HP RX1950 PDA with GPS £139.99

mozzer · 4 February 2007 at 8:44AM

springbok wrote:

Have a search for the N35 online.
Some people have complained that the charging / sync socket on the unit can fail after time, which means no charging of the battery or syncing with the dekstop.
Also it's not the latest spec PDA, a couple of years out of date, but it does everything I ask of it.

The N35 charging socket is a real issue. I have one and find it a great all round PDA (the sat nav struggled in Venice as it couldn't work out which road I was on when I was in the middle of a river!).

But that socket is a 30 pin connector not more than 1/2 inch across, it is soldered to the motherboard with the 30 odd connectors pressing onto the board. The car charger is to short for most cars and hence pulls hard on the socket. The charger plug is long and creates huge leverage on the socket, particularly as it will be above the dash and must pull backwards against the coiled lead.

This loosens the solder and it after a while of poor connection acually comes loose. Repair is £240(!).
I won't have another one - but if you have one or buy one for the current great price buy an Ebay car charger with shorter connector also an extension for the cig lighter socket so there is no strain on the connector.