The Visor in fact was designed by the three original developers of the Palm Pilot, the fastest selling hand held computer on the market. In that case, what makes the Visor better than the Palm Pilot?

The most distinguishing attribute of the Visor is the expansion slot on the back. This expansion slot, much like the slot on a Nintendo GameBoy, has all kind of little goodies that can be inserted into it. MP3 players, modems, beepers, back memory modules and GPS satellite locators are among the host of add-ons with which Visor is able to work. All the expansion devices are hot swappable, meaning you can put it in and pop it out without having to turn off the device, and all are designed to work seamlessly with the Palm operating system without having to install additional drivers.

Other features of the Visor include a faster infrastructure, easy to use buttons, over 9000+ available software titles and a USB Hotsync cradle, which is much faster than the serial connection devices 3Com products come with. As with other Palm devices, the Visor comes with an infrared port, which is a real plus when you want to share your files with someone.

Not everything is "peachy keen" with the Visor, however. The infrared port is a bit awkward because it is on the side of the Visor, as opposed to the front. This is inconvenient because beaming to another Palm device requires awkwardly rotating both units so the IR ports face each other. I also don 't like how the Visor's cover has to be taken off to sync with my machine or to put it on the cradle.

The Visor has put me on schedule like never before. I rarely miss a meeting or classes. I have alarms set for friends' birthdays, special events, meetings and dates. In fact, the Visor is so convenient that I chose to write this article on it during my study break.

If you've heard of the Visor before (it's been featured on Dateline NBC), you know that last year everyone had to wait months and months for back orders of Visors. I've yet to experience any problems ordering. In fact, I received mine in time for Christmas. After seeing mine, two friends (and fellow Whimmers) who were already thinking about hand held computing made their own purchases for the Visor. Both made purchases in the same week. One arrived more than a week later than the other; however, this was probably due to the color of the visor he bought.

Comments:
do you all lose the any of the add-on keyboards? I always hated using the pens on PDAs. I'm just about tempted to get one of these do-hickies if I can be sure that I can type in notes and other documents and copt past them later into word.

Name: Lubos Palounek
Year: NA
Major: NA
Comments:
I do not think the infrared port is akward. Sitting or standing face to face, you just put the two Visors side by side, next to each other. Also, I like the cover. Among other advantages, a leather case with a "built-in cover" is in my opinion better than the "Velcro designs". Cheers, Lubos

Name: Guy
Major: Visor Fan
Comments:
I think that the visor is way better than the palm pilot i have a blue Handspring Visor Deluxe. But i think i should have waited for 2nd verions of the Visor because i can't upgrade my os. besides that, this thing is the best, way better than my Palm 3x

Comments:
This article is now featured on Visor Central! Visit Visor Central at www.visorcentral.com!

Name: PeeR
Comments:
I know from my own experience that the "fad" factor was very important. I first heard about these devices (well, Palms at least) two summers ago. I wanted one then, but realized that I had no use for it. This year, I was dying for one for this past summer. I waited though. After doing a ton of research, and really waiting to see if I'd realy use it, it looks like the time has paid off. Now I'm in a dicipline of using my Visor and carrying it with me wherever I go. It's great. I think I needed to wait, and now I'm glad I did. The expandability of this Visor was my key selling point. Check out Handspring's site for prices, because it depends on the one you get. I got the Deluxe, so with shipping and everything, it was $257.

Comments:
Man, those things look so cool..but are they just a fad? I mean, how long can you possibly carry one of those things around without losing it? Also, how much does one cost?

Name: Brian
Year: Seasoned Student
Major: Visor fan
Comments:
This has been (so far) one of the best investments I have ever made. My Visor keeps me on track, and I sleep a lot better at night knowing that my worries are all recorded, so I can get to them in the morning. I wish the Visor had an attachment similar to a beeper's vibration mode, as I like to respect my professors and classmates by not having the alarm blare when I've got an appointment coming up. Ditto on the cover problem. I need the hard cover on it, but hate to have to remove it to sync with my machine. People, if you've ever wondered if this is right, check out Handspring's site for yourself and see what the Visor can do for you!