Customer Reviews

Palm 3199WW Cradle Kit for Tungsten E2/T5/TX and LifeDrive

5 star:		(40)
4 star:		(36)
3 star:		(21)
2 star:		(6)
1 star:		(12)

 

 

I would suggest this to anyone who plunks down the cash for the Tungsten T5. The cradle is reasonably sturdy/heavy/unlikely to fall over when your PDA is sitting in it and looks reasonably nice on your desk. I also think it is much easier than messing around with the cheap adapter and USB cable which comes in the box.

The only thing I don't like about it is the annoying light that is ALWAYS on! If you look in the picture, it is the light gray/non-silver part. It catches the corner of my eye and has been surprisingly distracting -- so much so that I have had to unplug it. Otherwise, I'd have to say it's great and give it all five stars!

I just purchased this cradle for my new Palm Tungsten E2. On the positive side, it is light, easy to assemble, and looks nice on the desktop. It is much more attractive than the sync and power cables being exposed in plain view. It also stays put on my desk, not slipping and sliding as other reviews have described. The price here on Amazon is superb in comparison to almost twice as money at most other places. On the negative side, it seems flimsy, and I fear breaking the prongs when connecting and disconnecting my Palm. A switch for the light would have also been a huge plus. As is, the light is always on, which can be annoying and even distracting.

I've used the older Palm cradles, and felt they were much better designed and much more durable. Although attractive and sleek, this cradle appears to have suffered from excessive cost cutting. It's good, but could have been much better.

Own a Palm TX? Avoid this at all costs!

As others have noted, and as documented on the Palm support forums, this cradle has a major incompatibility with the Palm TX. It will cause the Palm TX to lockup, requiring a soft reset (using the reset hole on the back). There is unfortunately no solution, and no predicting when the lock will occur. Sometimes, after one HotSync it will lock, sometimes if the computer is placed into sleep and then reawakened, other times just sitting there.

Palm has a patch on their site that supposedly fixes this problem, but it actually makes matters worse - with the patch installed, the TX will lock when not even docked. DON'T install the patch!

Interestingly, the problem appears to be a hardware design flaw of the cradle itself. If you plug the TX into the included connector, and NOT the cradle, no problems! I suspect it has something to do with the silly LED light that always stays on - perhaps a static discharge problem.

The cradle is a very simple device - it merely extends the sync cable to allow the Palm to sit upright and be viewable next to your computer monitor. That's nice. The trouble is that the connection between the palm and the cradle doesn't lock. Also the connection between the sync cable and the cradle doesn't lock either (it's exactly the same connector). Palm designed these connectors to be easy to connect and disconnect - which is great when connecting the Palm to the sync cable. The problem is that the connection between the sync cable and the cradle need to be secure - and it isn't. When the connection becomes loose you get bad syncs, data corruption, freezes, etc... We've had no end of trouble with these on our network because of this issue. The fix is to unmate and remate the cable connections - easy enough, but the periodic problems have led me to ban these cradles from our list of supported gear.

Some others have complained about the blue LED light. You need this light to tell you when you've got the Palm properly seated in the cradle - otherwise you might not know you've got it down onto the connector far enough. I think of the light as a feature - not a problem.

The ultimate solution would be a pair of wire bails on the back of the cradle that you'd use to lock the sync cable on. Too bad they didn't think of that.

Update: November 15, 2008 - Still working just fine.

Orig Review: Simple to install, easy to use. Does the job and has features not advertised. For example: If in the cradle, the the Palm comes to life automatically when you turn on the PC/

Palm has stopped including charging/synching cradles with its PDAs and Treos. Cradles have some utility, so Palm offers you this kit at an exaggerated price for recent-vintrage Tungsten PDAs. (Be sure to check whether the kit you'r ordering is compatible with the Palm model you have!)

You're buying both more and less than you think with the kit. You get a light cradle, smaller than a pack of cards and weighing about an ounce. You plug the square plug of the power adapter that came with your Palm Tungsten or other compatible Palm device into the cradle, and then you plug in the USB synchronization cable that came with it. When you're done you have what Palm should have given you in the box with the Tungsten.

To justify the price, you also get: A large power adapter that has interchangeable plugs compatitble with US & European wall outlets and a "real" USB cable that boths synchs and charges a Palm device. The "real" USB cable works for a wide range of recent Palm devices, including Treo 650 and newer smart phones. It's very useful for travel if you carry a laptop that has a USB port.

The cradle is worth about two bucks, but the rest of the package makes the price more or less reasonable, considering that accessories are always high profit items. Shame on Palm for not including the cradle in the box with all its products. But if you want a cradle you do get a couple of other potentially useful accessories to make you feel less ripped off. If you just want a combination USB synch and power cable, you can get that from aftermarket suppliers for a lot less than the cradle kit.

I like this cradle works very well for me, I use all the time now for hotsyncing and charging my palm tx thru the usb port.

I bought this to go with my Palm TX and would not go without it.
One touch transfer is so easy. I purchased one that did not function correctly and Amazon had a new one in the mail within a day for replacement and sending back was postage paid and very easy to do. I got the replacement within a couple of days and it works perfectly.
It has a light, so easy to spot for setting your PP in the cradle each night.
I like it so much better than the cord USB transfer...though that is nice to take with you if you are on the road.
I highly recommend this product.

The Palm cradle accomplishes the task you want it to: it syncs your Palm while propping it up. However, with no place for the stylus it is not as functional as the old cradle (Palm Vx). Palm touts the ever-glowing white light as fashionable, but it's not - it's polluting.
All of that said, it's probably the best "bang for the buck."

Great bargain. I had it hooked up and syncing in less than 5 minutes. Staples has the same item for $50.00, so saving 50% for me was well worth it. The cradle light stays on, so that may bother some, but it does make a good night light at my desk. :-)