Registered: Nov 1999
Location: Flemington, NJ USA
Posts: 1

Well, I just received mine and wanted to give my "initial impressions". I've seen people give their opinions and wanted to share mine. Hopefully it'll help someone's decision easier. I'll augment it tomorrow after I've had a chance to "play" more.

I have the Graphite Visor Deluxe and am upgrading from a PalmPilot Personal (yes, the 512K one). So my emphasis is on the differences.

Ordering Experience
- No problems. Ordered 10/28 (the day I saw the website could accept orders again), received 11/24 (and I'm just getting back to the office today - been sitting here a week). Total wait: 3 weeks, 6 days.
- No serial cable yet (grrr), so I can't wait to get home to use USB.
- I'd go with ordering on-line over the phone. At least computers don't have the ability to be rude.

Manufacturing Quality
- My unit is rock solid: no creak when I press it on the sides. I like the black look more than the grey 3Com (personal preference).
- My screen does look a little crooked, and I've seen the misaligned complaints here. But for me, I think it's the differing width of the sides. Even on my Personal, the left side plastic next to the screen is wider than the right side. For some reason, on the Visor with the black plastic, it's more noticable and I feel the screen is "shifted". I'll give more feedback on this once I get my usual software compliment on it.
- The power button does have me a little annoyed. I have to press it a little harder than my Pilot to turn it on/off/backlight.
- Profile is great. Fits in my hand much better than my Pilot.

Color, Stylus, and Cases
- I love the graphite (black) color. It just looks professional. I'm not one for the "see-through" trend that's going on (make it looks more like a GameBoy).
- The stylus isn't very good. It's a little shorter than my Pilot, so the top sits in the crook of my thumb (a bit annoying). It's also noticably lighter than my Pilot's. In fact, my Pilot's stylus fits into the silo. DISCLAIMER-Try at your own risk and remember, I have the Personal stylus. Too bad it's severely off-color. I've already ordered the 5-pack of metal styli.
- The hard case does it's job and I don't mind it's not hinged (remember, I'm not a Palm III user). It looks like it'll do the job very well.
- I like the leather case also. Excellent craftsmanship and much better than the one with my Pilot (the PalmPilot logo on it is crooked, always bothered me). Only nitpick: it's too slick to be used as a "prop" for the Visor. I used my Pilot's case as a prop to get away from the glare of overhead lighting. In size: only slightly bigger when the Visor is in it. I also put the hard cover on in the case: max protection

Screen and Buttons
- Ahhh, what a difference over the Pilot. Much crisper screen with the "reverse" backlighting (instead of the whole screen lighting up, the pixels light up). So now when I use it trying to get to sleep, I won't have to worry about the brightness waking up my wife. At least, that's the idea for tonight. The screen also feels gritty out of the box. Wipe it with something soft and that'll go away instantly.
- The screen does feel "squishy" compared to my Pilot. If you hold it on an angle, you can see it "give" as you press down. Reminds me of the LG Phenom Express I have. Not at all like the glass of my Pilot. Only time'll tell if I like it on the Pilot. I didn't mind on the Phenom.
- The buttons are great! I felt I was wearing out my Pilot's. These give a satisfying, but not loud, "click", can be pressed with the stylus (the scroll buttons also with care), and feel rock-solid.

Applications
- The CityTime is cool, but how often will I really use it? I do like the fact I can set my exact location. Perhaps it can be grabbed by other applications (hmmm, I wonder. I am, after all, a programmer dying to program in PalmOS...).
- DateBook+ is really nice (the default is DateBook, not DateBook+ - you need to change it manually). But it doesn't beam (not that I do that anyway), so DateBook is still there to beam for those of you who need to. It keeps the same data, apparently.
- Couldn't find Memory program at first. It was in the menu of the Launcher program under App/Info (do Palm III's do this too?). BTW, if you are deciding among the Visor and Visor Deluxe, go with the Deluxe. Trust me, I'm coming from 512K and can't wait to try and fill this thing. You can NEVER have enough memory.
- Calculator, thank god, is basically Parens. I hated the standard one with my Pilot.

That's it for now, I'll give more impressions when I get the chance (especially the HotSync and try quality of the screen after more use). If you have any specific questions, leave it here and I'll try to help out.

Thanks!
Badger