Customer Reviews

Royal DV3 daVinci 2MB PDA

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

 

 

I don't understand all of these negative reviews here. I've had mine for over a year now and I think it's just fine. I only have three complaints: 1)The backlight is not so bright but you can still see good enough. 2)The daVinci script is difficult too use but the on-screen keyboard is great and much faster anyway. 3)The instructions were a little hard to follow on synchronizing with a PC but I managed. My batteries last for months (use ni-cad rechargeables). Other than the synchronizing part, I think the manual was good, short and to the point. I've never lost my data, even when the batteries were completely dead (you are prompted to restore the data - select the check mark, not the X). Check out davinciworld.com, you can order a really neat leather case that holds the daVinci, credit cards, money, checkbook, etc. No more fat wallets in my pocket! 2 MB of memory is plenty for me and the 16 MHz processor is plenty fast. Of course you can spend $320+ and get a whole 4 more MHz from PalmPilot and 6 more MB of memory that is unnecessary unless you have to put all kinds of games and applications on it. If you want a no-frills way to track appointments, phone numbers and to do lists, then buy the daVinci and put $220+ in your pocket. I have more fun impressing my Palm IIIc friends with what I saved than they do showing me all their bells and whistles they don't really need. I think most of these complaints came from those who paid for a Yugo, but wanted a BMW. If you don't need a Beamer, try the daVinci, I think you'll like it.

being only $99 one can think that this item dosent come with alot of features which i knew from the start but was rather excited that the software "was" compatiable with outlook which was a bonus. the basic item is fine, rather heavy for a pda at 1lbs and some change. it comes with a docking station and they offer a free keyboard after you buy the pda. this is where the good qualities end. the owners manual reads like an operation. to my surprize it deals less than one page to the computer syn and cradel instead it spends close to half its time on how to write the letters right. secondly for any other computers buffs know that installing a brand new pci/isa card can some times be harry with the card refuseing to get in or come out. One gets this sensation every time you try to install this pda into its docking cradel. theres often a distint crunching noise makeing one wonder if you snaped any of the pins in the pda or docking station.

battery power seems to be a big issue with this product. the pda takes 2 aaa battiers and lacks any rechargeing feature and you have the chance that you will lose all your memory if you leave the battiers out to long. the rathering annoying fact i found was i barely had the first pda a week without con'tious use and the batteris were almost a 1/4 gone. maybe a a bad pack of battiers though this pda seems to have the problem like the windows pda's of high and quick batteris drain.

try to snyc the pda to the computer is also a labours process. you need a open serial port if you still use the older style mouse connection. for the first hour i keep getting "time out" errors then after changeing my serial ports settings i got the thing to work. though for the life of me when i tired to to tranfer memos ie e-mails or short papers (less than 400 words) the memo titles would only transfer the titles.

the biggest issue i had with the pda was its back light feature. haveing rather largehands the on/off switch also doubles as as the back light switch. appearantly one needs to only hold the button for "2 seconds". being big boned as i refered to b4 the pda often turned off or didnt switch on at all.

the finial issue with the pda was when the pda back light was turned on the was a dark patch on the lower right of the screen. knowing it was a defective product i returned it to the store for a new one. not borthering to check the pda till ig ot home this one had an even bigger patch of black gue in the center of the screen. "trick me once shame on you-trick me twice shame on me"

over all avoid this product. for $99 your gettings a pricey game boy. spend $50 more and buy a low end palm poilt or clone or better more get a address book and pen at least they dont run out of battiers

jm

At this price you could expect to have a bunch of features tipically designed for a handheld. Ok, you've got them, but if you're unlucky, the handheld was made on 2000, which means it has a different processor than the original, which means lots of bugs in the OS, IMPOSSIBILITY to load applications designed for the older version, and hangouts everytime. Suddenly, you turn it off and can't turn it on again, until you reset it and lose all your data,...really unstable und unfriendly. Don't buy it.

Everything about this product was terrible. The instructions in the manual were difficult to follow, data entry required too many steps, and the handwriting recognition was useless. I would enter the same character 5 times in a row, and end up with 3 different letters--none of which were the letter I intended. Palm's grafitti is much better.

After several frustrating hours trying to get my new DaVinci to do what I wanted, I concluded it was "defective," and returned it to the company. Unfortunately, the new one they sent did not work any better. If you can not afford to spend a bit more money for another product, I would recommend keeping your paper day planner.

This is not a real PDA. Can't download applications. Not reliable enough to use for work related activities. Not upgradeable. May be useful as a personal electronic phone book and personal notes.

Terrible customer support.

Check out the forum on it. Note all the negative comments. Note disappointment in not being able to download applications ( Royal website had claimed that applications can be downloaded. This claim was later removed. )

http://www.davinciworld.com/forums.html

This thing is the biggest piece of garbage I have ever seen. Dont waste your money.

Well, I had originally rated this higher than I have now but, after my daVinci died and, I tried to exchange it, only to be told that, the store I bought it from didn't carry them anymore, I got myself a Palm m100 instead and, the difference was as clear as night and day.
#1-the handwritiing recognition is very poor compared to other products in this class. Although I never felt it was a big deal when I owned the daVinci, now I know better. The ease of input with the Palm is at least 10 times better than with the daVinci.
#2-Syncing wasn't bad but, only with the daVinci software. I never successfully got it to sync with Outlook or Lotus. Not really a problem though if you can handle it.
#3-Third party software and SDK. Let's face it, Third party software makes or breaks these units. As a former owner, I can tell you that I always heard the software was "just around the corner" or, when I contacted Royal, they said a SDK would be out during the first quarter of 2001. Well as I write this, we're moving into the last quarter and, still no SDK or third party software.
Anyhow, I would recomend either, getting the entry level Palm or Visor if you want to add apps and customize your PDA or, if you're pretty happy with the apps that aa noral PDA comes with, I would go the less expensive route and, grab a Sharp organizer. They alway did right by me.
One final note. If you're enticed by the free keyboard, don't be. Mine took about 3 1/2 months to get to me and by then, my daVinci had gasped its last breath.

I received the 00R model last year and while it's a very cheap PDA, you get what you pay for. Royal barely supports their PDAs at all, not having released any OS or link upgrades in over a year, the things fall a part on you (my cover especially) and worst of all, despite what it says on the box, you can't install new software on it. There's no way!

My advice, shell out 20 bucks more and get a real PDA, not this over-priced organizer.

Great product for the price. It has all the features like to-do list,calendar,calculator,sketching,various alarms,etc. The only things I don't like about it are that it's back-light isn't very strong and also that the handwriting recognition isn't very good. Other than that it's great for your 1st PDA since it is the cheapest one on the market.

You get what you pay for. It is not a Palm. But it also is a lot less money then a palm. Mine is working great and it does all that I need it for. At present there are no extra programs availible. But it comes loaded up with all that I need. I have been using it daily without any problems. Look at all that comes with it and compare that to what palm charges for these "extras". A better deal still! Bottom line , it is not a Palm. But it does not try to be. It is a good stable package. This is a good starter PDA, or a good basic PDA for someone on a budget. Jeff