Victor Reader Stream: Here's What I Think

I recently acquired a pre-owned Victor Reader Stream, Second Generation.

First, I ordered one on eBay for $199. It arrived, but had a broken charging port. After going back and forth for a week or so, I returned it for a refund.

I then posted an "in search of" message to a mailing list (BlindAds).

I received my next Victor in excellent condition. It also came with a magnetic cord, an extra battery, and a 256GB SD card.

What Do I Think

Mostly, it's pretty good. The buttons are more clicky than the DA2, which I find pleasing. It also has a built-in (mono) mic, with support for external mics.

I was impressed by the features, in particular Podcasts, NLS BARD, and Bookshare. The only nitpick I have with podcasts (well, there are a few) is that you can't manually force-refresh a feed.

It's a lot smaller than the DA2 and fits neatly in a pocket. It's thicker but smaller than a normal smartphone.

I also want to dispel the myth that you can only use an SD card of up to 32GB with the Stream 2. This isn't true—it needs to be FAT32, which can be up to 2TB. Windows, however, doesn't let you go past 32GB unless you download an external utility, which I found very accessible.

Cons

Slow: That's right. For everything except powering on and off, it's slower than my previous player, the NLS DA2. But I guess that's partly due to the fact that it's twelve years old at this point.
Poor Battery Life: As I said, I do have an extra battery, so I can just switch it out when it dies. Still, it has exceptionally poor battery life—only a few hours at most.
The Speaker: Meh. What more can I say?
Radios: Like all Humanware® products, the Wi-Fi radio is subpar. Sure, I get that this isn't a high-powered device with a huge OS, but it could be much better.