Rating: 
Summary: It is worth the price!
Review: I purcased the vTech Helio for myself in Dec.2000, from Amazon.
Then,I was given a Palm llle for Christmas.
Since then I have used them both extensively, and have decided that even though my Palm was FREE,:>, the Helio is a much better value, with 4x the memory, a voice recorder, available for far less, when purchased, than any other PDA in its' class.
The vTech Helio will perform all the standard PDA functions, PLUS the voice recorder, as well as any other PDA I have tried!
It is easy to use the script input, with little practice needed to learn the JOT shorthand.(I had more trouble learning the GRAFITTI used by the Palm PDA).
With everyday use, including playing several games, the batteries last 5-6 weeks, (Longer when I use the GOOD ones)
The only drawback I have found is the lack of a flip cover being available for it.(BUY A CASE!!-it is cheaper than replacing the PDA if you, or the cat, drop it!)
Since I am shopping for another PDA because the Palm died of a cracked screen, (the cat did it!), for which Palm will charge $100. to exchange for a refurbished unit,(Their form of repair), I can replace it with the more versatile vTech, at a lower cost, here at Amazon.
Now, if vTech will offer a COLOR capable model....
Rating:
Summary: This product is great!
Review: I really like this product. i would recommend this to anyone who is looking for a PDA but is not looking to spend $300. These are very powerful and come with a lot of software on it. This is a great product!
Rating:
Summary: I was pleasantly surprised!
Review: I received the Helio as a gift. I actually started my research on PDAs to get my husband organized but then he truthfully claimed that he'll probably lose it. I kept doing the research anyway because by that time I wanted one for myself. I couldn't decide which one to get. I looked at the Palm M100, Handspring Visor, Casio Cassiopaeia and even the Franklin eBookman and the Helio. My sister made it easy for me by buying the Helio from my Wish List. At first, I was a little disappointed that it was not the Handspring nor the Palm which both came with 2 MB of memory. I even waited for a few days before I opened the box with every intention of returning it and exchanging it for the Franklin eBookman 911 at $229 once it comes out (the prospect of being able to download books, MP3 files and still be organized was just too hard to resist). However, my curiosity got the better of me and I opened the box. Hmmm, it looked nice. Not as sleek as the M100 but it's okay. It came with 2 AAA batteries and a carrying case. I didn't even bother reading the guide and just started playing with the stylus. I was surprised at the ease of operation! The next day I started categorizing our monthly expenses. Sure the categories are limited but I just had to be creative (eg., mortgage payments are under "lodging"). I started keeping track of vacation and sick days taken, even the menu and shopping list for my baby's upcoming baptism. The way I'm going, the 8 mb of memory sure is handy. I even made a voice recording of my baby saying "Da-da" for posterity. "Synching" was very easy and once we connected the USB cable to the right place (it helps!), it worked great! I still have to figure out how to download my e-mail (from Outlook) to my PDA but my life is not THAT hectic and my junk mail can wait until I can access my computer. All in all I think this is a great product. (Thanks, Jenn!) Now, if I can only get my husband organized...
Rating: 
Summary: User -friendly review for the curious
Review: I recently bought the VTech Helio,I have, also, recently returned my Vtech Helio. Now, let me tell you why and you can judge my experience for yourself. It seemed to be perfect at first because, let us be honest, those features were a whole lot for the buck. And the applications, although not as thorough and user friendly as on other systems, were satisfactory. But the only programms I could find to download were tetris and one to figure out exact tips. Also, I could not download internet pages, like the New York Times. That made a difference. Finally the voice recorder froze the entire system almost infallibly, meaning I had to reset it and wait several minutes to restart it. Talk about a headache. But they might have improved that bug by now. I have owned and used the Helio, PalmIIIxe, and the Visor deluxe. The Helio has the style, the features, and the Price. But it does not perform to expectations.
Rating:
Summary: Scrambled my calendar!
Review: I was so excited about my first PDA -- until I tried to sync it with Outlook on my PC. It completely scrambled all of my appointments. Events that were 3 months old showed up again on different days at different times. A complete mess! I called Vtech's tech support in a panic. They were very friendly, but I was on the phone with them for an hour with no fix. It is in the box ready to return!
Rating:
Summary: Sent it Back!
Review: I was very impressed with the features that the Helio had for the advertised price. No other PDA can compare. Unfortunitely, the Helio would constantly get several system error alarms that would lock up the device. I was initially so impressed that I encouraged a friend to purchase one. He experienced the same problems and is now on his second Helio and it eats batteries big time. I sent mine back and am now in the market for a new PDA. If Vtech works out the bugs, the Helio will definately be the best PDA for your buck.
Rating:
Summary: Why Helio?
Review: Negative criticism at the bottom.I was looking for an inexpensive pda, but a pda that's worth more than it costs. I found the Helio. Palm and Handspring units are way overpriced when compared to the Helio. I am a student. I use the scheduler to keep track of appointments or important days or activities (the alarm has a tone or a voice recording option). I use a folder under memos to list my courses, in which I keep track of assignments, tests, etc. The to-do list is great for keeping track of things you need to do (it also has an alarm that you can set, but don't have to). If I only have a few seconds to write down an assignment or something I need to remember, then I can record it instead of writing it down (4 button pushes: on, record, stop, off). It keeps track of expenses, has a phonebook, you can sketch where you put your car or have a friend draw you a map of how to get somewhere, and jot is 1000 times better than any other writing recognition system I've seen. I can actually *write* into it as fast as I can write a note on paper (mistakes are minimal, and mostly result from my habit of rotating the angle of writing). I have a few clips of music that I recorded for myself. 50 minutes of recording time is nice. Quality is decent (not stereo quality, but that's not necessary from a pda). I got the eReader and a few ebooks. I read "Waiting for Godot" on my Helio. Another useful application I downloaded was a program that has a timer, a stopwatch, an alarm that you can set without putting something in the scheduler (better for a quick reminder for later, like "call sue at 4"), and an analog clock. Time and date are at the top of the screen. The scrolling buttons at the side are very useful (many palm and visor users have commented on how nice that is over their units). Shortcut buttons to applications are more useful than you can imagine (quick jump from scheduler to memo or search). It shows the time in any time zone with just two clicks. I put some of my writings on my Helio too. All you have to do is use the Helio Desktop and copy a document into a memo. Sync it, and you have a document in your Helio. It doesn't support font sizes, different fonts, bold, italic, and such (it's basically like Windows Notepad), but I think they're making a new application to do that. Not important to me anyway. I use my finger sometimes to write sometimes. What doesn't it have? What don't I like about it? Well, it doesn't have infrared. At this point, I don't see a need for it, so I don't particularly care. There isn't a huge variety of software. I definitely don't see a "need" for software. They are working on some useful applications, like a map program and an mp3 player. The scheduler isn't the greatest, but no other pda I've seen has one any better. BTW, most bad reviews are of the old Helio. They fixed those bugs and added a lot of things. Check the date on bad reviews. (new Helio was released around April 2000, I think) I've used about 40% of my battery power after a week. It *seems* like a lot, but that might be mostly due to the fact that I've been using it very often over the last week. I haven't had any bugs or errors on it or on the software. The battery gauge is a little quirky. It usually shows what it is, but now and then it'll show 100% battery power, which I know isn't true. The other thing is that I can't find anything to use the accessories slot for. They said something about a keyboard/modem combo for $100, but I can't seem to find it. I don't think it's available yet. The Visor has a camera and the Palm has a few things, like their modem and their keyboards, but those aren't really that useful. 75Mhz is nice, but is it really that useful? On Palms, you wait maybe 2 seconds between applications. On Helio, you wait .2 seconds. It's nice, but for 1.8 seconds, is it really a selling point? Then again, it is useful for the search function... Nicely fast searches when compared with Palm searches (and I searched 700k of documents for a single word, so it's not like I was searching nothing). Ok, so Helio offers Linux. I like VT-OS. I'm sure almost all people who have the Helio like VT-OS. Do we care about Linux? No. Selling point? No. Some people might, but it's not a selling point for the majority. Oh yeah, and I'm looking for a nice case. They offer 5 cases that I've seen (comes with one, that I'm using now...it's fine, but I'm looking for something bigger to be a wallet and a pda case), but I don't like those as much. Many companies offer cases, but most of those don't fit the Helio. Vtech is continually updating their operating system (which isn't all for bugs...they added extra options to scheduler and let you configure jot and stuff like that...they also let applications use greyscale), they're working on more applications, and they're trying to give users options as far as applications for the Helio and syncing software.
Rating: 
Summary: All in all a great buy but you need to work with it.
Review: Pros: -8MB memory. The Palm m100 has just 2MB -75 Mhz processor - the Palm m100 had a 20Mhz -Choice of colors -Came with a neoprene case - I had to buy one for the Palm -backlight is pretty useful -The voice recorder is great -has a built-in speaker -Handwriting recognition more natural - not like grafitti on Palm - no new script no thank you. -Run PocketLinux - not useful yet but shows great promise -Serial port allows for expansion though no accesories available yet. Cons: -Proprietary OS. though constantly improving -No Infra-red (IR) connectivity - I read that the new one on display of COMDEX 2000 has IR -Not many applications but enough to make it useful. New ones are being added constantly -Buttons are a little difficult to push with hand All in all a great value for the money
Rating:
Summary: Good for basic data
Review: The Helio is just fine for most data storage needs like phonebook, notes and a calc with metric converter. I like the LARGE FONT mode and the screen is of a descent size. I just returned a Clie' Sj22 because the fonts and screen are too small. JOT hand writing recognition works GREAT... better than graphiti. On the bad side, the batteries are killing me. 2-"AAA" are needed and on average last only a week. I am a light user. The Duracell Ultra (recommended) may last 2 or more weeks. Rechargeable are lower in voltage (1.2 volts / cell as opposed to 1.5 volts with alkaline) and cause the battery indicator to appear low, even after a fresh charge. This was a bad choice of power supply. Yes, there is a backlight, but I never dare to use it. I keep my fingers crossed each time I sync because the software (Helio Desktop) can act buggy because it is slow. Once you get a grip on syncing a few you should do OK.
Rating:
Summary: Keeps up with the other expensive models
Review: The Helio performs just as good as the other brands out on the market. The 8MB of ram and all the options this device performs is fantastic for the 169 price tag. To top it off, it even has a built in 30 minute digital voice recorder. The ease of use is incredible. I had a few questions and contacted vtech support and got immediate assistance both via email and phone. Great support after the sale and ease of use of the product all packaged for only 169 is a great deal that won't disapoint you.
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