I adVISE you not to buy...
Written: Feb 22 '00 (Updated Feb 03 '01)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: springboard port; 8 MB memory; cheap!
Cons: cheaply made; large and heavy; screen scratches easily, non-rechargable batteries
The Bottom Line: The Visor Deluxe is not perfect. but, if you are looking for a Palm to do the job for a reasonable price, this isnt a bad choice
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| drdavec1's Full Review: Handspring Visor Deluxe Handheld |
Initially I found the Visor to be a superb product. After two months of use, I reached my breaking point and sold mine on Ebay...I'm now a happy Palm Vx owner, but have had plenty of experience and hopefully wisdom to share. Don't get me wrong... the Visor is a decent PDA and has many happy users. Chances are, if you buy a Visor you will be pleased. PDA's are a matter of preference... there is no perfect one for everyone. The different features are best for different users That being said, having owned both a Visor Deluxe and Palm Vx, let me share with you my insight...
Intro
The Visor is a very appealing idea. A springboard port, to allow us to use it as a MP3 player, GPS device, etc. A variety of iMac like colors. And most importantly 8 MB of memory for only $249.00. If price alone is used as the key criterion, Visor is a great buy. However, I will explain to you why I have gone from an afficionado of Handspring in November (when I received my device) to one who sold his unit on Ebay in February.
The PROS
The Visor is a piece of cake to use. Having never used a PDA before, it took me about 2 minutes to feel comfortable using the Visor. I found the design to be nice, with bright colors (such as the blue Visor Deluxe I received). The size was similar to the Palm IIIx my friend had.
UNIQUE PROGRAMS The programs unique to the Visor are definitely a welcome addition to the Palm OS. The Visor sports the advanced Datebook+, which is essentially the same thing as the program Datebk3 (it is by the makers and has all of the main features including advanced weekly and monthly views). The calculator is also advanced, as Handspring has included Parens which is a highly advanced calculator that again, should have been included in the Palm OS from the get-go. The program City Time is nice but not really necessary at all.
MASSIVE MEMORY The best thing about the Visor is the 8 MB of memory that comes in the Deluxe model for the price of $249. Honestly, I find no reason to get the Visor Solo (with only 2 MB of memory). For power users (such as those in medicine or business), 8 MB is essential. Thus the choices are few: TRG Pro, Visor Deluxe, Palm IIIxe, IIIc, and Vx. Pricewise (if that is an issue) your best bets are the IIIxe or Visor Deluxe.
USB CRADLE The cradle that comes with the Visor is USB. To many, this is great and apparently, it speeds up Hot-Syncing.
SPRINGBOARD Clearly this is the reason that many people buy the Visor. Many great springboards should to be released in the near future. The problem I have with the springboard port is that the springboards actually increase the weight of the Visor substantially (see below). In addition, except for the backup module, they are expensive. (as an example, the Visor 8 MB Flash card costs $80.00. For the same 80.00 you can buy a 32 MB traditional Flash card and use it on the TRG Pro. In the future, if the Visor continues to sell well, Springboards can be big...
SPEED the Visor is faster than most Palm brand units and is only slower than the TRG Pro by a small amount. It can be overclocked nicely with programs such as AfterBurner.
Mac Support The Visor comes with all you need to connect to a Macintosh. You do not have to buy a separate MAC pack, as you would with Palm.
Stylus- The stylus has moved in my review from the Cons to the Pros. The first Visors that were shipped came with a really cheap plastic stylus. I had to pay extra for a nicely weighted metal stylus. Now, the Visor is being shipped with the deluxe stylus. The stylus unscrew to provide a pin to use to reset the device (if you are new to PDas, believe me you will appreciate this feature) It is nice to see that Handspring is listening to its users...
CONS
Being a former user, there are many intracacies of the Visor that annoyed me... here they are
DESIGN The Visor is made of cheap plastic. If you drop it, you are in danger of cracking the unit and breaking it. One small fall I had put a minor crack on the back of the unit. The Palm Vx is made of aluminum, obviously a sturdier material. Certainly I would not recommend dropping any PDA, but the Visor is more at risk than most.
Screen In the 5 months that I have now had the Palm Vx, I have not had any scratches. I do not use Write Rights, do not clean my screen on the Palm, and abuse the heck out of it and it is scratch free. Visor's screen is inferior to the Palm's I don't know why but I know for a fact that it is.. Writing on an unprotected Visor screen in my first month of use produced many permanent scratches... I called Handspring and was told it was not covered under warranty and I would have to pay something like $75 to replace it. I recommend that all Visor users use Write Right screen protectors. They are an absolute must or you will have a scratched screen. They are a pain to use and obscure the screen's clarity but they will prevent you from scratching the screen. The extra cost of Writeights must be considered when buying a Visor.
SIZE and weight The Visor as I said before is about the size of the Palm IIIx. At first I found this to be no problem. however, after a few months, I found it too big to store comfortably in my front pants pocket. The Vx is much more compact. In addition, when batteries and a springboard are added, the Visor becomes heavy I had the 8 MB flash module, which added several ounces to the weight. While this may not seem to be a problem, believe me it is.
BATTERIES The Visor runs on AAA batteries. Having to buy batteries each month is annoying. I tried to bypass having to buy alkaline batteries by purchasing Nickel Metal Hydride batteries. The downside to this is that they lasted only 1-2 weeks before reaching critically low levels. Handspring should have used an internal Lithium Ion battery, which charges itself on the hotsync cradle. I use the Palm Vx now.. I never have to buy a battery and wake up everyday with a 100% charged unit. For those who do use the visor, I actually would recommend buying Nickel Metal Hydride, just so you dont have to keep buying new batteries.
LACK OF FLASH MEMORY The Visor does not keep its operating system on Flash memory. Why does this matter? This is not good because it cannot be upgraded. The Visor runs on Palm OS 3.1, and cannot be upgraded to the current OS 3.3 or OS 3.5. Not a huge deal... apparently Handspring did incorporate some OS 3.5 features into their modified operating system.
Datebook+- I confused you now right? I think this is a pro and a con. Here is why- The Visor comes with Datebook (Palm's original unadvanced datebook) and Datebook+ (the Visor adapted version of Datebk3). The problem is that now Datebk4 is available and it BLOWS AWAY Datebk3. Certainly, one could survive without the new Datebook... but I think Datebook4 is a must have for any Palm OS PDA (see that review for more info). For the Visor owner- what to do? Datebk 4 is over 400 KB. It is a shame that if you add Datebk4, you would then have 3 datebooks on board. Heck, if I still had the Visor, I would do it... but it could be a memory crunch.
Doesn't come with serial cradle Having a retarded computer at home that lacks USB ports, I found it annoying to have to pay an extra $20 for a serial cradle to HotSync.
The Verdict
To answer to whether you should buy a Visor, first decide how much money do you have? If you have only $250 to spend on a PDA, by all means buy the Visor... 8 MB for that price is a decent deal and you get the Springboard port as a nice bonus. Personally, I think the Palm Vx is worth the extra cost. It is superiorly made, tiny, fast, and stylish. You will not need to protect your screen...you wont have to worry about batteries. Again, PDAs are a matter of preference and I know that the Visor will make many happy.
Recommended:
No
Amount Paid (US$): 249.00
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drdavec1
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Member: dave
Location: New Jersey
Reviews written: 44
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