Xircom Rex-3 DS Organizer with Docking Station

Rating:
Summary: Suits my need!
Review: A memory card with an LCD display. Resumes, procedures, driving directions, articles, anything that you would want to keep handy or save for later reading can be put into the rex. Imagine carrying your favourite news articles from your favourite newspaper in your pocket in a small inconspicuous package. The price is even lower. I hope more people see the benefit of a REX over a Palmpilot. It'll be a shame if this product disappears from the market like most non-popular products do.

Rating:
Summary: Convenient, easy to use, makes user more efficient
Review: As a part-time trainer in Time Management I'm always looking for better softwares and simpler yet powerful solutions for controlling one's work and personal life. I've always come back to Sidekick which is effectively the software that goes with Rex (or Rex Pro). I load, sort, manipulate, all my info during the day and synchronise everytime I leave the office - then carry on making calls from my limo. Rex is infinitely simpler than the Palm and fits nicely into your vest pocket along with your cellular and a small notebook. In fact I've bought every one of my 18 office staff a Rex and oblige them to use it. We do not permit loose paper in our office nor inefficient work processes!

Rating:
Summary: Give your Palm Pilot to the kids. This is what you need.
Review: As an early user, I was one of the first to jump on the Palm Pilot bandwagon. I found entering information into the Palm to be tedious at best, and I mostly just used it to read back info from my Outlook files. At $50 the REX is a steal. It is small and does what it does very well. One kicker--if you want to directly download files from Outlook, you need to buy Trusync Plus for an additional $70.

Rating:
Summary: Overral a great thing to carry anywhere
Review: Great for traviling small

Rating:
Summary: Superb
Review: Great value. Buy a voice recorder with it. Record your do s to do recorder and pass them to the Rex at home with your laptop.

Rating:
Summary: Laptop users - think twice!
Review: I bought my REX to solve the problem of carrying regular size PDA when all I need is my telephone book and my notes - like shopping list or a short memo . I would feel kind of stupid to look thru my Palmheld being in a veggie aisle in a supermarket, so the size is a GREAT plus. Any of the existing PDAs are bulky and I think everybody who ever had one would agree with me ( even superslim 3Com models owners). I think it worth every dollar I spent on my REX since it cost almost nothing and it comes with a docking station, which cost more then entire kit when sold separately ( which makes no sense for me). It has a leather case, which I found very attractive, memory is more then enough for its functions and Xircom has pretty decent tech support ( but not an 1-800 number, so be ready to pay long distance). BUTÉ. I have a laptop and when I was going to buy it I thought " how nice that I would keep my COMM port free and will stick it into my PCMCIA slot to sync it", but I never ever was able to do this, I called tech support and they told me, that REX does not support PC card slots made by several hardware makers Ð I can tell you for sure that Texas Instruments 1131 card bus controller is one of them I wish I had a list of conflict hardware before I bought it. So if you want to use PC Card slot for sync Ð check your hardware manufacturer first, otherwise youÕll have to use cradle ( minus some space on your desk and plus an additional cable) and youÕll loose your port. But overall I found it very useful, dirt cheap, and the size will make you forget about all its cons. About previous comment Ð there is a possibility to import your Outlook contacts and calendar into REX desktop software, but if you make updates in your Outlook youÕll have to import a new version again and again and again. I have 2 organizer software on my computer now Ð maybe not very convenient, but you can live with that. I think it may bother you if you have 2 different organizers synced with one computer. If you are going to use REX only Ð you may use its software Ð I found it pretty and convenient. Backlit display, however, would be a big plus, but again what do you want for this $. IÕm sure that paper notepad in a leather cover would cost more.

Rating:
Summary: Laptop users - think twice!
Review: I bought my REX to solve the problem of carrying regular size PDA when all I need is my telephone book and my notes - like shopping list or a short memo . I would feel kind of stupid to look thru my Palmheld being in a veggie aisle in a supermarket, so the size is a GREAT plus. Any of the existing PDAs are bulky and I think everybody who ever had one would agree with me ( even superslim 3Com models owners). I think it worth every dollar I spent on my REX since it cost almost nothing and it comes with a docking station, which cost more then entire kit when sold separately ( which makes no sense for me). It has a leather case, which I found very attractive, memory is more then enough for its functions and Xircom has pretty decent tech support ( but not an 1-800 number, so be ready to pay long distance). BUTÉ. I have a laptop and when I was going to buy it I thought " how nice that I would keep my COMM port free and will stick it into my PCMCIA slot to sync it", but I never ever was able to do this, I called tech support and they told me, that REX does not support PC card slots made by several hardware makers Ð I can tell you for sure that Texas Instruments 1131 card bus controller is one of them I wish I had a list of conflict hardware before I bought it. So if you want to use PC Card slot for sync Ð check your hardware manufacturer first, otherwise youÕll have to use cradle ( minus some space on your desk and plus an additional cable) and youÕll loose your port. But overall I found it very useful, dirt cheap, and the size will make you forget about all its cons. About previous comment Ð there is a possibility to import your Outlook contacts and calendar into REX desktop software, but if you make updates in your Outlook youÕll have to import a new version again and again and again. I have 2 organizer software on my computer now Ð maybe not very convenient, but you can live with that. I think it may bother you if you have 2 different organizers synced with one computer. If you are going to use REX only Ð you may use its software Ð I found it pretty and convenient. Backlit display, however, would be a big plus, but again what do you want for this $. IÕm sure that paper notepad in a leather cover would cost more.

Rating:
Summary: I'm Impressed!
Review: I bought the Rex for my husband for Christmas. He loves it but I love it even more. After contemplating purchasing an expensive PDA, I decided this would work great for my needs. I ordered one for myself!

Rating:
Summary: Very useful because it's small enough to take everywhere
Review: I had been using an Apple Newton for a few years and wanted to upgrade to another personal organizer. The Rex is nice because it's incredibly small size makes it so easy to take with you. I keep in with me almost whereever I go and it's a great comfort to know that I have contact information with me everywhere. The memo storage feature is also nice: I use it to store various tidbits of information and it has replaced stacks of Post-It(tm) Notes all over my desk. I have a Toshiba Libretto that I mainly use to program the Rex. I also bought the docking station but it doesn't get much use because my main computer is short of serial ports. Two drawbacks: There is no input capability whatsoever; it must be programmed from software on a PC. The proprietary software that comes with it is the only way to program it without spending more money. At this price it would even be a worthy companion to a PalmPilot.

Rating:
Summary: Everyone should own a REX
Review: I hate PDA's and Organizers and Address books, and being organized in general. I bought my REX because it was small, cheap, and because I thought I could give it to my daughter if I didn't like it. It liked the way it connected to my PC without me doing anything hard, I don't even know why I writing this I can't usually be bothered. Once I started using the REX I found I couldn't do without it! I think it has to be my best investment of 1999.

(c) J.P.Emmerson