need Palm/PDA advice

[redbird]

My much-used PalmPilot is on its last legs. The latest trouble was the contrast went all pear-shaped; I have something vaguely usable, thanks to careful manual-reading by cattitude and catching just the right angle of daylight, despite the snow, to be able to see the contrast slider enough to use it. But at this point I expect it to die an unfixable death relatively soon.

I currently have a Palm Vx, which was gorgeous state-of-the-art when I got it in late 1999. I'm looking for suggestions on a replacement. I strongly want to run PalmOS, simply because I'm used to it and even have some registered programs; other than that, I'm flexible. Color and other bells and whistles would be nice, but I'm looking to do this cheaply. What I mostly want is advice on good (or bad) models. I intend to buy new, because I want the maximum life out of the new machine.

Thanks.

Comments

[avram]

How much RAM do you need? Patrick's been using the new cheap low-end Palm, which only has two megs and just two app buttons on the front instead of four, but it's light.

[lysana.livejournal.com]

I use an obsolete Handspring Visor Deluxe, but if the others they make are this solid performance-wise, I doubt you'd go wrong with their product line barring any issues with Palm supporting them in the future of which I am unaware.

[greenfizzpops.livejournal.com]

Hello 3-)

My Honey uses a Handspring Visor Pro. It is excellent. Runs PalmOS, has 16 MB RAM, b&w backlit screen, is extensible (he has all sorts of cute springboard modlues for it plus a nifty targus keyboard) is a pretty titanium colour, is comfy to hold, has a rechargeable battery that just lasts and lasts and lasts.... I love it.

Unfortunately when he tried to order me one on Amazon.com a little while back he found that they were no longer stocked. I _pretty_ sure you can still get them elsewhere... However he opted to order me a Palm M130. Reasons being - rechargeable battery, 8MB mem, colour backlit screen, PalmOS, extensible and, of course - free shipping from Amazon + $75 rebates. I'm still waiting for UPS to deliver it though. The tracking web site is wailing about "adverse weather conditions", so I can't yet comment on ergonomics, actual battery life etc..

I looked at quite a few handhelds recently. Nixed the Zire mainly cos its only 2MB, doesn't come with a cradle and has no backlit screen... which was dissapointing cos it was the cheapest with a rechargeable battery. Nixed the Sony Clie PEG-SJ20 cos it is not particularly extensible and have you seen the price of memory sticks recently?
Nixed the Handspring Treo 90 cos of all the bad reviews I've read about it.

Those were only the ones in my general price range. There are plenty others if you're willing to pay a few hundred more.

Happy PDA hunting 3-)

[bohemiancoast.livejournal.com]

malwen has just bought the Clie PEG SJ-30. The SJ-10's the same but mono, and quite cheap (probably a better bet than the only slightly cheaper Zire). Both of these are 320x320 screen, 16MB, 33 mhz processor, Palm 4. I've had a Clie for about 8 months and am utterly delighted with it. We have memory sticks, and they are expensive; but that's how you store novels.

I wasn't expecting to make much use of colour. But in fact, I'm enchanted with it and will never go back to mono. Of course, I play loads of games.

[eleanor.livejournal.com]

I love my Palm 515, and you can find deals online. I bought Honey-Bunny a Palm for Christmas, and after looking at the Zire, we decided that it would be better to go up one model.

[filkerdave.livejournal.com]

I've been very happy with my m500

Handspring Visor

[ailbhe]

Me and my Deluxe were very happy for a very long time, and I got an upgrade to a Neo for Christmas so passed the Deluxe on to my sister. The only thing any of the models does that bothers me is that some of them are too thick to snap the cover back onto the back. Oh, and the Neo isn't available in translucent blue in Europe.

A.