Pocket PC: Audiovox Maestro dropped to $299 *($259 @ Staples after rebate/coupon)

[emonkey]

SHWEEET!

Dont get scared by the name! The Audiovox Maestro is the same thing as the Toshiba e570 except its rebadged and has only 32MB Ram instead of 64MB.

I had an ipaq for a year and CUSA traded it in for one of these when they were $499 and it was worth it at that price. Its much smaller than an ipaq w/sleeve or any other ppc out there now, great screen, ONBOARD CF AND SD slots and looks great.

Maestro Handheld Pocket PC $299 @ CompUSA

I cant believe they dropped the price $200. Its really worth taking a look at if youre into getting a PDA since this taps the same price as an underpowered Palm thats not too much smaller.

Pros for the Maestro/Toshiba e570 vs others
+Onboard CF and SD slot means no crappy bulky sleeves
+Smallest PPC PDA out there so far
+Cheaper than some Palms finally, but still 10x more powerful
+Cleartype works well (unlike the ipaqs which cleartype sucks at)

Cons for the Maestro/Toshiba e570 vs others
-Battery life. Not as strong as the new ipaqs/jornadas but just as good as my old ipaq 3630
-Screen is a bit smaller than ipaq but so is the whole thing so its no big deal

Reviews:

Brighthand: Audiovox Maestro
-Good review. But keep in mind iPAQ's are more popular than they should be. So some people just wont give new guys a good enough review.

Pocketnow - Audiovox Maestro
-Good review. But read till the end. They did their testing on the Toshiba Genio (japan model) where the battery was suck. The US version has a much better battery.

Update IV
A better deal at Staples:

$349.00 Maestro SKU 482223
- 50.00 Rebate
-40.00 coupon
_______
$259.99

 

[olouie]

great deal.... these retail for much more. i would jump on this deal, but gotta save up for more important things

 

[fr]

Nice. If I didn't already have an iPAQ...

 

[Joony]

i wish those had PCMCIA sleeves...

 

[takhyon]

Hey Joony. This device has built in PCMCIA. It's bigger than the Audiovox, but smaller than the IPAQ with the PCMCIA sleeve, and a lot cheaper.

@migo PD-600C Pocket PC

 

[takhyon]

A question, does the Audiovox come with PocketPC 2002?

 

[NICKel]

2002 is onboard... One big drawback to this unit is that it barely gets 2.5-3 hrs Whereas Hp 56X series can get almost 14hours or 2-4 days standby.

But you can use IBM microdrive with this one whereas you cannot thru HP.

I need the money so I am gonna fleabay my HP and get the Audiovox.

 

[Joony]

<< Hey Joony. This device has built in PCMCIA. It's bigger than the Audiovox, but smaller than the IPAQ with the PCMCIA sleeve, and a lot cheaper.

@migo PD-600C Pocket PC >>


i considered that an option but it dosen't look as slick as the ipaq, so i just got the 3765 w/ PC card sleeve...iam happy with that...

 

[JackMDS]

1. Look at the size of the screen.

2. X-Scale is around the corner.

However, you don't have to spend money on a Sleeve.

So, if you must have one NOW it is a good deal.

 

[pyaralii]

are u sure the hp gets 14 hours? when u mean standby, do u mean with the backlight totally off, or the entire unit isnt on. I got my ipaq in novemeber for $50 and got the upgrade. I works nicely, but the battery life blows like none other. I am considering "dropping" my ipaq 3650 and replacing it with this audiovox, because i have a replacement plan for it.

 

[alfonsors]

I'm not an expert on PDAs but I went to CompUSA today and played with it for about 20 minutes. I thought the display was pretty nice.
The style, as far as overall looks, is OK (I think the Compaq is a little more trendy). I Tend to like the style of the Clie 615 better eventhough it has a different OS. But that price sure was tempting for the Maestro.

Good post. Funny ... sometimes I will buy something based just on looks. Could be the greatest invention ever .. but if it doesn't look good ... forget it .... unless there is one great deal on it.

 

[emonkey]

<< are u sure the hp gets 14 hours? when u mean standby, do u mean with the backlight totally off, or the entire unit isnt on. I got my ipaq in novemeber for $50 and got the upgrade. I works nicely, but the battery life blows like none other. I am considering "dropping" my ipaq 3650 and replacing it with this audiovox, because i have a replacement plan for it. >>



14hours is bogus. With backlight at its minimum setting you'll get roughly 5-6hrs nonstop (same as my ipaq 3630). But then who uses it nonstop. These are PDA's. Use it for 3 minutes, turn it off or whatever. So its definitely enough unless you are buying it to watch movies all day. But if you're that guy then you wont be happy with any of the current offerings because 8hrs is probably the best out there right now. Good power management and intelligent usage can easily get you through 2 days without charging so its not too big a worry.

Anyway, i got my audiovox because my ipaq 3670 ($199 after Amex BVG) had a warranty on it so they gave me $500 worth of credit since the 3670 was no longer in stock. I picked this one because it is awesome! Onboard CF is great because now i can hold 4 seinfeld/simpsons episodes and 50MB of .wma audio files on a 128MB card and not have to worry about sleeves.

So replacing your ipaq for this isnt a bad idea but keep in mind that the new xscale ones are coming out too in a few months so do some homework...

 

[DanielNTX]

I ended up getting one at the CompUSA here in Austin, Texas. But I have yet to open it, because of the hefty 15% restocking fee. When I went to get it, they had 4 left. So I decided to get it and do research on it. Battery life is what worries me. I've noticed varying opinions on the internet.

Here are three forums I've found regarding this unit (ordered from the most traffic to the least):

Brighthand.com Forum on the Toshiba e550 and e570

PDABuzz.com Forum on the Toshiba/Audiovox

pocketnow.com Forum on the Audiovox Maestro, Toshiba e500 Series

 

[NICKel]

Only had one left in Tucson AZ, so I snatched it.

Intial impressions vs. HP 568

Weight- close but a bit heavier than HP

Size - Shorter, but fatter.

Screen. Good color, but less bright than HP.

Pros: Nice to have SD and CF II capabilty. Pack of 2 spare styli included.

Cons: Battery life is fair (think IPAQ 3635) Extra apps are not as nice as HP (in keeping with the less frills stuff.)

2 things though...

IS a paper manual included ? I didn't find any...

Does the cradle recharge?

 

[Mysterie]

<< 14hours is bogus. With backlight at its minimum setting you'll get roughly 5-6hrs nonstop (same as my ipaq 3630). But then who uses it nonstop. These are PDA's. Use it for 3 minutes, turn it off or whatever. So its definitely enough unless you are buying it to watch movies all day. But if you're that guy then you wont be happy with any of the current offerings because 8hrs is probably the best out there right now. Good power management and intelligent usage can easily get you through 2 days without charging so its not too big a worry. >>


Hmm, I have to charge mine every day (3635). Doesn't even last 5-6 hours non-stop. I do actually use mine alot. When I feel like it I download reading material, websites, etc onto a compactflash card and read off that in bed or out like waiting for 1 hour at the post office (also while grooving to whatever I have on the card as well). Not as nice as a book but I can upload new stuff all the time. I keep my backlight at low bright and see a drastic saving in power but it's still not enough. I miss my Visor Prism with my 8 hour battery life (running music off a minijam and reading stuff saved to the 2mb memory, ah yes beautiful memories of the trip to San Fransico from LA ignoring everyone else in the car) those were the days... (but the iPaq still looks cooler )

 

[toant103]

good price but it's kinda ugly

 

[Atrac]

I saw this at CompUSA last week and pointed out to my friend the $499.99 price. I laughed and asked rhetorically "They actually think they can sell this for more than an iPaq?!?!?"

It looks like I saw it a week too soon...heh heh.

I'd pay $249 for it. Yes, it's still $50 overpriced in my opinion.

 

[cleek]

Is there a powerpoint or acrobat viewer available for this thing? or does this lack of RAM
make to request view a 4 MB file seem ludicrous?

 

[jtallon]

Very nice find - thanks !

I sold my Ipaq 37xx this morning and bought one of these. The 16-bit color is nice, and the rest of the features are decent at least. Just ordered a 128-meg SD card to put applications and ebooks on, and a 256-meg CF card just for MP3's (thanks newegg !). This is a pretty kick-butt little palmtop if you load it up with a CF and SD card. Again, nice find - thanks for the post !

 

[vetteguy]

<< Is there a powerpoint or acrobat viewer available for this thing? or does this lack of RAM
make to request view a 4 MB file seem ludicrous? >>



Huh? Yes there are Powerpoint and Acrobat viewers available for PocketPC.

 

[catrats]

<< Very nice find - thanks !

I sold my Ipaq 37xx this morning and bought one of these. The 16-bit color is nice, and the rest of the features are decent at least. Just ordered a 128-meg smart media card to put applications and ebooks on, and a 256-meg CF card just for MP3's (thanks newegg !). This is a pretty kick-butt little palmtop if you load it up with a CF and SmartMedia card. Again, nice find - thanks for the post ! >>

SmartMedia? I hope you mean either a Secure Digital (SD) or MultiMedia Card (MMC). Otherwise, you'll want to return that SmartMedia card.

 

[NICKel]

IS a paper manual included ? I didn't find any...

Does the cradle recharge?

 

[jtallon]

[qSmartMedia? I hope you mean either a Secure Digital (SD) or MultiMedia Card (MMC). Otherwise, you'll want to return that SmartMedia card. [/i] >>



Dammit - I ordered the wrong thing. Thanks for pointing it out - now I'm disappointed BEFORE it shows up, instead of WHEN it shows up... Too bad newegg ships so darn fast...

Thanks again for pointing this out - off to order the right thing from newegg...

 

[jtallon]

<< IS a paper manual included ? I didn't find any...

Does the cradle recharge? >>



Doesn't seem to have a paper manual. The cradle DOES recharge, once you turn on the Maestro (small switch on the bottom). Before that the battery must be disconnected internally, so it won't charge...

 

[emonkey]

<< Is there a powerpoint or acrobat viewer available for this thing? or does this lack of RAM
make to request view a 4 MB file seem ludicrous? >>



huh? lack of ram? since when did 32MB become too little for the average user? if you are that power hungry and need loads of ram for all your software then there is an onboard cf slot so buy yourself a 1GB CF card or microdrive to get all those apps you need on there. but for the rest of us normal users, 32MB is plentry. its a PDA, not a full blown computer so you dont need to do a complete hard drive dump into this thing if youre going to plan out exactly what you're using this for.

My 128MB CF Card contents:
-28tracks of music converted to .wma
-2 simpsons episodes
-2 seinfeld episode
-LOTR ebooks
-Harry Potter series ebooks
-PDF reader and various pdf files
-A bunch of Pictures

AlbatrosSlides Preview: Pocket PC PowerPoint Viewer

Adobe® Acrobat® Reader® for Pocket PC