Registered: Dec 1999
Location:
Posts: 117

OK, here is the problem:

With all the negatives, I keep reading on this and other sites concerning the Visor (poor customer service, damaged, non-functional units out of the box, etc etc) I am having serious second thoughts about my hard earned money going to Handspring. How strong is the financial backing for this company? The returns, free cases, and warranty claims must be exerting a tremendous drag on their bottom line.

Is this unit worth the apparent headaches? Is it truly superior to the Palm IIIx? I understand it has more memory and certainly the springboard concept is exciting, but if the darn thing is prone to breakdown and Not for anything, but even at $249.00, this is not a cheap purchase and I would hate to end up with an orphaned product.

Would I be better off getting it over with and buying the PalmVx?

Is Handspring here for the long haul and are the getting their act together?


What say you, those who have experienced the wait and now have the unit?

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Life is to short for boring food

Registered: Dec 1999
Location:
Posts: 15

I started using my Visor Deluxe on December 20th, it worked great for 3 days, and on December 23rd the screen was fading in and out so bad that I called technical support. Yesterday I mailed it back for a new visor. Frustrating, yet not a huge deal.

By the way, I never had any problems with my order, it arrived after 4 weeks and 2 days as advertised. I never called customer support.

All technological products have the chance of not being up to par. I don't know how many computer monitors I've seen go bad over the years or not even work upon delivery.

As far as comparing with other products, my main comparison was memory. The Vx has 8MB, yet it costs $450. Not a tough decision for me.

Registered: Oct 1999
Location: Baltimore MD, USA
Posts: 717

My order was delayed for almost 10 weeks.
However, at near the end of my wait, I actually got phone calls from their customer service, and I had my Visor about three days later. This seems to indicate that they changed either their service procedures, or hired a new company to do it.

As far as the Visor goes, I love it! It works like a charm, and hasn't given me any trouble at all (except for once with the HandMap map of Baltimore. A warm reset later it was as good as new)

Registered: Sep 1999
Location: Redwood City, CA
Posts: 55

I had a horrible ordering experience and accepted delivery figuring I would demo the product and return it within the 30 day return period. I was wrong. I fell in love with it. It is a solid unit and the memory is a huge plus. I cannot wait to add some springboards as they become available.

I complained to the customer service reps about my ordering difficulties and today I received an email promising me a stylus 5-pack for my troubles.

Handspring is backed by some Silicon Valley heavyweights. I don't think they are going to pull their money just yet. Give them time. I think we will all be surprised.

[This message has been edited by Kemp (edited 12-28-1999).]

Registered: Dec 1999
Location: "Children are a gift from God, they are a reward"
Posts: 1049

I agree with the other posts. I'm a first time PDA owner and I chose the Visor not only because of the cool features, but also because of who was behind it. I use mine every day for note taking, scheduling, reading (AvantGo and E-books), email, tracking hours on projects, and am addicted to the little sucka. In my opinion (remember it's free advice) you should weigh whether it will work for you on the basis of what you need. Handspring will be around next year, as will the Palm OS. If you don't NEED something RIGHT now, wait for the first modules to come out. I agree that $249+ etc. is no small change, but I have three boys and its hard not to spend that on groceries.
You might also reply to all those doom and gloom naysayers who keep slamming Handspring what Donald Sutherlands character kept saying all through "Kellys Heroes" - "Stop with all the negative waves, Moriarty, stop with all the negative waves."
Have A Great New Years Eve!

[This message has been edited by BobbyMike (edited 12-28-1999).]

Registered: Sep 1999
Location: Midland, Texas
Posts: 231

BEWARE OF PURE SPECULATION TO FOLLOW:

My guess is that if we were able to somehow get the records of Palm & Handspring, the difference in percentages of defective product returns for the two companies would be nil. We just have here a very active board that allows us to hear of a lot of the Handspring issues.

END PURE SPECULATION.

I have had three PDA's in my life time: Palm III, Palm IIIx, and now the IVD. My first Palm III had a defective spot on the screen (totally insensitive to stylus contact). My first IIIx had a broken 'up' button. (Both the III and IIIx issues were straight out of the box.) My wife now has my III and we just got it replaced yesterday (that's twice now on the III) because it randomly loses power with fresh batteries, causing a loss of all data (reinserting memory card didn't help).

I am on Visor number two because the contrast on Visor one was poor. New one is much better.

My experience with PDA's is that there seems to be lots of them that are less than perfect, and Palm, in my experience, is no better than Handspring.

tyler

[This message has been edited by tyler (edited 12-28-1999).]

Registered: Nov 1999
Location:
Posts: 70

My graphite VDx arrived within the 6 week timeframe (actually 5 weeks + odd days). I had been worried about shipping information since I used the 2nd line of the address fields and I heard problems with this being truncated; however, it arrived in one piece with the serial cradle and no problems. The case I ordered came about four days later.

I've had little to no trouble with it. The stylus is fine, but I use a Cross stylus anyway. The screen is straight, responsive, and there is no streaking of any sort. It's a little "softer" than I expected it, but after two weeks of use I don't notice it at all. I have a WriteRight protecting the screen, though I used it without one for over a week without any scratches. I've had to soft-reset twice because I was writing graffiti so fast that it locked up.

This is my first PDA. I was shopping for a Palm IIIx around the time I heard about Handspring and the numbers made the decision for me. If comparing a Palm and a Handspring unit makes you think the Visor is a better deal for the money, then get the Visor; otherwise, get the Palm. From recent posts, it would seem that Handspring is finally getting its act together and, except for the poor souls who ordered prior to November, the shipping wait isn't very long anymore.

I love my Visor! (BTW- 2MB is NOT enough!)

Registered: Sep 1999
Location: Midland, Texas
Posts: 231

>I've had to soft-reset twice because I was writing graffiti so fast that it locked up.<

WOW! Never heard of that before. How many words a minute can you put out? (There is a utility at http://www.palmgear.com called wpm that will measure this if you aren't sure.) I can get up to 32 wpm, but I certainly haven't ever locked anything up.

tyler

Registered: Nov 1999
Location: Gainesville, FL USA
Posts: 112

Just remember that people who have had bad experiences are going to be more vocal than those who have had good experiences. Of >1800 VisorCentral members, how many have really been complaining? Not a very large percentage. Also, if HS had been shipping in 2 weeks or less, I bet a lot of the complainers wouldn't have been so vocal. (This is not intended as a flame towards those who have complained.)

Me? I love my GnVDx. No problems. No problems with my ex-Palm III, either. Draw you own conclusions.


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Life is to LONG for boring food.

Registered: Dec 1999
Location:
Posts: 40

----
Handspring is backed by some Silicon Valley heavyweights. I don't think they are going to pull their money just yet. Give them time. I think we will all be surprised.
-----

To backup Kemp's note, I just read this from the Upside's website:
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John Doerr
Partner, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers
After pouring megabucks into Web successes such as Amazon.com, Drugstore.com and Netscape, Doerr is looking to handheld portables as the next hot market. Handspring, his most recent production, sure hopes he's right
----------------------

We all hope he is right!

Wish you all a Very Happy Y2K New Year!

VisorHead.

Registered: Nov 1999
Location: California
Posts: 108

I bought a visor deluxe a 2 weeks ago, express shipping, and it came in 2 weeks!!! It was perfect, everything there, perfect. I would never go with a palm 3 or 5 or 7, ever!!!

Registered: Dec 1999
Location:
Posts: 52

I dunno, I think having the creators of the Palm Pilot behind a company ain't such a bad thing....

I got my VDX in four weeks. No cracks, scratches, fading, it hasn't died, in fact, there's not one flaw in it. It doesn't creak either. I dumped my WinCE device for this and have never been happier.

Harry

A very satisfied VDX owner.

Registered: Dec 1999
Location: Durham, NC
Posts: 78

I got my visor in 2 weeks. Still waiting on matching case (now 4 weeks). This is my first handheld experience and quite frankly I'm floored by the whole thing. I've become quite the PDA evangelist at my company. How'd I live without this before?

Only complaint. I've scratched the hell out of my screen. I was at first figuring that was just natural wear and tear, but now, after reading these fora, I've learned that the stylus shipped is a piece of crap. I've found the little nub that was causing the scratches and been working on filing it away... but I figure I'm going purchase a better stylus.

Registered: Dec 1999
Location:
Posts: 1

I ordered a Visor Deluxe in the middle of September. I went round and round with Handspring doing the order verification thing every few weeks until one day in late November when I called to verify my order, they couldn't find the order. It turned out someone had misspelled my name somewhere. Anyway, I was none to happy with Handspring's customer sevice department and their inability to give me information about the order, so I cancelled the Visor order and purchased a Palm IIIx from BUY.COM for $210 minus delivery fees and it arrived the next day.

As a first time PDA user, I really like the IIIx and have had no problems with loading it up with applications, e-books etc.

The kicker of the Handspring experience is that the day after my Palm arrived, a package from Handspring was delivered to me via FedEx. I wanted to throttle someone. But instead I refused the Handspring delivery. I've not gotten through to them to credit me for the Visor Deluxe that they charged to my card....

Hopefully they'll have improved their service and support and shipping departments so that when I'm in the market for a new PDA in a few years, I'll be able to consider Handspring again.

Registered: Nov 1999
Location: Dallas, TX, USA
Posts: 26

I'm a first time PDA user, and love my BVD. The shipping delay (mid Sept to mid Nov) was very frustrating, but worth it in the end. I also have the styli, and one of the 'casual' cases. The Visor works perfectly, and is an excellent unit. I selected the Visor because it had more memory (Palm Vx wasn't out yet), and uses USB for hotsyncing.

I expect the company will thrive due to the creative leadership. Their only mistakes were in underestimating the initial demand, and selecting a too-small (or poorly managed) customer service organization.

Registered: Dec 1999
Location:
Posts: 20

I got one for Christmas... just barely. My folks (who got it for me) were rather frustrated at the lack of communication when ordering (they never could verify order status) but about three and a half weeks after ordering it did show up.

I've been playing with my GV since Christmas morning, and my only disappointment so far has been the fact that WinNT does NOT support USB ports :P, which has nothing to do with Handspring. I'm happily loading programs and migrating my life from scraps and post-it notes into the electronic age.

Registered: Dec 1999
Location:
Posts: 117

Well.... seems I will soon find out what all the hoopla is about, they billed my credit card last night and if form follows, I think I should see my Bvd in about 1 to 1 1/2 weeks (I can dream right?). I ordered on December 15 so It will be just three to 4 weeks if indeed the unit shows up in a weeks time.

By the way HAPPY NEW YEAR to one and all.

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Life is to short for boring food