Product Guidance, please?

[tamaranth]

The time has come to upgrade my beloved Visor PDA. (Actually, the time came about 18 months ago, and I did; but then I got mugged and the upgraded version was stolen, so I'm back on the basic Deluxe).

The problem is that I don't want a rechargable PDA. The whole point of having one is to be mobile and I am sometimes away from mains electricity for longer than a standard ten-hour charge-time.

Spec:
- battery-powered
- Palm OS (I have much good software)
- full-size plug-in keyboard available(e.g. the Stowaway)
- more than 8MB memory (see dictionary under 'upgrade': there is nothing wrong with the current model except that I keep running out of memory!)
- ideally, infrared, though I still haven't set up the current model to use the IR port ...

All suggestions gratefully received. I'm perfectly happy to buy second-hand!

Comments

[sbisson.livejournal.com]

I've got a spare Sharp Zaurus I'm not using. It doesn't do the battery thing, tho'...

[sbisson.livejournal.com]

http://www.sharp.co.uk/zaurus/

[jhaelan.livejournal.com]

I'm using the Visor Edge, which is very cool, but it's rechargable rather than battery. Not poked around, but heard good things about the XDA..

[incy.livejournal.com]

thenew sony clie clamshell thing looks vety...
http://www.infosyncworld.com/news/n/3837.html

(though I do not think it is out here till next month)

Another two on the same site ...

[the-magician.livejournal.com]

... look gorgeous, but probably don't have the battery support tamaranth needs ...

... however, have you considered some of the other battery options?

E.g. the Palm Power-to-go packs, portable recharge packs for Palm PDAs
http://www.palmone.com/us/products/accessories/chargerscablescradles/

Or the USB cables that would allow you to recharge the Palm anytime you're near someone's PC (just plug the USB cable into their PC and into your Palm and it's recharging!)

Or even the universal Travel/Air recharging kit
Recharge your Palm™ handheld from just about anywhere. The kit includes an AC recharger for recharging from a wall outlet in most countries, a recharging USB Hotsync cable for recharging and synchronizing your data from a computer, and airline and cigarette lighter adapters for recharging from an airplane, car, boat, or RV.
http://www.palmone.com/us/products/accessories/chargerscablescradles/#kits

70 dollars for the kit above, or if you just want international mains recharging and don't want the USB, car and airline connectors, then it's 30 dollars.

A car charger for the Clie goes for under 10 dollars on Amazon, Clie USB recharge and sync cables for under 30 dollars including international mains voltage adapters
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00006F2U7/qid=1062763148/sr=2-1/ref=sr_2_1/103-3987925-7430232

Or if you're really going to be in the middle of nowhere, howabout a solar PDA and cellphone charger? http://www.isunpower.com/html/compat.htm

And while you're waiting

[the-magician.livejournal.com]

USB and travel recharge cables for Visor (Edge) and many other PDAs can be found here
http://www.withandwithoutwires.com/