Customer Reviews
a truly great starter 
2001-09-28
The orange creamsicle was my first Visor and my first PDA. It gave me truly outstanding service without any problems.
The pros are outstanding service without any outstanding bugs, it supports just about all modern Palm OS applications and looks pretty damn cute.
The cons are it goes through AAA batteries every other week if you are lucky (which I doubt is different from other PDAs) which is just a pain to be constantly buying batteries. The slip case that comes with this model is awesome, but has no pockets for anything else (business/credit cards, id, etc). If you purchase this model, I suggest the Handspring slim case as it gives the best protection with the smallest size and has pockets for these as well.
I have since purchased a Visor Edge because it is smaller, lighter and rechargable; but I gave the Deluxe to my best friend to get her started out.
i love it... 
2001-04-14
I baught this product some time ago and it rocks.....Its easy to use and has alot of great attachments.Its great for school to. It realy keeps me organised and you can play games with it. The visor deluxe by handspring would be my first choise wile getting a handheld organiser.Its much better than the palm IIIxe and has a very stiylish look to it. I would also recommend wile getting this to by the Eye model its a digital camera you can attach to your visor.
Visors 2001-03-26
(I have a visor deluxe graphite, but I will post it up under all visors, because the comments apply to all of them unless otherwise noted)
I finally decided to get a handheld, so after dropping a few hints, I got a Visor Deluxe for my 15th birthday (OK, OK, I totally walked my dad through the purchase process, but who cares?)
9 days (and based on battery use, over 2 months of normal use) later, here is my review. The Visor is pretty small, I don't know what people saying it was bulky were talking about. It is really easy to use, it took no getting used to, except for the graphiti. That's still a little wierd. It has a backlit screen, but I never figured out how to turn it on, my friend did. You hold down the power button. Hotsyncing couldn't be easier, you press the hotsync button on the cradle or on the visor's screen and it goes. The 2 MB visor will probably be good enough for you if you only download Freeware Apps and use it as an organizer, but if you are like me, you will need the 8MB of the deluxe, platinum, prism and edge. The screen is very clear of most things (digital photo albums can look pretty bad, but I think it is the App and not the Visor) It has been very reliable so far, I have installed nearly every App I could find, and no freezes, even soft ones. The stylus has a built in screwdriver and reset tool.
The downside- The OS is not upgradible, maybe someone will make a springboard module someday, but I doubt it, and it will cost alot and not allow you to use the springboard for anything else, killing it's main selling point over the Palm. And also, I am careful with it so I have put no scratches on it, but I let some people borrow it, and I am seeing some. I am mad now (no, that does not read mad cow, mad now) Screen covers cost about $2, but they take all the un out of even owning one. they are that terrible. If worst comes to worst, you can replace the screen down the road for $50. even if you have to replace it once a year (which you shouldn't, but just for the sake of argument) it is worth it. A screen cover ruins everything. Being the careful user you will be, you shouldn't scratch it too badly too quickly.
Comparing to a Palm- this is Much better than a Palm. My friend has a Palm. I hate it. OK, I don't hate it, but it is a mere shadow of mine. the screen quality of the Visor is much better for moving things such as games, and the buttons on the visor are 10 times easier to push, the difference between winning and losing in many cases. The Springboard port is the final factor that puts the Visor way ahead of the Palm. You can get modems, cameras, more space, GPS, cell phones, voice recording, Games, Mp3 players (tisk tisk, stealing music, eh? Kids these days!) You name it, they got it. (look under springboard modules here at Amazon for things I missed) But one thing that annoys me about the Visor and not about the Palm is the infrared port. The visors is in an Akward location, and the Palm's is not (see pictures) And the Visor does not have an upgradible OS, but that doesn't matter too much, so far they have been little more than a minor update. All in all, definitly buy the Visor.
Choosing the right Visor- REGULAR- This has OS 3.1 and 2MB of ram. this is enough only for people who plan to use it for it's designed purpose. If it's not enough, you can upgrade later via Springboard cards. 4 shades of grey DELUXE-Cool colors (which I opted against to avoid too much attention), 3.1, and 8MB of Ram. 4 shades of grey too. PLATINUM-Faster processor, but it's not necessary. However, if you can cough up the cash, it is worth it, because it displays 16 shades of grey and OS 3.5. EDGE-Just like the Platinum, only much thinner. However, putting on a springboard card makes it about as thick as the regular ones. PRISM-Just like the Platinum, only it is in color. Definitly worth it if you got the cash.
PS-to avoid scratches, DON'T LET PEOPLE BORROW IT!!!!!!! I can't stress that enough. People are stupid. Kids these days!
Orange Handspring Is the Best 2001-02-28
I had a Palm III before purchasing the Handspring Visor Deluxe. I am glad I made the switch to the Handspring! I like the Orange color; it makes it a lot more interesting than the ugly gray Palm. While it is almost as thick as the Palm III, I'm used to the feel of it so the weight of it doesn't bother me. Also, having 8 MB is nice on the Visor, compared to the measly 2 MB on the Palm. It is a shame that the OS isn't upgradable, but I'm sure I'll live with that. I don't have to have the latest software as soon as it comes out, like many techno-geeks do.
All in all, it's a great product. I haven't bought any of the modules; I'm hoping they'll go down in price this year -- mainly the MP3 modules.
O/S Not Upgradable 
2001-02-09
I got a Handspring because it was cool. It has the card-slot (springboard), which is a little limited in what has actually come out for it, but it's a good design.
The deluxe model has 8MB, and this was a good price for an 8mb palm-pilot with an upgrade slot, plus, cool colors.
With the non-deluxe model, this is dropped to 2MB. It's only purpose in life was to be a cheaper replacement for the Palm III and earlier.
Then I realized the problem. The O/S is in ROM, not FLASH. The O/S on these are Palm v3.1, which is about a year old. THERE IS NO UPGRADE PATH TO PALM O/S 3.5! To upgrade, you have to buy a whole new one.
Even if you could, you'd have to wait for handspring's version.
I recommend the Palm-IIIxe, it's the same thing, minus the springboard module (only REALLY useful for a few things, which are easily worked around). Palm 3xe has 8mb, and FLASH ROM, plus it comes with Palm O/S 3.5 and is upgradable. If you NEED the cellphone or wireless option, there are sleeves that fit over the pilot that do this.
Still an incredible tool 2008-06-30
Simple, playful, easy to use, and fairly intuitive, my Handspring Visor remains one of my favorite technology purchases almost a decade after I bought it.
I eventually replaced it with an iPod Touch, but in a lot of ways the Visor is a superior product. It has great battery life (and easily-replaceable batteries), wonderful expansion abilities, and the available collapsable keyboard from Targus made it a perfect ultra-light microcomputer. I used my Visor for many years in college as a portable word-processor for writing essays and research papers, since I could easily take it everywhere I went.
Even though it's "out of date" I still like using it more than any of the newer smartphones or mini-laptops.
I wish more companies would make products like this.
Love it 2002-10-17
I use my Handspring Visor every day. I love it. The included Palm Desktop software for your PC is incredible.
Nifty little device 2002-07-23
While I hardly use my Visor Deluxe for more than a address book and electronic note pad that is enough for me. Have had this items since December 01 and it has taken a beating and kept on going. My daughter plays with it all the time as I downloaded some games to it. Hardly can find it when I need it though as she has always got it. From what I have seen of other palm devices this one is up to snuff and works as well. These can be had for next to nothing at this point in the tech game as well. Good Beginner PDA to get your feet wet.
Sweet and Simple! 2002-05-08
I wear several hats and find this is about the perfect hat rack! I resisted buying one until that post-it-note hid on the back of a letter I was about to mail. Now everything from business contacts to my pedometer are here. I want to add a camera and phone. Oh, and an MP-3 player! This is a terrific entry-level PDA and I love having the ability to add on modules. Also, I can cart my writing to work and home, and edit it in between on Word and Excel. It's really simple to use. Don't even hesitate!
Perfect First PDA 2002-01-23
I've had this Visor Deluxe for a year--it was my first. After years of being skeptical of PDAs, I began to see how useful one might be as more and more of my friends had them and seemed to like them. I was just curious enough to get one and this was a great choice.
First, I chose a Visor over the other types because the price was right and the look was a little hipper. I have the Orange one, but in general the design is edgier than the standard black, curved ones I'd seen all nestled in their leatherette cases. Also, as I was not sure whether I'd be able to adjust to a digital method of organizing, I got a Visor because even if I ended up not being able to do the digital calendar and address book thing, I could at least turn it into a digital camera or a gps navigator--check out the springboard modules. They sold me on the Visor because of the infinite possibilities.
Though the Visor Deluxe is a lower-end model, I can still recommend it highly. If it's your first one, it's a great first one. It's sturdy and stable. I never "lost everything" which happened to my friends with other devices. Additionally, I pushed it to the limit. I've recently replaced it for the Pro with twice as much memory and some speed--but this was a ready-to-move-up replacement and not a "shoulda gotten a nicer one first" replacement.
It runs a good while on batteries, and once you teach yourself to sock away a pair or two of spares, there's very little worry. You can change batteries without losing everything, even if you're not near your computer. Everything you put on the visor ends up on your PC when you sync it--read: if you wake up and the cat knocked your visor into the toilet, the data is all there on your PC and you can zap it into your replacement device.
In addition to springboard modules, there is software aplenty for the downloading: games, expense trackers, clocks, reference materials. And then there are the pda related content services where you can get a city guide. I had a city guide, a dictionary, a game or two, some special timers, my checkbook and daily-refreshing periodicals, a recipe database, lists, my calendar and my contacts ALL on this one little thing. You gotta try it!
The reason I rate the Deluxe five stars is that within it's class, who could ask for anything more? It's priced on the lower end, but it can run with the big boys.
