics Holman Bible Dictionary (HBD-1450)

At first I was intimidated by the user manual I viewed at Franklin.com site but when I received the unit, I was able to intuitively go through the buttons with surprising ease. The HBD has a solid casing and the cover door has a hinge that lets you prop open the unit so it sits upright. Inside the cover is a brief instructional guide to use.

The HBD is a "bookman" which means you can download other books or even a regular dictionary if you purchase the optional $19 connection kit. Franklin provides FREE books at their site including the KJV! Quite impressive. It has 5 lines of display which is about 12-14 in font size. the letters are dots so it is not as sharp letter wise but clearly readable in most conditions. When you turn on the unit it automatically goes to the last verse viewed. It has 5 "touch" buttons for bible footnotes, finding verses, bookmarking, and the dictionary touch button is a toggle between the bible and dictionary. you do NOT need a stylus pen just your fingers or the top point of a pen (I use fingers). It includes the entire old and new testaments in NIV. It has a concordance and cross reference. It even has 6000 archeological articles and research topics built in. Instant search makes finding any word or verse a breeze. At first I thought the keyboard buttons were small but I have no problems entering the right letters.

The bible automatically finishes the book as you type and paging through the verses can be by line or entire verse by using the space button. Highlight a word using the enter button and tap dictionary and it will look up the word's definition if available, sometimes provides an article with historical sites. If you forget what book you are in, a button quickly reveals book, chapter, verse. It shutdowns after 2 minutes or longer so save battery (uses 2 lithium CR2032).

The secondary functions include world and locale time, date, data bank, calculated, metric conversion (very helpful) and currency conversion. You can quickly skip entire chapters with function key and pgdn. an index of important headings through the old and new testament. It has a tutorial and even a help menu to guide you through operations.

The only negatives are the contrast between back screen and letters is poor and verses are difficult to read as the screen is flat and lights reflections make it tough to read. Franklin needs to make contrast sharper and use solid letters. I am happy with the unit. SO much in a small, solid, easy to carry package. I highly recommend the HBD over just the regular bible, you will never be thumbing your way through the bible trying to find a verse again!