Need help buying a Palm Pilot (1 Viewer)

[Randy Tennison]

I've decided that my life will not be complete without a Palm Pilot. However, when I look at them, I don't see a lot of difference besides shape, memory size, color or bw, and battery type (speaking specifically of "Palm" brand)
Anything I am missing? Any good suggestions!
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Randy Tennison
Kansas City, MO
Home theater photos located at
http://home.kc.rr.com/thetennisons/

 

[Vince Maskeeper]

Randy,
Step one is to determine what you want to spend, and what you want to do with it. You can get really nice older palm units these days used for $50-$75... and for many people the IIIx with 8 meg of memory will do what they want it to do.
Basically the main palm units currently in retail availability are:
M500/M505: The newest kids in the palm family- the 505 is the color version. These are new and have a Expansion Card slot which interfaces with various things, such as additional memory and whatnot. These are the high tech ones, the newest and lastest units from Palm.
M100/M105: Baby brothers to the 500/505. M100 is the super budget model- at like $100. The 105 is the 100 with more memory. These are basically the super cheapo units to attract college students. Still great oranizers, but no multimedia availablility like the 500/505
VIIx: 8 meg unit similar to the palm III. The thing about this one is it has a built in wireless antenna system for interface with Palm's internet service. They sell these babies cheap, hoping you'll sign on to their service for $20-$50 a month for internaet acess. Cool in a geeker sort of way, but the service is expensive. Nte, other palms can go wireless internet- but all the others need an accessory pack, this one has it built it.
Vx: The lastest in the Palm V series. Streamline, light, small and very sleek looking. Slides into a wallet style booklet instead of the fliptop communicator style of the III. The Vx is also 8 megs, monochrome, and has an internal rechargable battery (recharges in the hotsync cradle!)
IIIc: The plam III was baically the classic Palm- flip top cover, hard plastic- what you think of when you think of Palm. The IIIxe was the last (??) monochrome version, but it's not around anymore-- instead they have the IIIc which is a color version ofthe 3. Again, 8 meg unit.
So those are the current models. I always suggest trying to find an older 8 meg III or even a V at a used price because most are under $100 now, and still are as good as ever. Many of the plam units use flash memory for OS, so even that can be upgraded so you're not really getting "old" technology by buying a used plam!
-Vince

 

[Chris Wittry]

Let me put my vote in for the Handspring Visor. If you're looking for a basic handheld unit, the Visor Solo is good (2MB RAM). The Visor Deluxe (8MB) is what I have been using for almost 2 years now and I love it. Finally, if you want to put up a little more money, the Visor Prism looks great (65K Color & 8MB). There's tons of available add-on cards for these units (Springboards) and they can run any software that can run on a Palm. Just my 2 cents!

 

[Mark Dubbelboer]

I'm a happy visor user as well.
I've never come close to filling the memory on my deluxe and believe you me i've tried.

 

[MickeS]

I'm thinking of getting the Handspring Visor Platinum. Anyone have any experiences with it? What is the difference between the Platinum and the Deluxe, except for speed?
Also, has anyone tried the cellphone expansion module? Seems like a good thing, and right now it's free with service agreemenet (Voicestream).
The Palms look a little nicer, but the Handsprings seem to offer more for the same money (IMO).
/Mike
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[Matt Taylor]

I just bought a Handspring visor Edge last week and really like it. It is SO thin, I keep it in a pocket of my briefcase.
MT

 

[Jeff Cooper]

Regardless of which one you get, make SURE it is one with the rechargeable batteries. I do a lot of application testing with various plams, and it is unbelieveable how much batteries these things go through. The ones that take external batteries will drive you nuts with having to replace the batteries all the time.
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-Jeff Cooper
"Curse you inspector Dim! You are too clever for us naughty people."

 

[Bry_DD]

I just bought a Visor Deluxe from Fry's for $99 (Refurb). I couldn't be happier with it.

 

[Kelley_B]

Let me suggest one of the new Sony CLIEs. I think they are smashing, and I know I would love to have one, except they have no Mac support, therefore no Kelley support.

 

[Mark Dubbelboer]

jeff brings up a good point.
I bought a NiMH battery pack for my Visor and it is soooo much better than having to replace batteries. I can use overclocking utilities without fear of killing my batteries instantly. I'm pretty sure that almost every handheld will have some third party batter-pack accessory but it is something you should look into before purchase.
Those visorphones look so sweet...too bad i live in the hinterlands of canada

where it seems nothing is supported.
MickeS, i'm not positive but i believe the Platinum has newer OS installed. Check out visorcentral.com they have (or at least had i haven't been there in awhile) a pretty active discussion forum. I also noticed one of our HTF members had a link to visorcentral in his sig, you might want to consult him if you have handspring related q's.

 

[Paul O]

If you have to have color go with the Palm M505. If not the M500 is great since they just lowered the price to $329. I upgraded my Palm V which moved me from 2 to 8 MB of memory and a USB connection for the cradle since i hated that serial port!!!!! Im looking forward to checking out the expansion cards though i believe there are more for the handspring than for the Palm - either way you can't lose.
P.S. - Dell has 10% off PDA's and Free shipping so its only $297 on their software and accesories site.

 

[Jens Raethel]

My girlfriend just bought the palm 505 and shes really happy with it...
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And PLEASE sign my guestbook!!
http://cine-max.tripod.com/cinemax/