The Best Budget PDA
Aug 03 '01 (Updated Feb 12 '02)
The Bottom Line The Visor Deluxe doesn't skimp on the memory and has been proven superior to any comparibly priced palm.
If you’re like me and don’t want to spend half of your paycheck on a new PDA, then right now I’m going to tell you that the Handspring Visor Deluxe is the right choice for you. How do I know this? Well I’m a struggling college and even though I knew I wanted a great PDA, I also knew that I only had about $150 to spend on this product. So I looked at all the PDA review sites I could find and found the best one for the price, the Visor Deluxe. And the retail price of the item as of August 2001, is $199. So then I scoured the auction sites, spending most of my time at work checking and rechecking prices on E-Bay. The normal selling price for a used Visor Deluxe was around $150 dollars, plus shipping and handling. So I kept on trying to win an auction, until I went to Fry’s Electronics one day and found refurbished one’s selling for $120. I was stoked (happy). Anyway I bought one and within two days two of my friends bought the exact same ones.
I have now had my Visor Deluxe for a little while and am thoroughly amazed at all the functions this little machine can perform. I won’t go into detail about all the programs it already has and about all the ones you can download, because you can read any other review and find that. This is because every Palm or Handspring used the same Palm OS (operating system), just like Gateway, Dell, Compaq, etc. uses a windows OS. And just like windows, there are different versions. The Visor Deluxe comes with version 3.1H2, which isn’t the latest, but still runs every piece of software they make right now. But now we come to my only complaint about this product. The OS isn’t upgradeable. Even though this in my only “con,” it really doesn’t bother me much, and I’ll tell you why. First as I already mentioned, it runs every program out there now, and probably will run every program they make for the next couple years. Second I don’t see any bugs that really need to be fixed. The OS is not like windows where you get all these extra things and usually it is a good idea to upgrade. And lastly, by the time they come out with the next generation of Palm OS (5.0?), I’ll probably want to buy a new one anyway because of the future memory limitations of this product, which brings me to my next point…the memory.
This was the real selling point for me. First let me tell you that the Handspring Visor Deluxe comes with a whopping 8 megabytes of memory. Not as much as some of those really expensive “Pocket PC’s,” but as much as the most expensive Palm type device. And the 8 megs is very important if you want any expandability since all programs and most attachment modules that you might buy take up huge amounts of memory. Right now on my Visor Deluxe I have about 10 extra games and the same number of extra utilities. And as more and more internet sites make their products available on your PDA, you’re really going to like having 8 megs.
Now for synchronizing with your PC. That’s definitely a snap as long as you have a USB port in your computer. I think why Handspring didn’t use the standard serial port connector to synchronize, is due to the fact that almost everyone who would be using a PDA would most likely own a computer that has USB connectivity. Plus it’s faster than serial. I already used Outlook for all my contacts and appointments, so all I had to do was plug in the USB connector into the back of the computer, install the desktop software, and that’s it. No crazy drivers to play with…as soon as you push the button on the USB cradle, the computer does the rest, no human needed (and no room for human error).
The screen is excellent. Much better than the Palm III, I had before since I can read my Visor Deluxe in all light conditions. It has 4 grayscale colors which is also more than my old Palm III, which had black and nothing. This obviously allows for better viewing. I just thought I should mention that a lot of reviews didn’t like how the screen scratched easily and recommended purchasing a screen protector, such as a WriteRight, or scotch tape. I haven’t had any problems with mine yet, but you might.
The last point I want to make is the last reason why I picked the a Handspring instead of a Palm. Even though they both have expansion slots, the Handspring is just plain superior. You can get more modules for it, and for things like extra memory, it is cheaper. It sort of reminds me of the difference between the Mac and the PC, for all you computer people out there.
******UPDATE*********
A little after writing this review I went on a camping trip and took my Visor Deluxe with me. Unfortunatly the screen cracked during the trip. I looked at the warranty and of course it said that cracked screens weren't covered under warranty. Well, I thought I'd at least give them a call and try my luck. So I called the customer support 800 number. I talked to a one of Handspring's representitives and told him exactly what happened. And to my surprise he said he was going to send a new unit out to me immediatly. I was flabergasted.
I recieved a box from Airborn Express a few days later. In the box was my new PDA, along with directions on how to send the broken one back in. They included all the stickers I needed. So I transferred all data (easily), and sent the broken one back with no shipping cost. So one more big factor in considering this PDA.
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Epinions.com ID:
chucky7
|
|
Member: Chuck Temple
Location: San Diego, CA
Reviews written: 7
Trusted by: 1 member
|
|
|
© 1999-2009 Shopping.com, Inc.