Customer Reviews
Good but heavy...... 
2002-05-12
I bought my Visor Pro 3 days ago. I love it. There are a couple of things I really hate though.
1- The clip-on cover is really stupid. What's the point of having a PDA if whenever you want to input something you have to take the cover off which is really time consuming and not very practical. I prefer the Palm covers.
2- The visor pro is heavy compared to other PDA models by Handspring and Palm. If I carry it in the pocket of a cotton pance I feel that my pance is falling down. I can only carry it if I am wearing jeans or other kind of uncomfortable pance.
3- The infrared port is in a really inpractical place. I keep worrying about touching it so that it doesn't get dirty and reduces the strength of the IR signal. It should have been somewhere at the top like the Palm PDA's.
4- The stylus is hard to take out. With palm PDA's it is much easier.
5- Software for the Palm OS is really expensive.
In short. The only good thing about it is that it is rechargeable and that it has 16 mb of RAM which is really nice.
2nd Palm, Happy User 
2002-04-06
After getting several years of use from my Palm Professional, I decided to get a new PDA. My main motivation was to get a better display, and a USB connection to cut down on the synch times.
I looked at Windows CE devices, Palm, Handspring, and Sony. I saw few devices I hated, and several I really liked. My searching finally narrowed down to the Handspring Edge and Pro versions. This was mostly based on wanting the Springboard slot (Springboard seems to have the most devices and lower cost), faster processor (I was tired of slow searches on my Palm Professional and looking to trade up), rechargable batteries (I was used to more than a month of use on AAA's, but who wants to by batteries anymore?). Friends of mine that bought Windows CE devices complained about short battery life, complex to use, and price. The Sony devices have unbelievably good screens and some neat features, but Sony uses the memory stick slot which has little support.
Color is nice looking on some models, but I can't justify the price for them. I can buy a whole computer for the price of some PDAs.
In the end, I went with the Handspring Pro because of good price (mine was $[money] from CompUSA) and no one had the Edge version in stock. The extra 8M of memory made me stop thinking about the thicker form factor.
I synch my Pro with my laptop running Franklin Covey planner (which came with PalmOS synching software). The Handspring Pro comes with a conduit tool for synching to Outlook, but I find Franklin Planner better for my work. I also have purchased the folding keyboard, and now my Handspring Pro has become my portable computer for business trips. With the Keyboard, I can use it for typing meeting notes, Email, and other typical laptop things while traveling, and I can use it while sitting in a coach airplane seat. You can't open a laptop on a plane anymore! I've been away as much as 5 days already with heavy use, and the Pro has enough battery life and memory to go that long without synching!
For someone not looking for color, and wanting long battery life, and lots of room for additional apps and expansion, I think the Handspring Pro is a great way to go.
(I'd have given 5 stars if the Pro was as thin as the Edge)
Handsping Visor Pro (Silver) 
2002-03-11
I'm new to PDA's and wonder how I worked without them. The performance has been excellent. I use an older laptop to hotsinc with and have not encountered any difficulties. For new users, it is worth reading the basic manual while waiting for the unit to charge. When I had questions, the supplied CD had the necessary detail to fill in the gaps. Take the time to play with it and soon it will become a valuable tool. This is the tool you will carry while the old heavy leatherbound paper monster gathers dust awaiting its trip to the Good Will.
An absolutely wonderful PDA--just fantastic. 2002-01-29
As an avid Palm user, I got lucky to play with the Visor Pro a couple weeks back and have to say, if I were to purchase almost ANY PDA on the market today, this is the model I'd probably go with. When you consider price (and who doesn't?), expandability, accessories and a built-in memory of 16MB (SIXTEEN MEGABYTES???) there simply isn't a handheld product on the market today (that I am aware of) that can touch the Visor Pro.
I remember when my friend first purchased his original Palm about 4 years ago, and with 2MB I thought, there is NO WAY he'll ever have need for more room than that...little did I realize how useful these little guys can be. As far as organizing your life, a Palm device is almost invaluable -- but they can be so much more. With a little patience, you can find free programs on the web to download that you just simply couldn't live without. Everything from maps to games...plus let's not forget the Springboard additions that truly make this PDA something special and a real honest-to-goodness cut above the rest. What really sets the Visor Pro apart from the vast (and growing) competition out there is it comes with 16MB of memory BUILT IN. No need to purchase more right off...this little guy has about TWICE what the *other* guys come with standard. Pretty impressive when you consider the price of this baby. Plus if you need more, the expansion abilities make this one of (if not THE most) versatile PDA's on the market today.
I am still sold on my little Palm M125, don't get me wrong, but for the price of just one single expansion card, I could buy the Visor Pro outright. Food for thought when you plan on making that jump to a handheld PDA that truly lives up to it's billing as an electronic device you simply cannot live without.
Slick Slick Slick PDA 2002-01-23
I upgraded to the Pro from the Deluxe model after a year of being so happy with the Visor I outgrew my old one. What I like about Visors in general is the springboard expandability option, the way they don't seem dinky as some of their competitors. I like the extra memory (16MB) and speed, of course--and the silver color is nice. After a year of learning what one can do with a handspring, I began to have to choose between less frequently used applications or more downloaded content--and that thing always seemed slow. The Visor Pro has quite a lot of room for storage it's faster--they say that the faster processing speed doesn't increase the speed of the sync, but I could swear it even syncs faster. Another reviewer didn't like the cover it comes with, but I like made an "oooooh" sound when I took it from the box--it's a sleek li'l number.
The big win, however, with the Visor Pro is the rechargeable batteries. These are not the kind you need to fully discharge before recharging, so there's no worry about charging too much. It's nice not to have to worry about the batteries running out on you--I've had mine just over a week and have used it extensively, learning the lay of the land, but have never seen any indication on the device other than fully charged.
As someone who had no complaints about the Visor Deluxe, I was somewhat hesitant that upgrading would leave me feeling like I'd succumbed to marketing rather than having made a wise decision--not the case! I would do it again.
Great Palm-O/S handheld! 2002-09-07
This is a great Palm-O/S based handheld unit. With 16MB of memory it offers plenty of storage; more than most Palm-based units on the market. The USB synchronization and rechargable battery are nice, too. A great device for those who want a 'workhorse' instead of a 'showhorse'. ;-)
Great when working, awful customer support 
2002-08-18
It's my first PDA. As a doctor I use it both for business and personal information. After owning it for about 8 months, the battery would no longer recharge, so I sent it back to handspring. Service was promt and relatively courteous except for one thing...they didn't fix the problem! The unit was returned to me with exactly the same malfunction. Mechanical breakdowns happen, but since the customer support isn't there to back up the product, I won't buy from Handspring again.
To add some more. Finally got the problem fixed, but it recurred two more times. I am now the happy owner of a Sony Clie SJ20...compact, reliable, good screen resolution.
Poor products, poor service 2002-08-01
I have had my Visor PRO less than 6 months. The hotsync cradle has had to be replaced once already, and the software crashed and had to be reinstalled.
A friend bought one at the same time, it was a complete lemon. She sent it back to be replaced and went through 3 different models in as many months before she finally gave up and bought another PDA. What a waste of money!
And when you register the product with Handspring, they send you a coupon, with no info on any expiration, but when I tried to use it I was told it expires in 30 days. When I protested that they need to tell you about the 30 day limit when they send you the email, and asked to discuss it with a supervisor, I was ignored and have not been contacted again.
Like many other reviewers, this is the first and last Handspring product I will buy.
Terrible PDA 
2002-08-01
I am new to PDA's and I thought that the Handspring Visor Pro was the way to go. Well I was wrong. I had it only two days at it would freez up on me atleast 3 times aday. Plus I thought it was too heavy and the screen color was not too good. So I returned it and bought a Sony Clie T615C. and that is the best. It came with alot more software like it has a program to be able to control all the T.V's, VCR's, and even the souround sound. It also has 64,000+ colors that makes it ver easy to read in almost any lighting conditions. It also comes with a better case to protect the screen. not a plastic one that is not attached to the pda like the pro's. The only thing that bug me a little is that the stylis may fall out if you accidently put it in your pocket upside down. The Sony is also alot easier to move through progams. it has a trun wheel on the side and back button that you can use. I thought that the Visor pro was a piece of junk.
Battery glitch 2002-07-19
This is my first PDA and I was happy with it until I could no longer recharge the battery. I exhausted all of the suggestions on Handspring's FAQ page with no improvement. If you buy it, put up the extra money to get the longest warranty you can...you just might need it.
