Dictation Only VV?

[Tom Nugent Jr]

I'm finally looking to get a speech recognition program, and I'm 
wondering what the latest wisdom is from list members on the two 
competing options for OS X.

I'll be using the speech recognition (SR) program on a Quicksilver 
867MHz (single processor) machine running 10.2.3 (hopefully it will 
soon be up to 10.2.6 if no major bugs appear soon).  I'm buying the 
SR for business purposes (more on that in a second), but I'd also 
like to try using it to dictate emails (I use Eudora, but don't care 
too much if I have to use a solution that works with text outside the 
target program, eg. SpeakPad).  The business purpose I want the 
software for is dictating in letters, namely, DNA sequences like "A C 
T T G C A."  (Yes, occasionally I have to type in a page of DNA 
sequences, and it makes me go cross-eyed.)  So I'm wondering which 
program (ViaVoice or iSpeech) is better suited to handling that type 
of text entry?

Secondly, I'm curious to know:  How does the dictation only version 
of ViaVoice compare to the full version (in terms of accuracy, speed, 
etc.)?  Are they really the same in terms of speed, and it's just the 
control capabilities that are missing from Simply Dictation?

Finally, if I'm going for the inexpensive solution, does it make 
sense to get Simply Dictation since I have to buy a mic with it?  Or 
should I just go ahead and get the full version (of either ViaVoice 
or iSpeech), since they come with mics?

I don't mean to start a flame war.  :-)  I'm just wondering what 
recent (last 6 months?) experience has been for people.

Thanks!

  -- Tom