Customer Reviews
Bummer 
2005-09-14
What a drag. After having my faithful Palm IIIe for seven or eight years, I finally dropped it and it died. I decided to replace it with the low-end Zire 21, no longer available through Amazon, but I saw it at Office Depot for sixty bucks. I checked out the reviews here AFTER I bought my Palm, and was disconcerted by the large number of negative ratings, but I thought I'd see how it worked for me.
At first, I was perfectly happy with it -- I mainly use my Palm for alarms and phone numbers, and the Zire 21 handles those things well. Yeah, the screen is small without a backlight, but I could read it just fine.
Unfortunately, even though I've had it just over a month, twice now I've turned it on and it's completely reset itself -- it's lost every bit of data I put on it and acts as if it's a brand-new Palm Pilot. I need to do a HotSync to restore my data, and then reset the time and date. So far this has only happened to me when I'm close to my computer, but if it ever happens when I'm on the road and need the data, I'll be very upset.
I'm going to see if it's not too late to return this thing and get something better. Too bad that Palm has not lived up to it's earlier promise.
memory pod 
2005-08-02
The new palm product is wonderful. I especially like that it's rechargable, and lighter to carry.
I do find the screen a little hard to read... not quite enough contrast for me, but on the whole, I'm very pleased.
Bad Palm Pilot 2005-05-30
Like the others, I bought this Palm since my old Palm V died. Lured by the low price and name 'Palm', I figured this would be ok just for the basics. After a few months (just after the meager 90 day warranty expired) my Palm died. Kaput. Nothing. After doing some 'soft' and 'hard' resets, still nothing. I will not buy anything from Palm again. Waste of money and time...
Total junk 2005-05-02
I had the same bad experience as others- was looking for a simple PDA and got the Zire but after using it less than a dozen times it just broke. Poof. Nothing.
Same problems! 
2005-04-15
My palm just died, for the second time in less than a month! I've had mine for nearly 2 years, had never hot sync'ed it, and threw my organizer out when I got my palm. It was good for the first 2 years, and then phht! I wasn't looking for anything flashy, I wanted something very basic. All I needed was a basic organizer and phone book. Now I don't have either, and with no help from support. My problems seem like the same ones everyone else seems to be having, but I do agree--I'm very wary of buying anything from palm again.
Take reviewers' advice! 2007-04-16
Amazon reviewers told me to avoid this item. I purchased one anyway because I had lost one that had worked. This NEW one had to be returned immediately because it didn't work at all! Buy a Zire 22 instead. It works well!
Design Flaw 2006-07-27
I received this as a gift over one year ago. I did not put it to use at that time because the screen is hard to read... and my Palm XIIIE was working perfectly. Recently, I bought a new computer which did not have a LPT ports so I decided to use the Zire which synchronizes via USB. The big problem is that it is uncompatible with my cell phone. If my cell phone rings all data in the handheld is lost. According to Palm Support they should not be close to each other, not easy being a female who carries both products in the same bag. I never had a problem like that with my previous Palm.
Do not buy this product if you planning to have a cell phone nearby.
Very good value for its price 
2006-03-18
Best feature is the Note Pad application, you can scribble on it just like writing on a post-it note and can save it.
Great for the Price 2006-03-15
The Pros
Low Price
Small & Light
Palm OS 5
8 MB of Memory
The Cons
No Backlight
Black & White Screen
No Replaceable Battery (Common on Palm brand PDAs)
No SD card slot
I bought my Zire 21 about seven months ago, and have had no problems with it, unlike some other people have reported. I read on another review that they think that some of the Zire 21s are randomly resetting because the palm is not shielded enough , and when it is placed by some cell phones it causes the palm to reset. Palm, Inc. is not required to replace the PDA, so they just recommend keeping the PDA three feet away from cell phones. I have never read anything offical that says this, just another person's online review. I have no problem with this because I don't have a cell phone.
Anyway, this palm is great for what I use it for, it does all the basic PDA functions (calender, address, etc.), it has enough memory for all my scriptures, and a few other books. I also have room for other aplications, and games (But is is cutting it close on space with all that), and they run fine on the Zire 21 because of the 126 MHz processor. It also runs Palm OS 5.2.1, and comes with more software on the CD-Rom.
My only problems with this palm is that it doesn't allow you to replace the battery when it won't recharge anymore. This is a problem with many Palm PDAs, and something that I would like then to change, also they could improve battery life in some of their other PDAs. There is no backlight behind the B&W screen, so you can't see the screen at night. And there is no SD card slot, so I can't add more memory space if I ever need to.
So if you don't want to spend alot for a PDA, just want the basics, and you don't mind a black and white screen, I suggest this one.
The Zire 21 Handheld 2005-09-24
It works beautifully, I just wish it had a light so I could see the menu items when I am not in a lighted area. Other than that, I am very happy with it.
