Paul -- you left out the other "feature" -- the noise, which was still deafening even with a model N1 and its cover. 

It was indeed loud, but GE out-roared them with a blindingly fast card reader. The machine had a supposedly gentle touch; it grabbed cards with vacuum rather than tongs. But the make-and-break pneumatic explosions sounded like a machine gun. A noise meter I borrowed from the Labs' tool crib read 90db 6 feet away.

Doug