It's not the size that counts....or is it?

Why is it that a Digital Voice Recorder with MP3 player can be the size of my thumb and weigh nothing yet our TENS units that we have to wear EVERY DAY are still huge, heavy and cumbersome?  Why?

Comments

[Gimpy Mumpy]

I don't want to grow up I'm a Crips R Us kid....

[imfunnytoo]

What about the sheltered people who always feel that assistive devices of any kind are *Toys!* It's not just kids it's grownups.

1. My assistive devices are most specifically *my property* before they're anything else.

2. I and my devices are *not* educational tools!

I may not like em but I need em.

[Gimpy Mumpy]

That is brilliant! I suppose people automatically try to conform what they see into something that is more common and socially acceptable. I have to admit that I feel much cooler thinking of this clunker as some oldschool iPod than as another crip assistive device.
Next time I decide to break out in dance I will keep in mind the Highland Dance setting :) I have also found that my unit enables me to speak in tongues when turned up accidentally.

[The Goldfish]

Well, I don't know how many TENS units are produced but I think it's the numbers that matter. After all, they are expensive little beasties considering that they are little more than spark generators - we learnt the basic technology to make our own in high school physics.

Also you would still need to recharge a much greater charge for your TENS than your MP3 player, so you'd need somewhere (i.e a battery) to store that charge, even if wasn't such a big one.

I tell people mine's a special iPod. Instead of storing tunes it stores dances. On a low setting I do a steady waltz but if I turn up the frequency I do an (involuntary) Highland Fling.

[Eliza]

But doesn't the MP3 not need it because it can be recharged? So, why can't they make my TENS rechargeable? I'm not even sure it would make it any smaller, but at least then I wouldn't constantly be running out of batteries. Of course, they probably *can* make it a lot smaller and/or rechargeable, but it wouldn't really be cost-effective.

(Meanwhile, though, I can't get over how many people ask me if my TENS unit is an iPod. Now, granted, these are extremely sheltered people, since it looks NOTHING like an iPod, but for being rectangular and similarly sized, but still. In fact, someone asked me this a couple of weeks ago in front of my stepfather (who, note, has seen me wearing this for two years nows), and, upon my explaining, my stepfather said, "Wow, I didn't know this. I always thought it was an iPod." Wow. Does he really think I'm THAT RUDE that I hang out in other PEOPLE'S HOMES with my iPod clipped to my pocket? Sheesh).

[The Goldfish]

Mine takes a 9V battery which is quite hefty. An MP3 player just doesn't need that kind of juice. That having said, the battery only takes up about a third of the unit - I'm not sure that the other two thirds are used efficiently. But the battery will be a big issue.