Customer Reviews

Pocket Quicken 2.0

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

If you ever considered using your personal computer to manage your finances, then it is safe to assume that you have heard of Intuit, Inc.'s Quicken product. In a nutshell it is most popular personal finance PC software product on the market. How do you improve on something that is already a great product? One way is to make it more convenient to use. Pocket Quicken makes it easy to keep your Quicken information complete, accurate and up-to-date wherever you go. Skip the monthly receipt-typing chore by effortlessly capturing everyday transactions directly on your Palm OS handheld. Included are two of Quicken's most popular time saving shortcuts: QuickFill and Memorized transactions. Combining these features enable you to record day-to-day transactions with only two strokes of the stylus. Even if you still like to set a few hours aside each month to do your transactions, Pocket Quicken allows you to pick any location you please. Instead of sitting in the cold basement at your PC, you can relax at Starbucks and handle your personal or business finances over a hot cup of coffee. You can assign your own private PIN number to Pocket Quicken ensures that only you have access to your financial activity. Pocket Quicken also maintains a backup of your transactions each time you HotSync your Palm OS handheld. I didn't like the fact that these backup files are not encrypted or password protected. This program is a very powerful tool for all Palm owners that use or wish to use Quicken. I was very satisfied with the product. If you own or would like to own the Desktop Quicken product then this is a must have application.

Now this is wonderful software. Without exception, Pocket Quicken is the single most frequently used software on my PDA. If I make a transaction, no matter where I am, I know I can keep a close watch on my finances. I simply enter all the information into my Pocket Quicken and in less than 30 seconds I have an up-to-date register of my balances and account activity. I can track all my accounts separately in Pocket Quicken, From my College Loans to my checking and savings accounts, to my car payments and credit card accounts, I never miss a beat. And at the end of the day, with one touch of the hotsync button I just sit back and in seconds all of my account information is uploaded into Quicken Deluxe on my desktop and I am ready to go. Pocket Quicken even lets me create budgets to track my spending and alerts me when I have gone over my budget. Pocket Quicken is reliable, easy to use, and is a smart way to stay financially organized. I highly recommend Pocket Quicken to all Handheld users.

I loaded the Pocket Quicken demo version from my Quicken 2002 CD on my PDA and was so impressed with it that I ordered the software from Amazon. My biggest problem was keeping up with entering my personal finance data into Quicken. With Pocket Quicken, entering the data is very easy. The best part is that I can enter the data on my commute home, or anywhere I take my PDA. I've had no problems hotsyncing the Pocket Quicken data to my Quicken desktop.

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PROS: Seamless backup to desktop Quicken; useful budget feature; integrated calculator.

CONS: No uncategorized items permitted in split transactions; inability to edit (on handheld) any transaction backed up to desktop Quicken; quirky installation procedure.

Like many others, a determining factor in purchasing a handheld organiser was the potential of managing my finances `on the go'. With so many poor reviews of Pocket Quicken 1.0, it was an easy decision to go with Pocket Money, which worked well. The missing piece was easy backup and importing to the desktop version of Intuit Quicken or Microsoft Money.

Quicken can import a .qif file (containing several accounts) generated from Pocket Money. The trouble I had was importing transfer transactions: they were duplicated and/or adjusted, requiring re-reconciliation. To work with Microsoft Money, you had to create a .qif file for every account in Pocket Money. Quickly annoying with over 20 accounts, required on every synchronisation.

Pocket Quicken 2.0 does what it claims here: flawless synchronisation between handheld and desktop. However, it is one-way only; once transactions are uploaded to the desktop, you can't edit them on the handheld.

Worse, every cent/pence must be assigned to a category in Pocket Quicken. Do the programmers at LandWare not use cash? You withdraw cash from an ATM/hole-in-the-wall; you spend some of it now, some of it later. Well, if you record the transaction in Pocket Quicken, you either have to (a) wait until it is all spent before entering appropriate categories in your split transaction, or (b) enter the split transaction with a large segment categorised as `Misc', then constantly adjust this figure as you spent the rest of the cash. At least on desktop Quicken you can override the `uncategorised items' warning. Sort this out quick, please.

The installation procedure is also quirky. Here is how I managed it: (1) Install desktop Quicken. NB: Set-up password (go to File: Passwords: File); (2) Install Pocket Quicken; (3) Conduct first Palm synchronisation; (4) Open Pocket Quicken; (5) Enter desktop Quicken password in box `Quicken File Password' (leave `Launch PIN' = `-Unassigned-` unless you desire a PIN for Pocket Quicken); (6) Conduct second Palm synchronisation; (7) NB: Conduct future Palm synchronisation with desktop Quicken CLOSED.

Not all is bad news. Pocket Quicken's budget feature is competitively unique, and I find it very useful. Yet if the folks at LandWare can manage to synchronise category lists, why not budgets?

The integrated calculator is a convenient piece of programming. Just wish as much thought went into the rest of the package.

Overall, Pocket Quicken 2.0 is undoubtedly an improvement over version 1.0. Its (one-way) synchronisation is truly seamless, and its budget feature is unmatched. However, major improvements are still required. In the end, I could justify the purchase, with my many accounts and long transaction history. Though I expect some free upgrades from LandWare. I have to say, if you only rely on your handheld, then Pocket Money is likely to be a better experience.

I have been a long-time user of Handmark's PocketMoney, and recently tried a 14-day trial of Pocket Quicken.

As you might expect, each program has it's strengths and weaknesses.

While PocketMoney has a nicer, icon-based account list, Pocket Quicken seems a little cluttered, with awkward rounded and square "buttons" to switch between account list and register. I also thought PocketMoney had a more natural method of entering data - more like Quicken.

So, if I like PocketMoney so well, why am I giving Pocket Quicken a 5-star rating? It all comes down to the conduits - how the information transfers between your desktop and PDA. Pocket Quicken wins, hands down. PocketMoney requires a manual export procedure, where you have to designate a particular file directory. It doesn't always work all that well, even if you are an experienced computer user. If you are a novice, well, it's just too much trouble.

Pocket Quicken's strengths more than make up for its weaknesses. It works so naturally with your desktop version of Quicken that every Hotsynch keeps both your PC and your PDA current. Compare the free trials of both versions, and I am convinced you will also come to the conclusion that Pocket Quicken is the best personal accounting software for your PDA.

I've been a quicken user for years. It's a pain to enter reciepts in bunches so some things just do not en dup getting tracked tracked -- like cash. Now, I am tracking cash expenditures for the first time and it's much easier to see where ALL my money goes.

The Sync is seamless and works wonderfully. When you re-launch Quicken the new transactions are ready for import.

Great product!

Downlad a 14 day trial from Landware.com, but hen you're ready to buy, come back to AMAZON, their price is by FAR the lowest I have seen online. Landware charges [x amount]..

One of the main reasons so many people try and give up on software like Quicken is the time required to enter in the data onto their PC. With Pocket Quicken that all changes. You can easily enter in all your non investment transactions and then sync the data with your PC. This way you always have your current transactions and account balance with you. No more going off your ATM slip for your checking balance, just pull it up quickly on your PDA.

The only draw back is that you cannot add transactions for investment accounts. You can view the balances but the updates need to be performed on Quicken itself.

You can try out the product for 14 days by downloading it from the companies website.

I've been a Quicken user for years, and Pocket Quicken on my Palm m125 has been a real help. I keep track of debit card purchases easily (and am beginning to record cash purchases as well). It synchs reliably and easily to my laptop. (I synch my Palm to 3 different hosts - laptop for my regular Quicken, home desktop for Documents-to-Go and work desktop for calendar and address books. The Palm synch program keeps all of this straight.)

One problem- on a split transaction, I can't add a memo.

Security- has password.

I wasn't really interested in entering transactions while away from home. I already download credit card transactions, which is far easier and less awkward than pulling out the Palm every time I pay for lunch.

I wasn't sure whether this product supported budgets. Another customer said it didn't, but the marketing materials say that it supports budget tracking and "works seamlessly with Quicken on your desktop."

The answer is, you can enter your budget limits on the Palm, but unlike transactions, they are not synchronized with the desktop. (Buried inside the user's manual is the note, "Pocket Quicken Budget details are completely autonomous to the desktop and are not synchronized with Quicken.")

I found pocket quicken helpful in keeping me straight with my balances while "on the go". The idea of knowing at any given moment what my balances are is appealling. However, when I tried to add line items expenses to the PDA and then transfer them to the main program, I found that it said it was downloading them and then didn't. I find the only way to keep things accurate is still the old fashioned way of going to the main PC and doing the data entry. So what I thought would save me time, didn't and so it needs improving so that it will do what it says. Perhaps it is because I'm using quicken 2001. I will likely upgrade and see if that makes any difference in the interfacing. Also, I tried keeping a backup copy of quicken on my PC at the office (just in case my home PC ever crashed) and I sometimes take a zip drive backup and update it that way to keep it current. However, when trying to sync my palm with it, that is to update, it only works in reverse ... where Palm gets only latest info from PC not true sync where palm may already be more updated. I had to go home and hotsync to get my palm back to correct figures. So I've told my office PC to simply ignore pocket quicken when syncing to palm. If these two areas could be addressed and stocks updated (as others have said), PC Quicken would really be useful. For now all it can do for me is allow me to download from my home PC to palm (after I've sat at the home PC and trugged out the data entry on the QUICKEN program). I'm still glad I bought it if only so I can know my current balances while on the go. Good idea but needs considerable improvement to be all it is potentially capable of.