Hello All

Sorry if this is in wrong forum but it seemed pretty general to me

Bit of advice, been looking at getting a Zaurus in some form for a few weeks. I started off looking at a cheap 5500 on ebay which I missed out on due to my inability to tell the time , I have since looked at and bid on a few others but no luck so far.

Stumbled on this site

http://conics.net/shp/pda/zaurus-sl-c700/index.html

The Used SL Machines seem reasonable but I have a couple of questions.

1. Has anyone bought from these lads ? Getting it shipped to london
2. Which one to buy , or should I carry on looking for a 5500
3. the New SL-C1000 @ $450 USD seems a good price Is this a big improvement over the 8xx 7xx range
4. Is the keyboard on the 1000 and up models a big improvement on the 7xx 8xx
5. What do you think of the prices ?
6. The thickness of the old machines does appeal , as the new ones look a tad chunky.
7. Is the screen quality the same across the range ?

I would list all my requirements for the machine but I cant think of any justifcation for me buying one (Not that that has ever stopped me) .

The only Zaurus I have had my hands on was the c750 in japan great screen.

Current Pda's Treo 650, Tungsten T3, Ipaq H4100 ,Zodiac 2 (x2), psion 3c ,psion revo, psion netbook, psion 5x so apart from my netbook pretty linux free so my need is great

Cheers For any Help

John

1. Has anyone bought from these lads ? Getting it shipped to london

If you're in old Londinium, get it from Trisoft. They're in Europe (Deutschland, if I recall correctly). Much closer to you.

2. Which one to buy , or should I carry on looking for a 5500

Don't bother getting a 5X00. All you'll find are factory-refurbs with questionable batteries or used with questionable batteries. They have limited RAM and limited Flash space anyway.

3. the New SL-C1000 @ $450 USD seems a good price Is this a big improvement over the 8xx 7xx range

If you don't have a lot of bucks to spend, the SL-C1000 is a good deal. It's got 128 Meg of Flash, 64 of RAM, it's still in production, and it comes with a decent battery.

4. Is the keyboard on the 1000 and up models a big improvement on the 7xx 8xx

Yes. I owned an 860. When it fried, the vendor sent me a 3000. The keyboard is much better.

5. What do you think of the prices ?

Prices for the SL-C series are high outside Japan, but that's the price for getting a cutting-edge device outside of its market area.

6. The thickness of the old machines does appeal , as the new ones look a tad chunky.

There isn't much difference in thickness, especially if you get the extra-large battery for the SL or early SL-C range. The benefit of the SL-C range is that the screen is protected when it's closed down over the keyboard.

7. Is the screen quality the same across the range ?

No. Everyone agrees that the SL-C range had generally better screens than the SL's. The one excpetion is the SL-6000. This has the largest and best screen of all the Zaurii. Unfortunately, they're rare as hen's teeth, and if you thought the SL-Cs were "chunky", you'd be in for a shock with the 6000.

Jomo

I did own an SL-5500 and now own an C860.

I'd say its definitely worth getting any of the clam shell models just for the screen.

Size is one of the things stopping me from upgrading to one of the newer models. I bought one of the smaller batteries for everyday use. It makes the 860 the same size as the 750. IMHO the 750 is just about the perfect compromise size and nicely fits in the pocket. If I need the extra battery life then I can always go back to the large cell. Unfortunately, you can't do that with the new models you're stuch with larger size. I guess they've got loads of advantages other people can tell you about to make up for it.

I've ordered some accessories from Conics; I'm also based in the UK. They took a little while to answer some of my initial enquires but were quite good there after. I ordered my Z from Japan-Direct who were excellent if a little pricey. They sent me loads of updates on what was happening to the order and they got it through customs without a hitch.

I think the cheapest place I've looked recently is PriceJapan but I've never used them personally....

Hope that helps,

ltrm.

Be aware that the SL-C1000 has in addition to the SL-Cxxx line:
- USB host so that you can use a mouse, a hub, a keyboard, a usb key, a harddrive....
- iwmmx optimisations if you use special kernel
- Dpad (but may be you prefer arrows placed in T)

John,

Figlabs is based in the UK, and we ship the SL-C1000, 3000 and 3100. Check out our shop in addition to the others mentioned.

That's quite a collection of PDA's you have there!
Cheers

Hello Again,

First thanks for all the feedback

Still looking at picking up a zaurus , however I have rasied my sights as I like the idea of having the USB port to play with

Looking at a 3000 at a pretty good price just wanted to ask if there was any major problems with the lack of memory when compared to the 3100 .

The White case would not be my number one choice but $150 difference between the two will help me get over it

Cheers again for the help

John

Personally I'd get a c1000 if I were to upgrade - the only thing it lacks which the c3k has is a hdd and CF cards are cheap these days.


Si

I totally agree. I just ordered a new C1000 from PriceJapan for USD$425 (including shipping to the states) to replace my 5500. The extra cost for the internal HDD just wasn't worth it to me, especially since if I ever want to use one in particular situations it's easy to add it as a CF card.

I was going to hold back about this, but I think the C3100 wins over the others for two reasons:

* it has the rom and ram of the C860 & C1000 models
- this means it doesn't *need* the internal hard drive, unlike the 3000 which is utterly dependent on it; maybe it'd be possible to fit a bluetooth or wifi card internally, or one day upgrade to a larger drive or big flash memory card.

* like the C3000 it has an internal hard drive, which no other Zs have ever had
- you might not need/want 3GB+ now, but one day...
- it can reduce the wear on internal flash by keeping data files separate

* it has an internal CF slot, total two CF slots.
the C1000 cannot easily be retrofitted with this; the lack of SDIO and the failure to support SD cards over 2GB means the only way to add mass storage to the C860, C1000 and 6000 is via the only CF. thus you can reserve the external CF slot for modem/wifi/bluetooth/gprs/ethernet/GPS etc.
This makes the following scenarios possible:
* play very large videos whilst online
* you can be online and download mp3 & video files to the hard drive
* be using GPS (with CF GPS or bluetooth module) with a very large map set on the drive.

The alternative to a C3100 fitted with communications CF cards is, say, a 6000W and a huge flash card or microdrive (though this is a very bulky system!)

Plus the C3100 is MUCH more compatible with more roms thn the c3000. Not enough flash. And the case is ugly....

(I have only a c860- But I want a c3100)

First of all thanks for the all the advice,

I have decided to be sensible and have picked up a c760 on eBay. (I have promised myself a c3100 as long as I get some use out of the 760).

I guess I should head to the cxx0 room now but before I go a few general questions

1st Which ROM I am have looked at the cacko 1.23 or the pdaXrom (but any other recommendations for the 760 gratefully received ) just wondered if there are any strong reasons either way or is it a case of keep flashing till you find one you like.

2nd Am I right in saying that the hardware on the 760 and 860 are the same and the only difference is the shipped software/firmware

Cheers

John

John, welcome to the fellowship of Z users. It is a great handheld and I'm sure you will enjoy it.

1st - Cacko is great! Well supported, everything works, very little tweaking required. Good choice if you want more of a PDA feel.

pdaXrom, also great! Well supported, mostly everything justs works, may require a little more tweaking. Good choice if you want more of a desktop feel.

Don't forget OZ. 2.6 linux kernel, and other nice features. May require some tweaking, depending on what you want to do.

My best advice is take a weekend and have a flash party and try them all. There is really no way for anyone to tell you what you should like, so jump in the middle of the pile and see which one makes you the most satisfied.

2nd - Yes, 760 = 860 from a hardware standpoint