Handspring Visor Prism Serial Cradle

Rating:
Summary: The truth about this cradle...
Review: OK, to be totally honest, I don't actually have this particular cradle (yet, anyway -- I'll probably be getting one sometime soonish, though), but I do have a Visor Prism, and I can't imagine that this cradle is substantially different in physical characteristics from the USB cradle (which I do have), nor in performance from any other Handspring Serial cradle (which I also have, from a prior device), and so I consider myself at least reasonably qualified to review this item...

There was another reviewer who gave this item 1 star, based on an argument that it didn't give very good feedback as to when you were correctly positioning the Prism in the cradle, and that it didn't lock once there. There definitely is some truth in that argument, and hence my lack of a 5-star rating, but I must say that for me, while the first couple of times I used it, I was a bit dissapointed, I now am quite used to the way it behaves, and as I have come to feel quite confident about my ability to easily make the placement and have it be correct.

This review is in no way intended to invalidate the opinion of the other reviewer -- it certainly doesn't lock in, and there is a bit of sketchyness in general to the placement -- but rather to give a differing opinion, so that folks thinking of purchasing a Prism at all (I'm _assuming_ this guy has the same complaint with his USB cradle) will have a larger base of information to make their choice from.

Cheers,

Rating:
Summary: I actually have the serial cradle
Review: The one truly bad thing about the Prism is its cradle. The PDA doesn't snap into the cradle securely like the Palm V snaps into its cradle. You sort of have to tilt and jiggle the unit a bit until the light comes on so that you know it's getting recharged. If you're not paying attention, you'll leave it there overnight and it won't get charged at all.

Rating:
Summary: I actually have the serial cradle
Review: Unlike the previous two reviewers, I have the serial cradle. Physically, it is identical to the USB cradle. The first reviewer is correct, it takes a little jiggling to get the PDA seated correctly. However, a green LED immediatly flashes brightly when the device is seated, there is never any doubt.

The package comes with an AC Adapter.

Everything works exactly as it does with the USB cradle, except much slower. Much slower. Depending upon how much data you carry around and the turnover, this may not be an issue. I carry about 5300 contacts and 300 hundred ToDos/Appointments. I sync'ed from the Prism to the desktop initially. This process took more than twenty minutes.

Since then it has been quite livable.

The moral is: USB is much faster than serial... But you knew that already.

Rating:
Summary: A must for NT 4.0 and Audrey
Review: We are a two Visor Prism household, one of us has to run NT 4.0 on a laptop (so, no USB). We also bought a second one to use with our Audrey. Both cradles work perfectly and have held up to the abuse of being stuck in a briefcase and dragged around.