Customer Reviews

Palm P10804U M Series Serial Hotsync Cable

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I bought this cable along with my Tungsten E, because I wanted a serial hotsynch cable for my laptop. However, it doesn't work with the Tungsten E, which allows only for a mini-USB connector; this is the standard "universal" Palm connector - universal, apparently, except for Tungsten E. I advised Amazon.com of this when I returned it, but they are still selling it with the Tungsten E. Don't be fooled! Palm does not make a cradle or a serial cable for the E.

If you don't know by now, Palm has had a problem with their m500 and m505 models suddenly becoming unable to hotsync using USB. In fact, I have been through *four* m500 models through warranty replacement in the past four months, before discovering that the serial connection, although slower, is not affected by this bug. There is a hardware workaround (let the battery run out and then re-hotsync) but I find this cumbersome and unacceptable. Palm should be ashamed to allow such an obvious bug to continue (in replacment models!) without informing their customers.

I really don't understand why people blame Amazon or Palm for this cable while the description clearly says it's for certain models, and says it's for models with the universal connector. I wish people would take responsibility for themselves more.

Anyway, I got this cable because my office PC runs NT, and it doesn't support USB. The serial cable works perfectly. It doesn't charge your Palm (I have the T2), unlike the USB charge/hotsync cable, and speed is low compared to USB, but it gets the work done.

There is, however, one caveat: you cannot transfer MP3 files with the serial cable, because Real Player cannot recognize it. Palm should really move away from Real and opt for something better; Real is all about bloatware and spyware -- I don't know a single soul who likes its intrusive "message center" annoyance.

The workaround is you'll need to copy the MP3 files to the SD card directly, into the "\music" folder on the card. If you have a laptop with an SD slot, you'll be fine. But chances are if you are still running NT, your laptop won't have the slot. Also all SD card readers are USB. So in the end, it's probably best to upgrade, or borrow your friend's win2k or XP machine.

In short, this cable is cheap and light and seems durable (if you take care in disconnecting the Palm).

Cable does not stay in hand held very well. When you push the hotsync button it will fall out.
Skip this and try and find yourself a serial cradle for your palm.

its a nice little cable, helps connect your palm pilot to the pc!