computing rx's

[dave]

Hi i was thinking of purchasing innovations from gerber and was wondering if anyone likes or has something else they prefer, thanks dave

[ziggy]

Dave there a lot of Rx calculation programs out there. What are you wanting to use it for? Lab only?? If so what type of lab equipment are you running? If its like a 108ct and all your using it for is Rx calc,, Sola has one for free!! yell if I can help Paul

[Len Ferrari]

I work for National Optronics. Disclaimer dutifully noted.

There are less expensive alternatives available, and not only from us.

[shanbaum]

Originally posted by Len Ferrari:
I work for National Optronics. Disclaimer dutifully noted.

There are less expensive alternatives available, and not only from us.

...and why in the world would anyone purchase anything but the cheapest available?

And by the way, Ziggy, "RxCalc" is a registered trademark of Gerber Coburn Optical, Inc. :)

[ziggy]

Thanks for the heads-up on the copyright!!

[dave]

Was thinking of using it for my gerber generator.Can u do billing on these rx calc's and is it alot more expensive. thanks guys

[sgreen]

If you are going to drive a Gerber generator, why not buy the software that Gerber did to drive their machine? It drives the generator very well. The developer a real sharp fellow too, relatively easy to talk to. <g> Billing...who knows?

[Joann Raytar]

In my experience if you are running Gerber equipment Gerber's software is the best way to go. In all fairness to "The Gerber Tech Guys" it also makes help desk calls easier to deal with. You can't blame them if they can't help you because you aren't running their complete system. Gerber allso offers a bar code reader. If you are running any kind of volume it is handy.

[Pete Hanlin]

I used the Gerber software when running a SGX Generator a few years ago. For accuracy with prescriptions and such, you couldn't beat it (I do recall it sometimes took a while to get downloadable parameters for new release lenses- probably the fault of the lens manufacturer).

The only "beef" I had with the system was with inventory control. Although it was surely the fault of the humans that entered the data, it just seemed impossible to keep the thing on track with our actual inventory.

I don't know if Gerber still offers this service, but I spent a week up in Connecticutt attending a seminar on our SGX and Step One- very helpful for maintaining the equipment. If they would have had a course on their software, I think we would have had a better experience on the software side.

Pete "I miss my SGX" Hanlin

PS- Oh, BTW, in our current lab (which has less modern equipment), we use SolaCalc's Windows version- which I like a lot (I'm not sure this would be a viable choice for the wholesale lab, though).

[This message has been edited by Pete Hanlin (edited 03-20-2001).]

[so]

We use the innovations program for calculations, but use the CC Systems front end for accounting functions. Seems to work okay.

[Rex]

As someone who has used both RxCalc and Innovations for years, I would strongly recommend either, but I think you can only buy Innovations at this time. I'd say it can do anything you want, if not just talk to them and they may add what you want in a future release. The author (our own shanbaum) of the software is very concerned about providing the best calculations/processing/inventory management/lab management serivces.


Beyond that, I'm not sure who else offers a really usable system that will do the same things for you. Yes, there are systems that cost less and do less.


As, a wise old Lab Manager once said "You only get what you pay for, unless you steal it".


Check with them to see if they have a trial version.


Rex

[This message has been edited by Rex (edited 03-21-2001).]