Targus PA820U Stowaway Portable Keyboard for HP Jornada

Rating:
Summary: Durable, compact, great action
Review: I've had this keyboard for over 2.5 years now and it still works great. I used it to take notes on my Ipaq all through law school. It is compact enough to slip into a small pocket in my backpack. It sets up and docks in no time.

The best feature is the keystroke action. The keyboard is full-size and types beautifully. I would prefer it to most laptops I have typed on.

Having hotkeys programmed and programmable to launch individual programs is nice. The only improvement I would like to see would be support for MS Word type hotkeys such as Ctrl-U for underline and Ctrl-I for italics. Cut, Copy, and Paste (Ctrl-x,c,v) hotkeys do work, however.

Rating:
Summary: Another in the list of "Must Have" accessories
Review: If you use your iPaq as a "read only" PDA to carry appointments and phone numbers, save your money, but if you actually compose e-mail, notes, or anything longer than a couple of words this is an absolute must have.

Positive impressions: 1. Surprisingly solid construction, you really can't appreciate without picking it up. Lots of metal, not lightweight at all. 2. Better keyboard feel than my IBM Thinkpad, this is not an exaggeration. Nice long key travel with a positive feedback "bump" at the end of the stroke. 3. It's improved my text input at least a hundred fold. I touch type at about 60 words per minute, but my terrible handwriting (the reason I learned to type) had me spending more time making the "backspace" stroke than actually getting the right text down. My sanity alone was worth the $90. 4. About the same size as a Jornada or similar Pocket PC, so any case that fit them would do the keyboard nicely.

Negatives: the only drawback is the iPaq-keyboard connector does not go together easilly, and I'm concerned about breaking it. This is really an iPaq ding though, as it's the same with anything plugging into the connector.

Rating:
Summary: Great accessory for the iPAQ with one small flaw
Review: The Targus folding keyboard (they make one for just about every PDA on the market) is a must have addition for anyone who will do even moderate data entry on a PDA.

The keyboard itself is fantastic. When folded, it takes up about the same space as your iPAQ and weighs a bit less. When unfolded, it is just a wonderful feeling keyboard. The keys are nice and large, the layout is just like a normal desktop keyboard, and the key travel feels like most laptops. Touch typists and hunt/peck people should have no trouble adapting to this.

So why only give it 4 stars? Because I own a 3835 and the the 3800 and 3900 series iPAQs changed the connector on the bottom of the unit. Targus, instead of making two different keyboards, decided to make an adapter for the 3800+ iPAQs. The adapter is a 1.5" long thingy that is just begging to be lost. So, it drops a star for that. On the other hand, Targus has an extremely nice customer service department that shipped me three extra adapters at no charge.

In short, if you use your PDA for just about anything, get this keyboard. You won't regret it!

Rating:
Summary: Definitely A Good Buy
Review: While this keyboard is in no way a perfect piece of equipment, it certainly comes very close. I'll go ahead and start with the pros. Ease of use is incredible. Within minutes of unpacking it, I was typing happily away. Driver installation is a piece of cake, unfold this beauty, dock your Pocket PC, and you're set. Sure, it is not incredibly sturdy on your lap, but as long as it stays on something hard (briefcase, desk, airplane table tray, whatever), it feels just like you're typing on a premium laptop keyboard. There are gobs of shortcut keys built right in, Today, Inbox, Contacts, Word, Tasks, to name a few, and with the software you can create so many more to satisfy your every need. A lot of people feel that it is too flimsy, and while it does feel as such, it certainly isn't. The only thing that really bothered me is the dock for the actual PC, another reviewer put it very well, "feels as if it's a toothpick holding up an apple". No problems though, so I suppose that I really can't complain.When you're done, pull off your PC, stick the dock down, fold it up, and you're off to your next class, seminar, meeting, whatever. If you're looking for something to make data entry much faster and easier, then you definitely need to get this keyboard. Great piece of work here, Targus. Keep it up.