Hewlett Packard Jornada 540 Series USB Cradle

by HP

Product Details

• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
• ASIN: B00004SPBX
• Item model number: F1820A#ABA
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Discontinued by manufacturer: Yes
• Date first available at Amazon.com: April 18, 2000

Product Description

HP USB Cradle For JORNADA 540 Series New Bulk p/n F1820A with 30 days warranty (AC Adapter excluded)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Two is better than one!, October 17, 2000

By 

Weldon Dodd "History Teacher" (Denver, CO) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Hewlett Packard Jornada 540 Series USB Cradle (Office Product)

I bought a second USB cradle (one comes with the 545) so that I could use it at work. It's much better than the serial cable (faster and you don't use up a serial port). It integrates with the AC adapter so that you can keep the PocketPC charged while it's on the stand. The AC Adapter is sold separately, so be sure to buy one of these too if you don't have one already.

HP recommends to use the USB cradle with only Win98 or W2K. Get the serial version if you are running Win95.

The following comments have nothing to do with the cradle per se, but do affect how you use it...

The only drawback that I've seen is that the screen will stay on while the unit is in the cradle and connected to your PC (it won't power off automatically). I'm afraid that the screen will burn in if left on for several hours while it is in the cradle. You can either turn it off (this disconnecting from the PC) or blank the screen by pushing the light/button on the top of the PocketPC. I prefer to blank the screen so that it will stay connected to my PC and continue to sync information automatically as I make changes to Outlook.

Because I'm synching at work, I now have three identical copies of my contact information because the PocketPC carries additions and changes back and forth as I synch at home and at work. This is really nice as I totally rely on Outlook to keep track of people. If you want to, you can set filters so that "business" contacts won't replicate to your home PC and vice versa but both will exist on the PocketPC. This is also nice, but a pain to maintain the categories for each contact entry.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A must-have for a 540-series Jornada, August 4, 2001

By 

zlionsfan (Indiana, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Hewlett Packard Jornada 540 Series USB Cradle (Office Product)

I've never used the serial cradle, because I got this USB cradle when I bought my Jornada, so I can't compare the two, but I can say that this is definitely worth the money, whether you purchase it as part of a package or separately. USB connectivity is a must these days, especially if you intend to sync your Jornada with one or more PCs. That's how I use mine, and I find that the USB cradle allows me to quickly sync my Outlook information and other files with my PC, in addition to charging it when it is in the cradle. The weighted base helps keep the cradle in place and allows me to keep it under my desk on top of my tower PC when it's charging.

However, as with most products, the USB cradle is not perfect. I share the concerns of other reviewers about the fact that the screen stays on while it's charging (wonder if setting the power-off setting to a lower number would help; I've not tested that before). Also, I would have preferred a cradle that would help you align your Jornada with the connectors - this is more like a cell phone cradle because you slide your Jornada into it. HP does advise that you use both hands to do this. I think it would have been better to make the connector work more like a game controller or other peripheral, with the connectors housed within the cradle instead of having one side of them visible, so you could plug the Jornada into the cradle securely.

One thing to keep in mind - occasionally, my PC has had trouble locating my Jornada, making it difficult to sync my items. Every time this has happened, all I had to do was reboot the Jornada and the PC recognized it on the next synchronization attempt. Make sure you know how to do a soft reset on your Jornada and you should be fine.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars USB . . . . but still a bit slow, July 19, 2000

By 

Scott Lowe (Salt Lake City, UT USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Hewlett Packard Jornada 540 Series USB Cradle (Office Product)

I recently bought the HP Jornada 545, and use the USB cradle to synchronize all of my information and to transfer files. It's usually pretty fast, and I love the fact that it synchronizes everything automatically. But, while transfering mp3s and other larger files, it seemed to be a little slow. All in all, however, its a good device that has many positive points.