Palm Zire 21 issues

[+kohldad]

I think I just paid $31 for a lesson in paperless caching. I purchased a "new" Zire 21 unit on ebay for $31 shipped. Received the unit on Tuesday and proceeded to download Cachemate. Then using GSAK, downloaded exported the data, performed a hot sync and then file it in Cachemate. Great, all the reading and prep paid off. In 20 minutes, I was ready to go Caching. Wednesday, used it on one cache and have fallen in love with paperless. So Wednesday night, down load this weeks PQ, plus using the other programs I found, downloaded some benchmark data also. Played around with it for about an hour at the table and all set for the weekend. This morning I grab the unit for a lunch time benchmark hunt. At lunch time, I use the GPS to drive to the benchmark area and grab the PDA for the description and it WON'T WORK! The digitizer doesn't accept any inputs. I've been very careful and know the screen hasn't had any pressure or jarrs.

 

Are these units that easy to break or do you think I got ebayed?

 

I do plan on contacting the sellar tonight and see where he stands on helping me out, but I don't really expect anything from his end. I was hoping to get at least 6 months use out of the unit, but guess I'll be buying another one (no ebay this time) since I'm hooked.

[Not So Lost Puppies]

I think I just paid $31 for a lesson in paperless caching. I purchased a "new" Zire 21 unit on ebay for $31 shipped. Received the unit on Tuesday and proceeded to download Cachemate. Then using GSAK, downloaded exported the data, performed a hot sync and then file it in Cachemate. Great, all the reading and prep paid off. In 20 minutes, I was ready to go Caching. Wednesday, used it on one cache and have fallen in love with paperless. So Wednesday night, down load this weeks PQ, plus using the other programs I found, downloaded some benchmark data also. Played around with it for about an hour at the table and all set for the weekend. This morning I grab the unit for a lunch time benchmark hunt. At lunch time, I use the GPS to drive to the benchmark area and grab the PDA for the description and it WON'T WORK! The digitizer doesn't accept any inputs. I've been very careful and know the screen hasn't had any pressure or jarrs.

 

Are these units that easy to break or do you think I got ebayed?

 

I do plan on contacting the sellar tonight and see where he stands on helping me out, but I don't really expect anything from his end. I was hoping to get at least 6 months use out of the unit, but guess I'll be buying another one (no ebay this time) since I'm hooked.

I haven't had any experience with the Zire series. I have had afew lockups with my m500, and doing a hard reset (should be a hole on the back that says reset, a paperclip or similar inserted will do the hard reset) has always fixed it. Though you will lose anything that hadn't been hotsynced (clears all memory, back to defaults)

[+kohldad]

I had already done a hard reset with any change. That was about 8 hours ago. Just now, I went to pick up the unit so I could open it up and blow out any trash. Dropped it about 4" on the counter in doing so. Now it's working again. Maybe that was the only glitch I ever have with it.

[ossumguywill]

I think I just paid $31 for a lesson in paperless caching. I purchased a "new" Zire 21 unit on ebay for $31 shipped. Received the unit on Tuesday and proceeded to download Cachemate. Then using GSAK, downloaded exported the data, performed a hot sync and then file it in Cachemate. Great, all the reading and prep paid off. In 20 minutes, I was ready to go Caching. Wednesday, used it on one cache and have fallen in love with paperless. So Wednesday night, down load this weeks PQ, plus using the other programs I found, downloaded some benchmark data also. Played around with it for about an hour at the table and all set for the weekend. This morning I grab the unit for a lunch time benchmark hunt. At lunch time, I use the GPS to drive to the benchmark area and grab the PDA for the description and it WON'T WORK! The digitizer doesn't accept any inputs. I've been very careful and know the screen hasn't had any pressure or jarrs.

 

Are these units that easy to break or do you think I got ebayed?

 

I do plan on contacting the sellar tonight and see where he stands on helping me out, but I don't really expect anything from his end. I was hoping to get at least 6 months use out of the unit, but guess I'll be buying another one (no ebay this time) since I'm hooked.

I haven't had any experience with the Zire series. I have had afew lockups with my m500, and doing a hard reset (should be a hole on the back that says reset, a paperclip or similar inserted will do the hard reset) has always fixed it. Though you will lose anything that hadn't been hotsynced (clears all memory, back to defaults)

Actually the hole is a soft reset.Try holding down the up button while inserting the paper clip. That is a hard reset.

[+macatac1961]

 

Are these units that easy to break or do you think I got ebayed?

 

 

I've been using one for two years or so and in a hard shell case it's done fine. It did hard reset on me in the field once but other than that it's like you said, I'm hooked. I have another more expensive pocket pc that has failed me more times than I can count so the Zire 21 with cachemate is the one I've been able to count on. Simple yet it's got all you need to find a cache. I hope the seller owns up and replaces it.