Freewrite Traveler | Lightweight and Portable Typewriter with E Ink Digital Screen for Distraction-Free Drafting | Word Processor with Wifi Cloud Sync and Long Battery Life for Writers on the Move

I love to write, and I find myself struggling when I’m feeling creative. I have a story I’ve already outlined completely and even have written half of. When I want to write, the laptop is too bulky with too much to lug around, and I find I get very distracted.This device does one thing: distraction free drafting. It’s a drafting machine, which means when I’m working on writing something, I write it on this, sync it to Postbox, and edit it later. In that purpose it is exceptional.The machine itself is built well. Yes it feels light, and it is made of mostly plastic, but it’s supposed to. It is made for traveling. It doesn’t need to be anything else.Opening it up, right out of the box, you turn it on, you learn how it works, and you start writing. It was super easy to get started, and I haven’t had any issues with it.For mine, I have had trouble with my Internet connection at times where I live. When that happens, I notice it doesn’t sync right away. All of the troubleshooting I have done has worked, so I’ve always been able to fix it.It is important to understand that this machine is not made to replace a PC. It’s not meant for editing, only for drafting. Editing and proofreading come later. Once you get that you really can’t do any major editing with this thing, it becomes clear how to use it.I love it and am thinking of getting a different model for my desk.

I am typing this review on my new FreeWrite Traveler. I bought it as a shared gift for me and my husband; we both like to write but are easily distracted. I think we may end up battling for time with the FreeWrite and need a second one for the household.I have written more in the last week than I had in the previous six months. As others have said, the FreeWrite helps to focus the mind and fingers on writing only. I think the reason it is working well for me is that it compels forward momentum by leveraging laziness. Backspacing to correct is not impossible but is just hard enough that my brain has decided to keep writing. Instead of deleting or moving a sentence that I don't like, I now just plow ahead and type an alternate version, knowing that it will land in a google doc for editing later. The result is more words on the page, not always a perfect and polished version of the writing, but something to work with.I was afraid of the high price tag and some of the tech glitches that other reviewers have experienced, so I bought the service plan. So far so good.Cons:Latency- doesn't bother me but the letters do take at least half a second to show up on screen after you press the keyGhosts - see latency above - letters and images can also take some time to vacate the screen after they have appearedKey commands- I will need the manual for a while because in order to navigate around the screen, change settings, etc, combinations of keys have to be pressed. Not entirely intuitive, but it keeps the button count down and makes the keyboard clean and simple.Plastic case - I kind of like it but my husband thinks it could look less cheap and not catch fingerprints so easily.Not for editing - it is not easy to navigate around in what you have already typed, that has to be done later on a different machine.Pros:Lightweight and small - easy to throw into a bag, fun to take out to a cafe or library.Increased words per day output - please see above.Keyboard feels nice - not too loud but satisfying to type on, it has a very good depth of key pressNo eye strain - I have a remote job so I stare at a screen for 40 hours per week. The FreeWrite does not add t o my eye strain, and using it does not feel like spending even more time at work.Ambient light required - the screen is like paper; you will need a book light to read it in the dark.

The company is supposed to provide minimal support so that whatever you write can be forwarded to their proprietary app. From there, you can forward it to Word or Scrivener or anywhere else for further processing. Also, you can link to Dropbox for backups. The traffic goes in one direction: (a) from machine to their app (Postbox), from their app to Dropbox for a second backup, and/or from their app, can be copy-pasted into Word or.... The problem is, THEIR APP IS HORRIBLE and it constantly swallows and loses documents. And if your written material is not properly processed in their app, it will not forward to Dropbox. So, you are stuck. You can email versions to yourself, and that is sometimes the only way to ensure that you actually have access to your materials. If you rely on the app, anything goes. Sometimes it works reliably, but you never know when it won't! And yes, you DO lose materials. Or they disappear for weeks, only to pop up on the app without prompting, or they stay stashed in the machine and don't forward to the app at all (even when wifi is ALWAYS on).Really shocking, considering that these machines (the typewriter, and now this traveler) have been on the market for about a decade, and considering that the app support is so minimal and SO primitive that one CANNOT IMAGINE how it would not function smoothly in 2022!As for their technical support: SOMEONE replies, but never acknowledges the problems and anomalies, and never provides answers. It takes 500 emails to get a cogent answer and a solution to a problem. Their website is not much help either, and is in fact SHOCKINGLY sloppy. They need to hire someone to update the materials and get rid of all manner of redundancies that just WASTE TIME!The machine itself? Beyond the hype, it is a typewriter (plasticky, but OK) that is supposed to function as a one-way funnel to the Postbox app which is supposed to update live (so long as one is connected to wifi) so that one can always have access to the latest versions of one's work, which can subsequently be further processed in other ordinary apps on computers and laptops. It is possible to modify the document on the machine, but this is cumbersome. It is really just like a notepad (typed instead of freehand). IF it works as it is supposed to, it is an OK machine, though absurdly expensive. When the online functionality is shaky (no excuse for this after 10 years, and charging the price they charge), there is ZERO justification for the machine.If things change, I will update, but currently I think it takes some brazen cheek to sell machines at this price and not even maintain the proper online counterpart that it depends on in a proper working state. Inexcusable.