PalmOne PalmPak Travel Card: US Cities (m125, m130, i705 & m500 series)

by Palm

Product Details

Product Manual [168kb PDF]

• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
• ASIN: B00005B6TQ
• Item model number: P10824U
• Average Customer Review: 2.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Discontinued by manufacturer: Yes
• Date first available at Amazon.com: March 27, 2001

Product Description

Color: US Cities

Amazon.com Product Description

Whether you are traveling for business or pleasure, PalmPak Travel Cards are the easiest way to find out where to go and what to do. Feel like a resident in six major U.S. cities. Get the scoop on where to eat, what to do, and where to stay with Lonely Planet CitySync guides for Boston, Chicago, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, New York, and San Francisco. You'll also find a world clock and time zone management software.

Just plug the PalmPak Travel Card into the expansion slot on your handheld. This postage-stamp-sized MultiMediaCard (MMC) expands the capabilities of your handheld without sacrificing memory space.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Doesn't replace a guide book, December 15, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: PalmOne PalmPak Travel Card: European Cities (m125, m130, i705 & m500 series) (Office Product)

I bought this as a "Special Holiday Package" from Palm.com, with my Palm 505 and a travel charger. I was very disappointed when I started to explore the software. I plan to go to Amsterdam next spring, and have been looking at guidebooks for Amsterdam. I thought it would be nice to have a map and guidebook on the Palm, and not have to carry a guidebook.

The main map screen shows "sections" of the city, labeled by neighborhood names. The neighborhood names seem to be made up by CitySync. There appear to be more neighborhoods off to the left of the screen that I can see part of, but I can't get to them (no scroll that I could find). Clicking on each "section" brings up a map of a small section of the city (Amsterdam, for example). Maybe it just shows major streets, or maybe it shows a really small part of the "section", but it doesn't look like the map "section" covers as much area as it should. It looks like there are large gaps in the maps.

There is no way you could use this "map" in place of a good paper map.

The information about each hotel, restaurant, etc. is very short, and it looks like the prices are a few years old (that may be updatable on the CitySync site). I finally found the link to the mapping of each hotel, restaurant, etc. (it's in the "Info" button, and you can't get back from the map to where you were in the listings), but the map segments are so small it is impossible to tell which area of the city the attraction is in.

I did like the currency converter, although you have to enter your own currencies and conversion rates. Once you've entered these (through the maintenance screen) all you have to do is enter the amount you want to convert from, select the currency you want to convert from and to, and click "convert" (or "execute"?).

The time programs looked like they would be kind of nice - you can enter an event using your time zone, and it can keep track of what the time is in a second time zone. I just stuck my plane's departure and arrival times in it.

While putting a travel guide onto a PDA is a nice idea, this one won't replace a paper travel guide.

However, if they improved the maps, letting you scroll around them, the guide just might serve in place of the paper travel guide if you've read the guide and just need your memory jogged about a particular site, hotel, restaurant, etc. The way the maps are set up now, you couldn't find your way from one location to the other because there's no connection from one map to the other.

Personally, until they do that, I wouldn't spend the money on it.

Oh, and buying the color Palm for this was a waste - there's no color in the program - except for the icon to get into it!

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Worth Buying & Useful, but not as its own travel guide, July 3, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: PalmOne PalmPak Travel Card: European Cities (m125, m130, i705 & m500 series) (Office Product)

Having just returned from Europe from London & Paris, I found the Palm Pak useful when combined with another paper guide (but it was still cooler :).

The Apps
--------
- CitySync was a useful subset of the Lonely Planet guides, but it was far from exhaustive. The basics (practical information) were very useful and well written, but the other recommendations as far and food and entertainment were concerned was limited. The search feature was useful, though.

- CityTime was very nice looking and useful (I'm sure others have reviewed this software)

- SmallTalk, the local phrases software was neat too. SmallTalk used icons that allowed you to use pictures to communicate the information you wanted to in the language of your choice.

- CurCalc was not nearly as intuitive (to me) as the freeware Currency program.

- Time Book, Time Place, and Time Travel were confusing, and I did not use them at all.

The Good
--------
- You can use your Palm and not look like a tourist with a big book.
- Information is useful and to the point (with stores' hours, phone numbers, and other useful advice). - It's cool

The Bad
-------
- A little annoying that most apps always load from the card when you start the software (except for CitySync).
- The maps of the cities were totally useless (even on an m505)... If you've never been to the city before, you'd be totally confused and have to rely on paper maps.
- Interestingly, there was no manual included (just a bunch of warranty information), so some software was not easy to use, which was frustrating.

Conclusion
----------
Basically, CitySync, CityTime, and SmallTalk are quite useful apps (CitySync especially when combined with another book), and I'd recommend the PalmPak.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Very Usefull, July 11, 2001

By 

David Blood "geekd" (San Diego) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: PalmOne PalmPak Travel Card: European Cities (m125, m130, i705 & m500 series) (Office Product)

My wife and I just returned from a trip of London, Paris & Amsterdam, and this card (which was released just a week before we left) was a huge help. It saved us from carrying around several bulky books. It gave metro stops for each attraction, and this info, together with the freeware program MetrO, enabled us to get from place to place effortlessly.

The info about the history and customs of each city were very helpfull, as were the restaurant listings. We found a great little greek place in Amsterdam by entering the area we were in and getting a listing of nearby places. It was just a few blocks away and the food was great. Ditto with a fish and chips place in London.

I do agree with the previous poster that the maps are pretty much useless. The Palm screen is just to small.

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