So I looked around on the 'net for the memory upgrade card for my IIIx, which would double the amount of memory I would have. Sweet, right?
Well, finding accessories for a four year old Palm model was tough enough, but I was surprised to find that it really hadn't come down in price that much.
Immediately I searched eBay for Palm IIIx memory and of course found all of the listings for my handheld. Used ones were going for around $20 (some more, some less, depending on condition). Yoinks! I did find a few Palm IIIxe handhelds, which were much like my IIIx but with twice the memory. The price was right, so off we go, right?
Well... not so fast. While I was there, I figured I'd check out the pricing on the next model up, the Palm Vx. It too has 8Mb of memory and is a much sleeker "executive" model which won many awards for design, etc. The Vx came out about six months after I got my IIIx, and to be honest, while I liked the IIIx, I've wanted a Vx since they hit the shelves.
So I found one on eBay for less than I could get a IIIxe. And get a load of this: the ones I found are NEW.
How is this possible for a 3½ year old model?
Well, as it turns out, a mobile modem manufacturer named "CreSenda" put together a wireless package to sell to realtors that would come with a CreSenda modem, real estate software, and a CreSenda-branded Palm Vx computer. Instead of the silvery aluminum shell of the usual Vx this one came in a cool-blue tinted titanium shell. Very slick.
Evidently, this package didn't sell very well, and CreSenda sold off their inventory to wholesalers when they went under. Their loss is my gain.
I got this in last week from my eBay auction, but it was DOA - the screen was shot, generating random clicks and not responding to the stylus. Ugh.
Luckily I bought from a dealer who had more than one - this guy was great - I sent the broken one back to him on Monday and I got the replacement on Friday (yesterday). This time it was missing the stylus, but hey... the dealer said he'd send it to me, and he's going to reimburse me for shipping it back, too. Great deal.
The really nice thing about getting a 3½ year old model is that the accessories are really really cheap. Ebay is just a treasure trove of brand-spankin'-new Palm gear.
Good stuff all around. Now I'm off to bid on accessories which are $5.00 or less...