A few weeks ago, a co-worker asked me to attend a meeting on his behalf while he was on vacation. I agreed, but by the time the meeting had rolled around, the note that I'd left myself as a reminder had vanished into the sea of paper on my desk. I missed the meeting.

I bought a blue Handspring Visor Deluxe to save me from repeating that faux pas. The Visor's "DateBook+" software comes built-in and is very easy to use. All of my appointments are recorded, the repeating ones are entered once and marked as "repeating", and I have attached appropriately-timed alarms to them (five minutes for stuff that's happening in the same building, half an hour if I need to drive to another city, two weeks for birthdays so I have time to find a gift). DateBook+ also includes "Floating Events", items you can schedule in your calendar that include a check-box, and that "float" into the next day until they are checked off.

Note that almost all of those useful features are impossible with a paper organizer.

The Visor also includes "Address", a phone/address book; "Memo Pad", which stores pages of text and shows them either one page at a time or as a numbered list of first lines; "To Do List", which stores and displays prioritized and categorized tasks, with optional dates attached; and "Expense", which keeps track of expenses for the purpose of submitting an expense report (I don't use this last one). And a multi-function calculator. All of these applications are very easy to use. And the 8MB of memory included in the Visor Deluxe is enough to keep track of everything you would want to.

The Visor Deluxe includes a USB cradle that plugs into your computer. Inserting the Visor into the cradle and pressing a button will "HotSync" the computer and the Visor -- in part this means that any data you've put on the Visor is backed up onto the computer, so that if your Visor is lost, stolen or dead, you can re-inject all of its last-synchronized data into a new Visor and be back in business. The data flows both ways during a HotSync, so if you don't like the "Graffiti" text entering system on the Visor, you can instead use the "Palm Desktop" software on your computer, which shows large color versions of the Palm applications. Do your typing on your regular computer, and then inject it into the Visor.

And that's just the built-in software. There are many, many developers out there writing interesting applications for PalmOS. Far too much to cover in a review of the gadget itself. A web search will drown you in riches. In fact, trying to separate the wheat from the chaff is a challenge in itself.

Of course, almost all of those features are characteristic of any PalmOS-using device. The Visor is slightly distinguished by having a USB synchronization system (some use regular serial ports, which are slower and sometimes already occupied), by having 8MB of memory (older or entry-level handhelds often ship with 2MB), and by having an IR port for communication with other handhelds. The Visor also comes in a variety of colors, instead of just plain steely gray, and it includes a proprietary "Springboard" expansion slot. This slot is about the size of four AAA batteries laid side-to-side, and you can buy cartridges to plug into it. Some of the cartridges are "just" software (Physician's Desk Reference, dictionaries, golf game) that mostly serve to save the 8MB for other software, and some are hardware widgets (GPS module, modem, cellular phone(!)).

The screen is easy to read in good light or, with the backlight, in pitch blackness. In low light it's fairly hard to read.

I find it just a little too large and heavy to conveniently carry in a shirt pocket. It's about the size and weight of a credit-card-loaded wallet, but putting it in a back pant pocket will crack the screen when you sit. I usually carry mine in a front pant pocket; if you wear a suit, the inner pocket of the jacket would work too.

The manual says that a set of two AAA batteries (one set of which is included -- nice) will last about two months. I'm on my fourth set of batteries in a month. But the "two month" estimate is based on 30 minutes use per day. I'm still exploring my Visor, so I use it more than that.

This is my first handheld, so I rate it only four stars based mostly on my personal ignorance of competitive devices. I'm very happy with my Visor, but I can't say for certain that I wouldn't be happier yet with some other device. I'm really glad I bought it, I feel much more organized now and my desk has been largely cleared of notes scrawled on bits of paper. And I haven't missed an appointment since.

Recommended: Yes

Amount Paid (US$): 199