Rating: 
Summary: Serious design flaw hinders reliability
Review: I am a first time owner of the Palm IIIx and I am currently searching for an alternative. I received my Palm IIIx as a gift about 7 months ago, and I have lost all of the data in my organizer 8 times. I am an active professional in the television industry and I travel to remote parts of the world for weeks at a time. I have been away from my computer (to HotSync and restore the data) all but one time and have been left without vital professional and personal contacts as well as lost all new contacts and production memos and notes. I have determined the cause of the failure. If you own a Palm IIIx and have it with you, follow along with me. Locate the battery compartment on the back of the unit. Open it up and look at the way the compartment is designed to have the batteries installed. The top AAA battery slot is designed such that the positive end of the battery (the one with the 'bump') must maintain contact with a wire coil. What happens is this. Let's say you have your Palm IIIx in your purse, briefcase, backpack, fannypack or WHEREVER. If you drop your bag, set it down a little too hard, or even RUN with it, chances are that the contact coil will slip off of the positive terminal on the battery and you'll lose all of the memory in your organizer. First and foremost, I CANNOT BELIEVE that 3Com allowed this product to be released with such an incredibly inept design flaw. Second, I can't believe that they didn't install a back-up battery to which the organizer defaults in cases of lost power for ANY reason (let alone because the inherent design of the product leaves it prone to losing power and therefore data). Finally, 3Com Customer Service has done NOTHING to respond to my repeated attempts to bring this to their attention and ameliorate the situation. The Palm IIIx is SUPPOSED to be a powerful tool for powerful people. I'd be surprised if the execs at 3Com would utilize their own product.
Rating: 
Summary: First Time Buyer - Palm IIIx
Review: I finally purchased a Palm, and haven't looked back. Never late for an appointment and I always have peoples address and phone number on hand. Well worth the $230.Would have been 5 stars, but I was disappointed with lack of Netscape Communicator support. Technical Service was of little help, replying with "canned" instructions on how to set up mail (using MS Outlook Express). I changed over to MS for my mail (so much for the federal lawsuit) and I could then sych my mail (after upgrading to version 5 MS-OE).
Rating:
Summary: A bug in some units.
Review: As good as the Palm IIIx is to many, there's a bug in the unit for some. I returned my new Palm IIIx after three attempts at Hot-Sync'ing and losing all my data. Tech support tried but failed to identify the problem. They said a Palm engineer would call me, but that never happened. I'd like to buy a new unit thinking that my past problem was a fluke, but I see others here saying the same thing. Buy with caution.
Rating: 
Summary: First time user: a solid all around product
Review: It's been about a month since I got my Palm IIIx. Since then, I'm more organized than I've ever been. I decided to get myself a palm pilot for two reasons. I hated having to manually update my monthly planner whenever a new year rolled in (things like birthdays, anniversaries, etc.). Another reason was because I wanted all my contact information to be in one single place. I had these info spread out all around me like a wild fire (some at home, at work, in the bathroom, ah... just kidding on the bathroom, but you get the point, right?). With this Palm I can have upto 12,000 people in my address book (I have 100 so far and I've been telling people that the 10,000th person to go into my palm address book gets free dinner from me, ha. Now, then the reason I bought Palm IIIx over visor and other Palm products was due to various reasons. I did a intense research to find out which product would best fill my needs. Visor had the cool design going and maybe cool features like modules that can be added to turn your visor into mp3 players, etc. But from what I found out, these feature were not being fully utilized just yet (maybe in one more year someone said). The reason I went w/ IIIx over other versions (e.g., V, VII) was because it had 4 megs of memory plus the price was right. I've downloaded a lot of programs and installed them into my palm w/ ease. I've only had a problem once and that was when my palm was HotSync(ing) w/ my computer and something happened and it kind of froze. However, I was able to "soft reset" easily by pressing that little button in the back. Overall, this is an excellent all around product even for a first time user, like me. -bingolian
Rating:
Summary: Excellent Handheld Computer
Review: This is my third Palm and the best yet. I chose the the IIIx because of the 4meg and the fact that it uses AAA batteries. I travel often and cannot worry about keeping the Palm in a cradle to re-charge. The V is a disappointment unless you are only into style and keeping a few appointments and addresses. The 2meg is a huge downside and is only good for the casual user. If you use Avantgo daily, then the V is going to hold you back from fully utilizing this great site.The Vx, which is still pricy, is an 8meg unit and far beyond the needs of the average user.If price is no object, then this a great unit, except for the re-charging needs of being in a cradle. At it's current pricing, there is no question that the IIIx is the best valued PDA in the marketplace .
Rating:
Summary: Palm IIIx packs a punch for less
Review: The Palm IIIx is a less expensive alternative to the PalmV. Comparing featues, I didn't find much to warrant shelling out the extra $100. Sure, the V is thinner and lighter (by a few ounces) but $100 more for less RAM and a rechargable battery? Flash upgrade the OS ASAP, backup your data to a PC and you're off and running *without* a laptop. I connect to my e-mail server from almost anywhere through my Motorola phone. The IIIx is by far the best organizational tool I've ever used!
Rating:
Summary: Lost all my data--twice
Review: Does Palm have a problem it's not admitting? My two-day old Palm IIIx lost all its data this morning--garbage on the screen, no response to power button. A soft reset "restored" the unit--not the data, of course, just the factory defaults. Funny thing is, the Palm IIIx replaced a Palm III which had lost all its data the day before I bought the new one. I figured the old Palm III had probably had it, but at least it had served faithfully for two years. The new Palm IIIx didn't make it through two days. Palm tech support says the "solution" to lost data is a reset. Sure it is--that restores the unit to its factory condition. And then you synchronize it again to restore from your desktop. And again and again and again? Tonight will be the third attempt to get the data I depend on every day from my desktop to a Palm III model. All I want is a Palm IIIx that can hang on to my data for more than a day!
Rating: 
Summary: Beats Handspring
Review: While Handspring launched the Visor to compete directly with the Palm IIIx, it falls short of this great PDA. The Haqndspring may *advertise* expandability, but it has yet to deliver. Also, you can never upgrade the OS it carries, the Palm IIIx wins again. Finally, the Visor has a protective top that is *not connected* to the body...easily lost. On top of everything else, Handspring's Tech Support is miserable and slow. It takes weeks to get a response! The Palm IIIx, with it's recently lowered price will easily beat out Handspring. This is the best PDA on the market.
Rating:
Summary: Defective Unit?
Review: I just bought a Palm IIIx and although the functionality of the machine is great, I've had glitches with my unit. I had problems performing the hot-sync - maybe a problem with the unit or cradle and the batteries would go dead after 2-3 days (this happened three times). I also lost all my data (twice) without any low battery warning. I'm getting a replacement and I hope that this was a anomaly.
Rating:
Summary: Great start but now totally obsolete
Review: 3Com did a great job creating the Palm line and OS. But since the birth of the Visor, they are no longer best on the block. Handspring Visors are the same machine but better, cheaper, and easily expandable. They even have a plug and play slot. You can get twice the memory of a Palm IIIx for $20 less. You can get the same 4MB as the Palm IIIx for $120 less. Same OS, same user interface, same everything. Except the Visors also have a better screen and Palms are not explandable. Need I go on? Do yourself a favor. Go to handspring
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