Customer Reviews
Great Device for the Price 
2008-05-12
The rx5915 is everthing I expected it to be. It's a great, versatile, PDA, and the addition of the Tom Tom software with the built in GPS receiver makes it a outstanding bargain!! Contrary to HP's "corporate line" claim that the 5915 will only work with a 1 GB SD card, you can sucessfully run a 2 GB card, just as long as it's not SDHC. This give you ample storage for vids, pics and MP3s. This is an all-around great little PDA. My only complaint with the unit is that it does have a tendency to "lose" a Wi-Fi signal even when it's at it's strongest. The only way you can successfully reconnect to the network is to do a soft reset and then reconnect. It's an inconvenience, but minor, in my book, as the 5915 boots surprisingly quickly compared to my old iPAQ 5555, and to turn the wireless back on is a "press" of the Wi-Fi icon on the main screen and you're back up and operating in no time. My overall impression of the device is great...I would highly recommend it to anyone wanting a full-bore PDA with GPS capabilities built-in. It also comes with a very nice car mounting system to make it a true GPS system.
Leave the laptop at home! 
2008-05-04
I travel by motorcycle, so space is at a premium! I'd been bringing my laptop on short trips, but ended up not using it as much as I thought I would. All I really needed was some way of finding hotel locations and phone numbers, plus some way to email or post photos when I had a wifi connection.
Before leaving on a Canadian 2 week adventure last August, we decided a GPS might be helpful. After searching for a month or so, I decided on the RX5915. I'm glad I did!
The iPaq paid for itself the first 2 nights we were on our trip - using Tom Tom to find hotels (and their phone numbers) in small towns, then calling ahead and securing the last hotel room in town!
Sure, any GPS can do that, but they're not small enough to carry around in your purse all the time, and they won't let you access the internet to Priceline a room for the following evening.
The iPaq gives me everything I need, nothing I don't.
The good:
Everything I need in one small package.
Tom Tom Navigation is so easy, even my husband can figure it out!
Large enough to see what's going on, small enough to fit anywhere.
No tiny useless keyboard to take up additional space.
Wireless, USB, and Bluetooth connections.
Accepts SD cards.
Works great as a photo viewer - take the card out of the camera, install in iPaq, and view everything on a larger screen.
The Bad:
GPS takes some time to connect, even after the upgrades (up to 10 minutes occasionally).
GPS kills the battery very quickly.
Tom Tom doesn't offer a way to print out maps or create maps offline.
Doesn't accept HD SD cards.
Awesome Little Box 2008-04-20
I bought this when my old iPaq died recently, and I'm very, very happy with this new one. The regular Windows Mobile apps are just as solid as ever, and while the new GPS has its quirks, overall I'm very happy with that too. Quirks: sometimes streets aren't named (though I was surprised by how many little dirt roads WERE named) and on two occasions, the unit showed me driving to the side of the road rather than on it.
Battery life is excellent and the buttons are well-placed. It's nice that HP has ditched their proprietary power port in favor of mini-USB, so any cable will connect to a PC. I would have preferred a different locale for the stylus, but I'm getting used to that.
If you're looking for a pretty good GPS that also doubles as a PDA, this will do the job nicely.
The HP iPAQ rx5915 is an excellent product 2008-04-14
I really needed a PDA, and I liked the idea of having a GPS navigation system. I travel with my job and making a wrong turn or taking a detour no longer causes the stress that it used to cause. The PDA is compatible with Microsoft Outlook, which allows me to manage my address book on the computer or on the PDA. This was a great investment. I am very happy with it.
Excellent GPS/PDA - Gets GPS Signal indoors! 2008-04-10
I usually do not write reviews very often, but I thought this may be helpful to others, I have owned two GPS devices which have the usual problems of losing signal under a bridge and take a long time to acquire satellites. The iPAQ rx5915 gets signal inside my house, even in my basement which makes it very easy to enter destinations ahead of time. It is very impressive. The only thing I wish it would have is text-to-speech but it is OK, it displays the name of streets to turn-to. 802.11b/g is awesome too, it took me 1 minute to connect to my wireless access point and getting into my GMAIL account.
rx5915 HP iPAQ 2008-04-03
Navigate, stay connected, and be entertained when you travel for business, for pleasure, or both. The HP iPAQ rx5915 Travel Companion helps you make the most of travels ranging from walks around the block to jaunts around the world. This thin, stylish GPS navigation system guides you virtually anywhere with ease.
Terrific product 2008-03-07
This is one of the best buys I have made in the past years. This is an outstanding device in all respects. I just love it and use it all the time for GPS, movies, music and Wi-Fi. Very highly recommended!
Skype does work and very well! 2008-02-08
Hi I bought the Ipaq Rx5915 about six months ago and I must say I find it excellent. The GPS can be a bit slow to get going but rarely lets me down. The TOMTOM maps are not great for rural areas especially when your from Ireland but generally they get you from town to town.
The previous reviewer found he could not put Skype on his IPAQ. I had the same problems and the way around it is.....go to www.skype.com and go to downloads for Windows Mobile. You will be given two options of downloads for the your Pocket PC, close the second option which is a .CAB file and is for advanced users. Download this to you IPAQ open it and there you have it. Not advanced at all! Sound is good and chat works too.
The worldmate traveller is great for getting weather conditions in different cities and you can set up about 5 different time zones.
I must say though since I discovered that Skype works I have it with me at all times.
Someone said there are updates to improve the GPS locating its postion but I have been unable to find them.
Enjoy!
HP iPAQ rx5915 To Skype OR NOT to Skype across EU? 2008-02-03
Well, I bought this after much review and rumination over past experiences.
FIRST NEED: Navigation which WORKS and is P.O.R.T.A.B.L.E!!!
I tried the installed TomTom just this past weekend in my car; and in MY HP unit, which I purchased in December 2007, it not only WORKED but it saved me a great deal of money both in GAS & Time. I set-up the four locations I wanted to visit and EYE-balled their locations from above and was thus able to verify by BIRDS-eye-VIEW the BEST way to connect the DOTS...And the TomTom worked w/o any problem what-so-ever! Wow! Yes I could have stopped and purchased a MAP or gotten one free from AAA...But and since this FEATURE was #1 in my book of requirements, it was neat to Braille it and to discover HOW IT WORKS for myself! Which is what I always do before I read the manual? Very intuitive! Hopefully TomTom will work when I am biking across the USA (The Southern Tier) (2008); then thru Auckland (2009) and then across Ireland (2010).
I reconfigured the car window connector to fit on my cross country bike since I will NOT be using my car on any of these trips; and the GPS satellites spotted me like a hawk...Hopefully, it will continue to do so for the next three years or more. I really hate it when something you really NEED and love is stolen OR dies...THOSE are the ONLY two ways I and anything I buy part company.
SECOND NEXT: Internet connection to my e-mails while in my beach hammock.
After trying out the HP methodology I discovered that once again GEEKS do NOT always get it right after the first couple of tries and when under the GUN to FINISH the software so we can get the product out the door! So, moving away from HP software loaded, I downloaded a nifty MUST HAVE App called: Yahoo to GO! Why? Because connecting thru HP's portal, the information I was receiving when connected to Yahoo didn't agree with the FACT that I was viewing it through a PDA and NOT a PC portal. This little nifty software package offered FREE thru Yahoo needs to be downloaded to the DEVICE...Why? When you desire to get rid of its footprint from your system, you can simply click on it thru a dropdown menu and ask the PDA system to delete everything about it from the system. If you store it in the OTHER place you will take time to DELETE it, let alone FIND it ALL.
So, we have the 2-items I wanted...Need I HOPE for more? Yep! Yep! Yep! That's what Ducky said!
NEXT item NEEDED: A Basically FREE WORLD phone!
Here we come to a bit of embarrassment on the part of HP or perhaps SKYPE...I've gotten nothing but DEAD ENDS with HP...they are as BAD as ORACLE Corporation. But let's NOT get off on THAT sidebar! Since the device I read about on [...] was the OLDER version of this iPAQ (hx2495) and they both had Windows Mobile 5.0, I presumed that Skype would WORK. NOT!
So, hopefully in the next 30-days and iff Skype returns my e-mail request we may have found a workaround for this temporary glitch. My PDA gives me an ERROR message in that it states that: "The App I am downloading is NOT PocketPC (MS) approved." Which according to Skype...it is. So, without ANY HELP what-so-ever from HP I am waiting Skype's reply.
Oh; and I should say that MSN also had a little DOWNLOAD that allows their servers to also detect that I was being connected through a PDA and NOT a PC and also treated me with R.E.S.P.E.C.T! (Great SONG and it's on my MicroSD chip along with 758 of my all-time GREATEST HITS!)
SDHC is another subject that could concern me in the future with respect to this PDA, but for now, I am rating this 5-STAR and for me the future is 4-years out.
Final NEEDS? THERE IS SO MUCH MORE HERE AND THAT I LOOK FORWARD TO DISCOVER WHILE ON MY UPCOMING BIKE TRIPS.
Very good value for money 2008-01-31
This is essentially a GPS with really good and fully functional PDA features. First off the navigation came ready to use out of the box. Directions are accurate and I have used it in 5 states. The volume is pretty loud and really helpful. Car mount is really a breeze to set up. Only thing missing is text to speech but after using it, I believe it is really not a big deal considering the big arrow which shows which road to turn into. Cold start does take a long time even after having downloaded the patches but is really not a hindrance. Friend of mine has a Garmin Nuvi unit which also almost takes the same amount of time. Could have had bluetooth feature for talking which I think would have been really helpful.
I bought the unit for my wife and she liked the PDA features as it readily synced with her outlook and in a matter of seconds copied her calender onto the unit.The wireless internet is functional and unlike some of other reviews, mine works perfect and signal strength remains very strong. I have never had an issue with it ever after using it for 2 months now. Have not loaded any music since I have an iPod which works for me. I think it is a good buy.
