IR To Desktop Question

[papazote]

I was wondering what kind of IR Hotsync equipment is out there? Are they worth it, or should I just stick with the cradle?

[metaphysician]

Once I got OS 3.3 on my IIIx, I was able to sync via IR with my portable. It worked fine, except that my IR port was on the back of my portable. You also had to do some fiddling with the alignment at times. I made work buy me a second cradle and haven't used the IR port in the last couple of years. The cradle was just more convenient.

[papazote]

thanx

[Sparticus Caine]

Some people use an external IR port for thier PC if you want to sync that way. Ingram Micro has a great one for under 100 bucks thats pretty fast... might want to give that a shot :)

[palm boy]

I sync on my dads laptop using the IR, and it is really slow. It took me 15 minites on the initial sync. It will also wear your battery down.

[Sparticus Caine]

The external IR port I used before was pretty quick... not as fast as the hotsync cradle of course, but still fast enough. Some IR ports on laptops are slow... which model laptop is it? I can IR sync to the newer laptops and ones in the past year with some good speed.

[palm boy]

It is a compaq E500. I looked at the throput rate and it said 115.24 kbs. Is that a good speed?

[Sparticus Caine]

Thats pretty quick, but I'll be honest and say I'm sure what the standard speed is. I never checked when syncing. At any rate, sometimes internal IR ports are slower than external ones... the ones I've used were USB external IR ports. Very quick.

[tuffguy]

Please forgive me if this is an ignorant comment, but I just don't see the benefit of syncing through IR. Just by looking at the comments above: it is slower and in is a big drain on the battery.

I have two cradles: one at work and one at home. Both pc's have ample usb slots, so that is not a problem. Hotsync is very fast since I have a Pentium IV and III, respectably. And, if I'm in a real hurry, I am still able to get a little charge before I run out the door.

So what's the attraction to the IR sync? Maybe the coolness of being able to do it?

tuff

[palm boy]

So you don't have to carry a cradle on vacation. If you don't have a pda with rechargeable batteries, it make little diference. you can just set it down and have it snyc. (none of these aply to me) And it just looks cool.

[Sparticus Caine]

Alot of my customers work in the oil field and they are always driving around in thier trucks and they carry all of thier equipment in thier front seat/cab. You can imagine they don't have very many power outlets to plug in thier palms with rechargeable batteries. They need to take up the least amount of space possible, and they still need to sync. Yes, I know the cradle is small, but not when you have a multifunction unit, a laptop, a GPS carrier, cell phone holders, and sattelite equipment all in the same area too. Most of those folks do thier email on thier pda's in the field (or spreadsheets while inspecting different aspects of job sites) and when they get back to the truck they need to sync'n'email. IR syncing does that for them and on the newer laptops they buy, its got a very fast transfer rate. It all depends on what you need it for and what you do with it... I know they could do things differently, but when they come in wanting to spend 15,000 dollars on computers/pdas/printers/etc... I ain't gonna argue with 'em when they want specific things lol :)