A+, Buy from Handspring.com! Best shopping experience ever.
Written: Oct 21 '01 (Updated Oct 21 '01)
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The Bottom Line
If you want to buy a Handspring product, buy it right here. In fact, buy here anyway.
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Handspring.com is the best shopping site in history, probably.
Handspring.com is Handspring's official website for buying Handspring products, accessories, and software. For those of you who don't know, Handspring makes the "Visor" (and soon "Treo") series of PDA's (personal digital assistants) that run PalmOS software. They're currently the #2 biggest seller of PDA's, after Palm itself. This epinion won't be a review of their products, but I think they're great low-end devices.
Handspring.com has great deals, great selection, TONS of information, and they are always up-to-date. Their customer service is the best that I've ever experienced. Unfortunately, they've been losing a lot of money lately due to the tech fallout (and by spending so much money on their great webstore, probably).
Here's some information for you:
PRODUCTS:
Handspring.com sells their entire (current) line of Visor handhelds. They also carry a wide selection of first- and second-party accessories, and almost all Springboard (expansion) modules available. It's not your only source for Visor gear, but it's closer than the average webstore.
Handspring.com has some exclusive products, but most if it you can find elsewhere. Their most impressive selection is in their Visor cases. They have a very wide selection of cases for their entire line. I bought one and it was of VERY high quality (although not too functional). The case I bought (green matching case, although most of their cases are the same style) was very nice looking, but a little bulky. They also have "custom" cases that cost a bit, but you can design them how you like. The only case store that rivals Handspring itself is Vajacases.com, but they are very pricy. Check out Ebcases.com for more, cheaper, cases, if you don't find what you want on Handspring.com.
PRICES:
Handspring.com, not surprisingly, sells their products for retail price. This isn't bad, though. Since Handspring.com has lower overhead than most stores, and they offer numerous specials and deals.
The deals on Handspring.com change every month or two, but I'll give you an example with current deals. Right now, if you buy a $169 Visor Deluxe, you get free shipping, a free "gameface" game controller ($25 value), Docs To Go ($70 value), Zap!2000 ($15 value), plus the ability to get a VisorPhone free (with service activation). At other stores, you can get Docs To Go free, but all the rest is a Handspring.com exclusive.
Buying for retail is not that bad, however. Right now, PDA's have a relatively small profit margin, so you won't find any huge deals on Visors. You might find one for $10 or $20 less, max. The only major exception is from Dell.com, which occassionally has 10%-20% off sales. You also only have to pay sales tax from Handspring.com if you live in these US states:
AZ, CA, CT, FL, IL, IN, KY, MA, MN, NJ, NY, OH, TX, UT
That's a lot of states, but it doesn't include WA. :) You also have to pay sales tax in Canada. :(
They are also currently selling refurbished Visor Deluxes for $129. They may have other refurbished units on their website when they have more to refurbish!
INFORMATION:
Although you can't expect unbiased information from Handspring.com (that's what Epinions is for), they do have a lot of information about their products. It's (almost) all up-to-date, too. They have a very nice interface and it's very easy to find information. They don't hide return info and contact numbers like a lot of sites.
SUPPORT:
This is where Handspring.com shines the brightest, in my opinion. I bought a Visor Neo, and a nice case, a while ago and decided that I needed a more powerful unit. Luckily, Handspring.com has a 30-day "no questions asked" return policy with no restocking fee.
Here's what I went through to send back my Visor:
1) Went to Handspring.com and looked up the phone number, and found my order number.
2) Gave customer service a call (only waited around 3 minutes to talk to someone).
3) Spent about 2 minutes asking to return my product, and wrote down the RMA number.
4) Packed up my Visor in the box and sent it on its way home. (I only had to pay shipping.)
The customer service was very friendly and helpful (and didn't try to change my mind), and they even had me take a little survey about customer service afterwards. I gave them top marks. :)
Here's the kicker, for me anyway: I broke the stylus on my Neo (I'm pretty rough) and I had a little permanent mark on my case because I scratched it against something. I told the customer service person this but didn't push it. I even packed the broken stylus seperately in the box. However, my purchase was completely credited back! They didn't charge me for a new stylus or anything. Nice! Although I hate making them even more unprofitable. :(
OVERALL:
I highly recommend buying a Visor from Handspring.com. Make sure they have some specials at the time you buy, or wait a week or two until some pop up. After buying my replacement PDA (a Sony CLIE N-760C) from Dell.com, I noticed a HUGE difference in the customer service. I had a problem with the pricing on my order at Dell, was transferred twice (with a ~20 minute hold each time) and never got my problem solved, so I had to cancel my order and reorder.
Handspring.com is a great website which makes me guilty for not buying another Visor. :(
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
jeremyf
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Location: West coast
Reviews written: 150
Trusted by: 198 members
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