Buying a S/H 5MX

[Joe Hull]

Buying a second hand 5MX. I am going to look at a S/H Psion 5MX which is only 6 months old and has only been used for 2 months.

The owner has bought a 7 series to replace it.

I bought a new Osaris machine but returned this to the supplier because I was not happy with the screen. It was too small and there were a lot of reflections from it. I also found out from this web site that it ran older version of the operating system.

Can anyone advise me what to look out for when buying a 5mx
Any idea what I should offer as reasonable.?

The Owner says he paid over £300 for it about 6 months ago. I gather these machines are no longer available. I did toy with the idea of going to a PPC but still trying to make up my mind. Battery life and no keyboard puts me off a little.

Anybody out there who has gone to PPC and gone back to Psion I would be interested in your reasons.


Joe Hull

[netBookBabe]

Here's a link where you can study the actual prices paid at auction for 5mxs over the last couple of weeks:

http://search-completed.ebay.co.uk/search/search.dll?GetResult&query=Psion+5mx&shortcut=2&ebaytag1code=3&ht=1&currdisp=1&combine=y&st=2&SortProperty=MetaEndSort

As I've already said in a recent post, prices vary enormously according to age, condition, and extras included, as with almost any second hand item purchased. This should give you a good guide on what to offer for the particular machine you have in mind, though.

Clove are still advertising the 5mx new at about £269, but they're currently out of stock. Expansys are showing it as discontinued.

Julie

[MikeMcC]

Anybody out there who has gone to PPC and gone back to Psion I would be interested in your reasons I didn't change to Pocket PC and come back to Psion but I do have a Jornada 520 which I bought to have a play about with the PPC platform. Personally, due to the lack of keyboard and the small 'portrait' screen, I find the device quite useless and cannot really understand why this format is so successful.

If you are looking at a 5mx, you will find that the screen on that is also very reflective - the screen technology is essentially the same as the Osaris.

[Joe Hull]

Thanks for your reply MikeMcC

Interesting to know of your experience with the Jornada.

If I can pick up a s/h 5mx at a reasonable price I may go for it. At least I am familiar with the machine and its operating system.

I have never tried Emailing or web browsing with my old 3c but might be worth a try.

Joe Hull

[MikeMcC]

I have never tried Emailing or web browsing with my old 3c but might be worth a try It's not easy these days. Psimail Internet's web browser is extremely basic and you will only be able to access a very few sites. Connecting to ISPs can also be a problem as PsiMail Internet uses a script to logon and this method is rarely supported these days.

Connecting and using email or browsing with Web / Opera on a current device, such as the 5mx, is a dream by comparison.

[Joe Hull]

Thank you Julie for your reply.

I have looked at the Ebay site. Interesting to see the prices. A useful guide to S/H prices thanks.

I was aware of Clove Technology. They are good to deal with and are quite knowledgeable about Psions

Joe Hull

[nigelp]

I recently did a deal with Psion Ex a second user exchange service. they were good to deal with and offered a 3 month garantee. Give them a whirl at www.psionex.co.uk Sorry could not make it a click and go link!!! Nigel:p

[nigelp]

No I did make it click and go link!!!

[Calbrit]

Joe, when I was visiting POS Ltd in Streatham last month to get my 5mx repaired (first problem since I bought it which was a few years ago) they had brand new (unboxed) 5mx's going for I think 245 UK Pounds including the cable, CD and Manual.

They are a very good company to deal with and outside of Psion are about the only well known alternative place to get a Psion repaired or serviced in the UK. They may also have refurbished machines which I expect would also come with some kind of a warranty. Check them out, I think they are a "safe" resource.

Grant

[WolfUK]

Originally posted by Joe Hull
I did toy with the idea of going to a PPC but still trying to make up my mind. Battery life and no keyboard puts me off a little.

Anybody out there who has gone to PPC and gone back to Psion I would be interested in your reasons.
Joe,

I know that you asked about Pocket PC rather than Palm but many of my points will be valid for both platforms I think ...

I was a long-time Psion user before I defected to Palm a little over two years ago. I was drawn by the smoother synchronisation, apparently wide range of software, better support and continued hardware development and a wider acceptance at work as a third-party add-on to our systems. During this time I sold my 5mx, Revo Plus and netBook. Two years later I was back and I now own a 5mx and a netBook again and I have sold my Palm bits and pieces. My reasons were essentially as follows ...

1. The screen size is both too small for practical use (try creating a fairly complex spreadsheet on one and you will see what I mean) and also the wrong orientation ... I prefer to read a document on a landscape screen since it more closely reflects a monitor in that it is wider than higher.

2. The add-on keyboards are a pain. You have to carry them with you, find a suitable surface to fold them out on and then you look like an idiot anyway with a full sized keyboard and a tiny screen perched on top of it.

3. The massive software libraries are a bit of an illusion ... Many applications can be reproduced on a Psion by simply creating a data file or a spreadsheet. Do you really want to pay for a mileage tracker when you could just use a Sheet document on your Psion?

4. Back with the software, EPOC has the most feature rich word processor and spreadsheet software of any PDA IMHO. The email application is also very good and Opera is a first class web browser.

5. The seamless integration of compact flash cards is alien to Palm devices. Being able to install an application onto a CF card and have it behave as if it were on the C-drive is a wonderful thing and I missed it greatly when SD and MMC cards eventually came to the Palm.

6. The latest version of PsiWin does a pretty good job of synchronising with Outlook. I have, however, stopped using a desktop PIM and rely on my Psion since Agenda and Contacts are very good applications and do all that I need.

7. The EPOC OS is very stable and efficient. Palm and Pocket PCs need resetting fairly regularly.

8. A Psion is a portable computer and not a repository for desktop data. I use my Psions as second computers and this functionality and flexibility makes them invaluable to me. If I didn't need a desktop PC for my work I would probably rely more on my netBook as a primary device ... They are that good.

[Joe Hull]

Thanks everyone for your replies, I was very interested in Simon Wolf's comprehensive reply and in Grant and Nigels comments and web sites the exchange site is a good reference for the future should I need Psion goods no longer available new.

I know now I have done the right thing. I bought a 5mx for a very reasonable price, only 6 months old, no guarantee of course so I took a bit of a risk but I have loaded the software tonight and all seems to be Ok.

The owner bought it by mistake but preferred to series 7 so this says something for Psions because he runs a business computer related.

[Calbrit]

Congratulations! Good decision.