Neither the DaVinci nor the Pocket Viewer are of the same caliber as the Palm devices. The main complaint about both is that their screens are even harder to read than the original PalmPilot. Equally important, Palm's huge installed base, now five million units, means that a large, well-trained staff is supporting those devices. But you should still consider both alternative units if for no other reason than cost.

If you take one of them home, test it out thoroughly with your PC. Like the Palm devices, these units back up your data on your PC. And sooner or later, every electronic organizer loses its memory. It's happened to me several times. But it's no real problem -- you just drop it in the cradle and it retrieves your data from the PC. A lot of the Palm alternatives have been criticized for PC synchronization problems, and this is an area that you never want to have trouble in. That backup is your lifeline.

Also check out the tech support. I've spent a fair amount of time talking with tech support over the last two and a half years, and you should expect to do the same. See how long it takes someone to pick up the phone and how well they know the product.

All that said, if one of these alternatives fits the bill for you, runs well, and has good tech support, you should seriously question whether a Palm device is worth an extra hundred bucks. If not, buy the cheaper one. While I think the Palm devices are clearly better, only you know how much is in your wallet.

What about those little clamshell-type organizers with little keys and screens that have been around for ten years?
Okay, even I draw the line somewhere. They're just that -- little organizers with little memories, little screens, and little keys. Almost anyone compulsive enough to have struggled with one of those has long since replaced it with a real PDA.

Are there any other low end units?
Maybe. Fuga makes a unit called the eDiary for $150. VTech calls its $199 device the Helio. While both of these units have generated a tiny bit of positive press buzz, they can only be purchased on the Internet. I wouldn't do that with unknowns like these. And at those prices, why bother? Get a Palm IIIe.

Maybe I should wait and get the Visor, the new unit from Handspring. Time Magazine says its the coolest thing since bubblegum!
I'm sure Handspring appreciates your enthusiasm, but I would stick with Palm Computing until Handspring proves itself. After all, Palm has sold five million Palm PDAs. How many has Handspring sold so far? Zero.

So you see my point. Handspring says that the Visor, which was officially announced on September 14, should begin shipping around the end of October. But the Palm IIIe is already here, as are millions of other Palm devices. More important, 3Com has developed and maintained the intensive, trained support system needed to keep all those users happy.

FIGURE E

I'm betting that the Visor will be a good PDA. Click picture for a larger image.

To be fair, I'm betting the Visor, illustrated in Figure E, will be a good PDA. It uses the Palm operating system, so I know that as an electronic organizer, it's going to work very well. It also uses a USB cradle (don't ask, just plug it in) to back up your data to your PC. This should be much faster than the serial cradles currently used in 3Com's Palm devices. The USB cradle can only be used with Windows 98, however. Those of us still running Windows95 have to pay an extra $20 to get a serial cradle and live with the slower backup rate. [We've also experienced general USB problems with Windows NT, so you might need to use care if you're an NT user. -- DG]