Still going strong
Written: Oct 13 '00
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Product Rating:
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Pros: easy to use, cheaper than some other organizers
Cons: no handwriting, cost may not be as competitive since Palm m100 is only $150
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| scottredd's Full Review: Casio Pocket Viewer PV-200 |
After a couple of years, the PV-200 is still going strong. My wife used to use one of those simple $20 organizers that can be had at any drug store. She used it so much she wore off the lettering on the keys! One day the nasty of nasties happened... the batteries failed. Suddenly, a years worth of appointments, contacts, memos, etc, were lost.
Being a Palm III user for a couple of years and taking it's features for granted, I instantly thought, "Well, just restore from backup." No sooner than I had this thought, I remembered that her little pocket organizer was, of course, a standalone product, with no PC synchronization available.
I tried to talk her into getting a Palm. This would have been fun since we could have "beamed" data back and forth. She insisted, however, that she did not require all that computing power, and just wanted a good organizer with PC sync ability. Also, at this time, the Palm III cost about $300.
I visited the local electronic store and previewed the Casio Pocket Viewer 200. I found it's pen based interface comfortable and intuitive. The price of $80 at that time, and the included desktop software and sync cradle made it an irresistible buy. I bought it and gave it to her forher birthday.
It's been about a year and a half, and I still can't get her to consider "upgrading" to a Palm device. She loves using her PV-200 to enter appointments, contacts, and grocery lists. She doesn't sync often (I do it for her once a month or so), but if there's ever another failure, at least there's a good backup to reload it from.
PROS
The calendar, address book, to do list, and memos quite adequate
Syncs to the desktop
Great battery life
Thin and light, with flip top
CONS
The desktop software is not as powerful or as easy to use as the Palm desktop, in my opinion.
Text entry is accomplished via a virtual keyboard: there's no handwriting recognition on this unit.
The fonts are large for the screen and take up a lot of space
Backlight turns off on it's own after a few seconds of turning it on
In summary, I'd say the Pocket Viewer line is fine for people not interested in all the cool things a Palm can do, but would rather just have a simple organizer with synchronization capabilities. However, given the fact that the new Palm m100 is only $150, I'm not even sure I'd go that far. If you could pick up a used one for cheap, then you may be in luck.
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
scottredd
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Member: Scott Redd
Location: Omaha, NE
Reviews written: 28
Trusted by: 12 members
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