Handspring Visor Neo (Blue)

Not being one who closely tracks what's hot and what's not in consumer technology, I certainly would have appreciated being told prior to commitment that this Visor Neo was technology so old (10 + years) that it is completely unsupported by the manufacturer, or anyone else. I have no idea where mine has been sitting for the last several years, or if it's really a used item, or where the seller actually got it. All in all, an unpleasant surprise and disappointment. Guess I should have done more research, but didn't feel the need, based on the promotional language. On the plus side, it does do one of the simpler purposes for which I bought it.

I purchased this Visor from Amazon after doing a lot of research on the web site and decided this was the most appropriate PDA to get my wife for Christmas. I ordered it on 11-19-01 and with free shipping, received it about a week later (free shipping means snail mail). The PDA was very nice looking and easy to set up. I entered only one address (ours). I put the PDA in the deluxe leather case that I also purchased and turned it off for the rest of the day. The next day, the unit failed to turn on. I followed the provided instructions and tried to reset it without any luck. I also changed out the two AAA batteries without any luck. I also tried the online Amazon instructions for trouble shooting this PDA and the result is to return the unit because there was nothing else to do. This left a very sour taste in my mouth and now I'm looking into the Palm series at the local Fry's Electronic store. (I did purchase a Palm series PDA and yes I had to pay tax and spend my time in line, but at least the unit is still working). Beware of Visor!! Its a clone of the Palm and we know clones don't always perform like the original.

While connected to a Magellan Companion GPS, the NEO went blank and never worked again. I sent both back with less than one hour of use.

I had been looking to get a PDA for awhile; ever since I gave up on using a Compaq Aero a couple of years ago. I wanted an IPAQ because of the color screen and the "windows lite" environment - but the cost was prohibitive (...)(I needed four units for my staff and myself.) I decided to forego the cost of color units and try the Neo. It works great!. The darn little thing is EZ to use. It was simple to install and synchronized perfectly with Outlook right out of the box. (Something my old Aero didn't do.) The Palm system that the Neo uses has lots of applications available. I downloaded and installed one helpful utility to keep track of my growing number of passwords and pins. The software loaded easy and works great. For functionality I got exactly what I was hoping for...a simple to use product with good functionality. I worried about the 8 MB RAM limitation; this doesn't seem to be a problem. (I have "synced" hundreds of contacts, emails and to dos.) I would give the product 5 stars but the lack of color screen hurts. I saw a color handspring model and it is "much" easier on the eyes. I would spend the extra (money) and get color if you have it. Also the backlight on the Neo is no help unless you are in the dark. And why would anyone want a PDA in the dark I might ask?Overall a very good value for the money. A good first PDA. Be sure and get an extra carrying case because the plastic Neo case doesn't look like it could take much of a hit to break.

I have owned my handspring visor neo for more than a year and a half now. The machine is extremely reliable. It has never crashed on me, despite falling on the floor multiple times. The machine has never had any problems hot synching with the internet or any problems beaming with other handhelds. I use it daily as a medicine intern and rely heavily on epocrates and 5 minute clinical consult programs. The software is outstanding--very detailed and easy to use and continually updated and improving. Finally, the machine is reasonably priced when compared with other devices of similar utility. I have friends who paid more and received defective devices, and I feel lucky to have bought this one.true story addendum: I recently got sick in the hospital and while vomiting, dropped my handheld into the toilet bowl. For three days it wouldn't turn on. Then, miraculously, it turned on. I managed to hot-synch all the data from my PC back onto the handheld without any problems. Amazing!

I have had my Neo for about 6 months now and use it several times an hour as I am a therapist trying to keep up with appointments and phone numbers all day in and out of the office. This thing had become like my right hand until last week when the batteries went dead. As before, I fetched some new batteries, put them in the back, closed the compartment, but...no power. Tried several other sets of batteries, still no power. My heart sank, considering all my appointments for the day (not to mention the month and previous few months) were in there and I had no idea what I was supposed to be doing that afternoon. After several attempts, the Neo powered back on but guess what? ALL MY INFORMATION WAS ERASED. Thankfully, I had hotsynched about 2 weeks before this event but not often enough to retrieve any information for the last two weeks or the following month. I have spent a solid week recompiling my appointments and phone numbers but, even so, all the phone numbers have my fax number in parenthesis before the actual number. I don't understand that, but whatever, it was easy to erase all that. Lesson learned here: if you purchase one of these, hotsynch daily and be careful of technical glitches in the programming. Myself, I am returning this and shopping for a color PDA NOT made by Handspring.

I missed out on all the recent discounts to the Visor Deluxe in my area, but really wanted to get a PDA. As far as the PalmOS goes, I loved the features (Avantgo, Outlook integration, ebooks). However, the hardware leaves much to be desired: the glossy plastic holds fingerprints like glue, and is very slippery; the battery was down 20% after 3 days (many syncs), the backlight is weak.