Customer Reviews
great entry level PDA 
2004-08-16
the Palm Zire is probably the best entry level PDA available. i've had mine for a while and its great, holds my schedule, contacts, my notes, a few small games, and is my alarm clock and it has great battery life. since its not realy fancy you don't get a big back lit color screen, or voice recording, or a gaming machine. But its great. the only thing i didn't like was the flip cover it comes with. but guess what... spend like 12$ to get a nicer one and its realy the best thing you can have.
at work I regulalry use a PocketPC with a barcode scanner and I hate it, its slow, bulky, won't recognize my writing well, and is prone to porblems
Excellent product, for some. 2004-08-06
Ok people, consider this phrase, ENTRY LEVEL PDA. The Palm Zire is an entry level PDA. I'm still in highschool, and it works great for what I need. It has all the basic features I need, an address book, datebook, and a calculator, plus a lot of other features. Plus I can download additional programs from the Palm website for free! Some other reviews on this site complain about the amount of memory. Sure, if your going to store five hundred addresses and tasks and put a million programs on it, its gonna be to little. But if you only need it for school or for light use, then its perfect. Also, the fact that it is cheap helps too. (I got mine used for under thirty bucks.) I currently have Pong, Battleship, a school planner, a joke book, an animation program, a sketch program, an Asteroids game, a database program, a diary, a Merlin game, a miniature version of Word, and a solitare game on my Zire, and that only used two thirds of the memory (with all the included programs on the Zire too). The included cover isn't that great, but it is better than nothing, and what do you expect for something that was included for free? All in all, this is a great product for anyone who just needs a decent, affordable PDA.
Update: I've now had this handheld for a couple of months and still no problems. And I'm the second owner, and still no problems. I'm currently looking to upgrade to something with color and a backlight, possibly the Zire 31, but I'll definetly be keeping my good buddy the Zire.
Good for really basic use 
2004-07-26
I bought a Palm Zire over a year ago and still runs as good as the day I got it. I studied up a lot before I made the purchase, and chose it over the m125 because of its cheap price and I didn't think I needed all the little bells and whistles the m125 had. I think it is a great Palm for simple applications like Memopad, Notebook, Datebook, and all the other Palm software that came with it.
The only problem I've ran into with it is the lack of memory. After I realized all the cool add-ons you could get on the internet for Palms, I went download crazy. I have over 20 ebooks and 15 games for my Palm downloaded onto my PC, but I can't have very many on my Zire at a time. Because of the limited memory I can only have 1 or 2 ebooks, and I have to use games that take up minimal space.
For basic uses the Palm Zire is a great product. For extensive ebook and gaming use, get one with larger memory and/or an expansion slot.
Great Price...Limited Memory 
2004-07-12
I really liked how light and small this was but it was limited to 2MB of memory and was B&W. With the release of this PDA at its time really was a bummer. All the PDA's on the market were Color so the applications you could download were limited. Also the was only 2MB of memory and you couldn't expand. If it was released a year ealier it woulda been way more useful.
Great little thing! 2004-06-16
I received this palm as a gift. It's great! It never let me down. The batteries last so long I forgot when was the last time I recharged it (it charges when syncing with PC). It is the ultimate substitute for a little black book - it holds infinite phone numbers and adresses and datebook meetings. Regardless of small memory it holds all the necessary programs and even some more.
PROs: price, compatibility, ever-lasting batteries, size, great contrast, many free useful programs
CONs: relatively small memory (still enough for finances, small database, simple games and more), very weak loudspeaker (does not wake you up), strange (not usual palm) hardkeys, no backlight (turn on the light beside your bed)
Ok for a beginner, but lacks in advanced functions 
2005-10-23
Pros-
1.) Works good for someone who only needs basic functions such as date book, expense, etc.
2.) Compatible with Mac and PC, also can connect to other Palm Pilots via infrared transfer.
Cons-
1.) Black and white screen.
2.) Only 2 MB of memory. This is ok if you only use the basic functions of the unit, but if you install other applications it tends to start bogging it down.
3.) Unreliable battery. The battery lasted quite a while when I first got the unit, but after about a year of using it, it got to where now the charge only lasts for approx. 1 hour.
Conclusion:
This PDA is ok for a beginner or someone who needs basic functions, but if you are looking for a hard working PDA, invest a little more and get a better one.
most reliable and battery efficient palm I've ever used 2005-07-01
I have had a zire (bought it open-box off of [...]) for about 2 years and it has performed admirably. While this palm has some very well-known limitations, it has (and is still doing) everything I need it to.
pros:
-amazing battery life (never drained it past 1/2 full, even after weeks of (admittedly light) usage.
-extremely durable. I work at Staples and this thing goes through thick and thin with me while I bang it around during my 8-hour day. While it has plenty of scratches, nothing's gone wrong with it and it still looks halfway decent.
-nice flip screen protector. While some people hate it, it does not compromise the zire's compact qualities and protects the screen while it's in my pocket.
-Very reliable. I will say this again. Nothing has ever broken, and I have had no defects show on this palm.
cons:
-no backlight. Not an issue for me, but may be a dealbreaker for some.
-only 2 buttons plus up/down buttons on face. It would've been nicer with more buttons, but I make do fine like this.
-Not fast by any means. I only do basic applications like scheduling and contacts, which work fine. but this thing will be extremely slow with any application that's processor dependent.
Conclusion: this is a great model for someone desiring a simple palm with great battery life that will take a beating. spending a couple bucks on a used/refurbished model is a way better deal than going with palm's least expensive current offering, the zire 21 (or even the zire 31, which has abysmal battery life).
Unreliable 
2005-01-27
I need a palm to have my calander and address book on hand at all times. This model proved to be extremely inefficient. The lack of backlighting meant that often I could not see what was on the screen and it's memory would empty from one moment to the next. I would be stuck with no calander or address book. I contacted the company by email and the only advice they had was to keep the Palm seperate from my cell phone. This I did, to no avail, the Palm continues to discharge it's memory.
I have now discharged the Palm into the rubbish bin and will not purchase another!
Wonderful Item 2005-01-26
I don't know what people expect when they buy this item, but for me, it was to keep addresses, phone numbers and download my outlook calendar. If that is all you expect, then this is perfect. For those people who live and die by the palm gadgets, then get yourself one of those expensive palms. Zire is cheap and convenient enough to take it anywhere you want and you don't get upset when you bang it around a bit. I had it for about a year and zero complaints. Also, the battery lasts extremely long for my purpose. So, if you are a simple guy like me, then this is perfect for you. If you are expecting a small computer, then you need to spend some money. Hope this helps.
Decent product - horrible support! 2004-08-31
I bought this Palm as a cheap contact manager - that's what I got - I knew what I was getting into. However, a word regarding Palm support...
After a couple months - the screen went completely black and I needed to call tech support. What a nightmare. It's obvious to anyone that Palm has exported its help desk overseas (India most likely). The five different support engineers I talked to ALL had very thick accents, could not understand simple English sentences, could not make logical decisions (they follow a very formal script) and made the whole experience VERY frustrating, time consuming and expensive (they don't have a toll-free number anymore). The point is simple - sooner or later you're probably going to call tech support for help - and in my opinion, the "help" desk at Palm is horrible!
