Registered: Oct 1999
Location:
Posts: 17

I must say, the problems that have been popping up in the forum are definatelly making me a little uneasy...

Look through the Trouble shooting forum:

- Fatal errors
- Fatal exceptions
- Beaming problems
- Hotsync problems
- Visors DOA

So... what is the deal here... Are we looking at a lemon?

I placed an order Oct 6... and for the first time am seriously considering cancelling...

Any comments, please...

Registered: Sep 1999
Location: Urbana IL
Posts: 144

- Fatal exceptions
I had one, but it was related to the application BugMe, which seems to be just plain incompatible with Visor.

- Beaming problems
none! I've beamed apps to a Palm V and was able to control my TV from 10 feet away

- Hotsync problems
none! very speedy...I think most of the lag time is on the server side in my case.

I'm very happy with my Visor.

Registered: Oct 1999
Location: Lexington, KY, USA
Posts: 50

Of the 800+ people that are registered here, about 10 or 12 of them (less than 1.5%) have reported having problem. I figure that's pretty good odds, and in fact, that's better odds than I get ordering from Dell, who ships more computers than any other manufacturer. So, statistically, it does not look too bad at all. The real question is if they will replace defective units, which they appear to be doing fairly reliably.

Of course, I don't have mine yet, so, who knows, I could become one of the 1.5%.

Registered: Oct 1999
Location: Austin, Texas, USA
Posts: 195

Mine has been completely bug free so far. Like Tiroth said - it's only a few people, relatively speaking, and you can bet that the people who have problems with theirs are going to be extremely vocal about it, what with all the problems with customer service, and ordering already getting us a little riled up. Anyone who has problems and who has already been upset about Handspring's service is going to say "Man! Handspring's CSR's don't know what they're doing. They're screwing everyone's orders up, and screwed mine up! Then, I had to wait because mine was backordered! I sat around worrying that it was going to get sent to some other address like other peoples did. Then, when I got it, it was broken! Handspring sucks!"

I think the majority of the experiences with Handspring (excluding their foul ups concerning customer support and orders) and the Visor have been very positive. Mine has. I encourage you to hang in there. It's very unlikely that you'll get a faulty unit, and if you do, you can send it back and they'll ship you another. I'd bet that they'd ship the new one in a hurry, as they seem to be wanting to redeem themselves of the errors in their past. I think you'll regret it if you cancel your order.

Registered: Sep 1999
Location: Texan in Calgary for a while
Posts: 1361

Also remember that people tend to post bad things more than good things. People are not going to post "No resets after 2 weeks!" but will post any problems they may have had so they can get help.

------------------
James Hromadka
VisorCentral.com
Personal Website: http://www.geocities.com/jehromadka

Registered: Oct 1999
Location: Vancouver, BC. Canada
Posts: 26

rbowen: I think the odds may be a bit higher of getting a 'defective' visor than you say:
___________________________________________
"Of the 800+ people that are registered
here, about 10 or 12 of them (less than
1.5%) have reported having problem. "
___________________________________________

Even if there are 800+ people registered here, it doesn't appear that all have received visors, or even ordered them. It would be interesting to know the true proportion of healthy visors to problem ones.

And, there are problems which seem to be inherent to most visors (from other posts), like the 'soft screen', or 'rough' or 'gritty', which some will only notice if compared to something like a Palm V.

(I ordered 9/16, still no visor)

Registered: Sep 1999
Location: Milwaukee, WI
Posts: 74

I am happy with mine. I wouldn't call it defective.

Registered: Oct 1999
Location: Canada
Posts: 23

I too have had a fatal error and had to do a hard boot twice, but why is it Visor's fault? My problem was with hackmaster and bug me. Removed bug me and no more crashes. Hackmaster apps are still not loading, but hey why blame Visor it's not their fault if some apps are not working right. Not blaming the authors either. They probably don't have theirs yet to fix the problems...

Registered: Oct 1999
Location: NY, NY, USA
Posts: 155

I got my Visor on the 26th October and was pretty pleased with it. I had the Daylight Savings Hack problem and fixed it w/o incident. Overall, the product is solid, and I would recommend it 100% solely on the product itself.

However, while I was NOT one of those who was trying to rile people up, I would recommend against dealing with this company for a long time coming. My Visor fell from my couch yesterday AM and subsequently would not work. I called them and told them I wanted to fix it, but tech support basically told me that I had to return it. Okey, so I called Customer Service, they told me it would take two weeks to obtain a new one. I asked them if they would do a replacement if I gave them a credit card for deposit, a la Pilot/Palm. They charge $30 (not a deposit) for overnight replacement.

They told me it would be here today, and it's about 4PM EST and so far nothing. I spoke to the regular UPS guy and he told me definitely nothing here for me. Boo :^( It may show up later, but if it doesn't, I'll be more than happy obtaining an RMA number for everything I've gotten from them, returning it and not having to worry at all about anything Handspring for a long time. I may end up sticking with my III, or I may go with a V, or a Vx, but in either case, I'll make it my business to take said business elsewhere. I don't mind the order screw-ups, and I'm more than pleased with the product.
But if they are not standing behind their product, then it isn't much of a product, IMHO. And I'm not sure who came up with the "reliable replacement of faulty units" factoid, but my experience has indicated otherwise. There are a couple others on the VC discussion board, RSGMoose being one of them, who is also waiting for next-day replacement. Since he's in PST, he may get his (later), so I won't comment on his situation.

However, the dreading feeling in my stomach isn't good. Things happen to these little Visor fellers, but it seems to me that the worry should be on "I hope I don't lose info" -- not "I hope they don't screw up my order and forget to send me this thing on which I am relying for my organizing my life."

IOW, folks, it may be a great product when it works, or if/when you get it, but if this is how they conduct the ordering and replacement process, how long can this company realistically stay in business?

I'm hoping long enough so that I can get a Color Palm and forget _all_ about this whole mess.

Registered: Oct 1999
Location: RI
Posts: 10

I am very happy with mine! No problems.

Registered: Oct 1999
Location: NY, NY, USA
Posts: 155

bbaron:

Bite your tongue, er, keyboard. Your first problem might be your last...