Registered: Sep 1999
Location:
Posts: 81

First I had a TI-92 calculator to fill in for a lot of the PDA duties and for game playing, then I got an IBM Workpad that I upgraded to the equivalent of a Palm III. I don't know what I'd do without my Visor!!!

Registered: Apr 2000
Location: Santa Clarita, CA
Posts: 198

I had the Casio "I wanna be a pda but I don't wanna pay a lot of money" thing that they came out with last year for $100 bucks.

Before that I just had my brain which worked pretty good, but my life got a little busier and I was not sleeping well stressing out about what I had to remember.

I got the Casio thing to see if I would actually use it and carry it around. I did, and then decided I needed something better that I could do more with and customize. About that time Palm prices dropped to the $250 range, and in shopping for the best one, I found the Visor.

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Hmmmmmmmm......

Registered: Nov 1999
Location: Enumclaw, Wa
Posts: 268

My VDX was my first Pda ever....yoy!

Registered: Jul 2000
Location:
Posts: 3034

My "previous" PDA (I still have it although I almost never use it) was a Casio E-11 at work. Since I bought my VDx, it's just gets no challenge from my DayTimer (my previous PAnalogA).

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"The mind is like a parachute. It doesn't work unless it's open." - Frank Zappa

Registered: Mar 2000
Location: Hacienda Heights, Ca
Posts: 302

Over the years I have owned a number of different devices.

The first Sharp Wizard (198?), followed with 2 other models. Various Casio Databank watches. REX Pro. And a Palm IIIx.

Registered: Mar 2000
Location: NJ
Posts: 517

My Visor deluxe is my first PDA. I had used a friends Palm III and was thinking of getting a PDA when I came across this amazing device called a Visor. That is when I knew I had to have a PDA (I don't think I would have gotten a Palm if I hadn't seen the Visor). That was last March and I've been very happy and organized ever since.

Registered: Aug 2000
Location: Orem, UT
Posts: 2

This ICE Visor Delux is my first PDA, I got it just after I started working at GeoDiscovery. I was thinking, 'Hey, I am the only one at work not carrying one of those around'...

,Rich

Registered: Jul 2000
Location: Pleasanton, CA
Posts: 253

Apple Newton (3 of them...one of each generation)
Palm III
Palm V
Palm VII
Visor Deluxe (Blue)

The Newton was a brick (OS 2.0 worked great though, wonderful handwriting recognition).
The Palm III ate batteries, the V was slick but not expandable (I still use it occasionally) and the VII eats batteries too.

But I love my Visor. I have the eyemodule Springboard and use it to take snapshots. The flexibility of the Springboard slot is awesome...

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Queen of Parts

Registered: Jul 2000
Location: Portland, OR, USA <img src="http://www.handspring.com/images/gallery/gallery_thumb_color-cradle.gif">
Posts: 11

Post-it notes, ATM receipts, torn-in-half envelopes, 3x5 cards cut to fit in my wallet, and my trusty Pentel PD347 Automatic...pencil. Oh, and the telephone number memory on my watch. Man, my Green VDx rocks!

Registered: Mar 2000
Location: Columbia, MO
Posts: 125

In college I had a cool little electronic telephone book - some unknown imported off-brand,but it was little, cool, and worked great. Unfortunately it got stolen along with the bag under my bike seat.
Tried A DaVinci but it wouldn't sync with Outlook at work, so I returned it. Felt kinda bad, it seemed nice.

Now, it's a Bule VDX!

Registered: Oct 1999
Location:
Posts: 231

I can't believe no one has yet mentioned the Casio Z-7000, aka "Zoomer" I picked it up at Onsale when they had thousands for about $100. I even bought some for two other people. This was my first and I enjoyed it. I had a currency converter, dictionary, language translator, Pocket Quicken, America Online and other programs. Handwriting recognition was done by writing on the screen. You could write a whole sentence and then it would convert it into text. Talk about SLOW! I spilled orange juice in it and it died. I liked it so much I bought another! I still have it but rarely use it.

It started acting erratic and I thought it was time to replace it. That's when I started looking around the Internet for an upgrade. I saw an article about the Handspring Visor, did a little research, and decided to buy one because the price blew me away! And my Blue Deluxe is doing just fine. One of the best toys I ever bought.

Registered: Jul 2000
Location:
Posts: 5

Before my Handspring Visor Deluxe, I had a very nice Mead pocket notebook. It had 100 pages of memory and a sleek spiral page holder. Also, it had a nice protective cardboard harcover. And best yet... only 50 cents!

But, I got tired of tick-tack-toe after a while. And I could'nt use it as a dictionary or to read email or view web pages. It would'nt automatically sync with my iMac either.

So, I got rid of my little notepad and bought a Handspring Visor Deluxe through eBay because Handspring nor Amazon ships it to APO addresses.

I still haven't got it in my hands yet because a Super Typhoon hit us on Monday and Tuesday so I have'nt been able to check the mail. But that's another story...

(Oh, and BTW, this is all 100% true.)

Registered: Jul 2000
Location: Indiana
Posts: 84

Had a Sharp Wizard, but it died. So then I got an 8.5x11 Daytimer "encyclopedia". Anything but convenient.

I'm SO happy I have my Visor...

Registered: Aug 2000
Location:
Posts: 5

I had a Casio 32K organizer that my father gave me when he got a 256K one. Then I got a 64K one later, and I have also used numerous notepads, datebooks, etc that never got me organized.

I now have a Graphite VDX and I LOVE IT!!!!

I am finally together.

Registered: Aug 2000
Location:
Posts: 16

Psion 3a with 512k and 128 and 512 modules. Bought 2nd hand, and with all the nifty attachments. Still miss the ability to run VT100 emulation with a serial cable and KEYBOARD for reprogramming HP hubs. Still have it, but have gotten addicted to the ease of use of the Visor/Palm platform. Now I've been helping my other friends with their palm III/x/e's get connected with Avantgo.

Tigerpaws

Registered: Jul 2000
Location: Toronto, Canada
Posts: 15

Some old Sharp organizer in highschool
Timex Datalink (cool idea, crappy impl')
Palm Pilot 1000 with the incredible 1MB upgrade! (went through the washing machine)
Palm Pro'
Palm Vx (I still use for home)
VDx Graphite, Green, and Blue (use for various applications @ work).

I wish someone would invent the ability to have two different schedules in one PDA! That would eliminate my need of the graphite visor...

D

Registered: Dec 1999
Location:
Posts: 24

I owned a good ole fashioned Franklin planner. I ate, drank, slept and partyed with this planner for 10 years.
It was a good friend. I said I would never go digital.
I think it was James Bond who said never say never again.
I gave in and bought my first pda an IVD.
While I was sad to retire my old friend(he still sits in my office for I cannot bring myself to throw it away)the advantages of backing up your info, size, and the power of setting alarms forced me to go digital.
My new friend is with me all of the time just like my old friend.

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Lenny Vasile
Career Frustrated?
Check out IWantTimeFreedom.com

Registered: Oct 1999
Location: Richmond, VA, USA
Posts: 64

Well, in high school I used the back of my hand for scribbling notes on, then finally "upgraded" to scrap sheets of paper in my wallet when I got to college. It worked fairly well for telephone numbers, but for scheduling, I was frequently late because I didn't have a calendar "function".

Later on, I started working for Circuit City, and discovered the Sharp Wizard organizers they had. I dreamed of getting one of those for a while, until they announced this new thing called a "Pilot 1000/5000". Then I dreamed of one of those for a while longer. But soon discovered that the $399.99 price tag was just a bit too high for me at the time.

By the time the second generation PalmPilot Personal/Professional series rolled around, 3Com offered an employee purchase program for the PalmPilot Pro for only $249.99 (reg. price $399.99), so I took advantage of that!

I used the PalmPilot Pro very frequently for about two years after that, for just about everything! But it was a fragile beast. It was replaced under warranty once due to some memory problem. Then I dropped it (while demonstrating it to a customer in the store, btw -- who later bought a Palm!), and the screen was cracked, so I paid the $100 for a replacement. Then in early September, 1999, while changing the batteries, the whole unit pretty much went on the fritz and died.

The warranty having long since expired by then, I began looking for a replacement. Didn't have to look long, because Handspring came to the rescue and announced their new product on Sept. 16, and I was immediately interested! I signed up for the mailing list, hoping to be informed of when they were first shipping (didn't want to pre-order, and I'm thankful that I didn't, too ;-). By the end of october, still no message, so I went to the website and discovered that I could order online. So I did. Despite all of the early start-up problems, the Visor nevertheless showed up at my doorstep exactly 4 weeks later, to the day, as promised. Love the Visor, and this summer I just discovered the wonders of using the IR port to beam applications,... ;-)

Does the Nokia 5160i wireless telephone that I just got today count as a PDA? It can store 100 telephone numbers AND do e-mail! Although, this particular model does not run off of the PalmOS ...

(literally, just got the phone today. ordered sunday, set shipping to UPS Ground, 5-7 days; actually took 2 days! How's that for customer service?)

Registered: Jun 2000
Location:
Posts: 24

My start was analog like most with spiral calendar notebooks. Upgraded to DayRunners, then to the Casio Z-7000 Zoomer (like swendor talked about above). The Zoomer was great. I think what killed it was the slow processor. It just didn't catch on. The Zoomer actually had a slot for expansion cards. (Handspring can't claim originality on that idea.) I went analog again with the Franklin Covey system. I enhanced that with a Radio Shack phone dialer (pretty cool actually) to avoid having to dial numbers all the time. Now, I'm Visor addicted. I still have everything stuffed in a box, but I don't plan going back. Now, if only I could dial tones with the Visor I would be golden.

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iceman
VDX-aholic

[This message has been edited by iceman (edited 08-16-2000).]

Registered: Jul 2000
Location: cambridge, MA USA
Posts: 27

I used an HP 48G, which had (has) a lot of 3rd party freeware utilities made for it. I could also have phone numbers save on it as well. Never came close to filling up the 32K memory, even though I have only 460 K free on my Visor deluxe.