A must-have pack for your iPaq (Compaq Expansion Pack Plus PC Card)

Member Name: ben-lloyd

Product:	Compaq Expansion Pack Plus PC Card
Date:	23/04/09 (107 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: extra battery, adds many options to the older iPaq

Disadvantages: Battery clip is weak, doubles PDA size & weight

When receiving a new iPaq, most people will be pretty impressed with the PDA for about ten minutes. Once the novelty has worn off, most iPaqs end up sitting in their cradles or the bottom of bags until their owner discovers that the internal battery no longer works.

Step up the Compaq Expansion Pack Plus "jacket" which suddenly opens whole new horizons for the handheld PC. Not only does this accessory allow you to double the battery life of your power-hungry PDA but it also has a very useful PCMCIA slot which will accomodate any "normal" laptop card.

The most obvious use for the PCMCIA slot is to insert a standard wireless network card as are commonly available for a little more than £10 these days (see my review on the Compaq WL110 card for a compatible device). Once wirelessly equipped, you will be able to connect your iPaq to wireless networks to collect email, modify your documents on the move or browse the internet. Wireless enabled iPaqs are also used to administer servers remotely within my workplace such are the benefits of this upgrade. It is also possible to fit laptop modems and standard ethernet cards into the slot too. The only warning here is that you ensure the card of your choice comes with Pocket Windows drivers...

One of the easily-overlooked benefits of the jacket is the addition of a screen cover, something which was lacking in earlier versions of this accessory. With the screen protector in place, it is very difficult to scratch or crack the screen - brilliant considering how large the screen is on an iPaq.

There are some down sides to this particular add-on however. The battery attached to the jacket is unlikely to remain that way for long; I have found the retention clip to be very weak and often when the iPaq was put down, I would pick it up again sans battery. My external battery is now carefully sellotaped to the "jacket" to keep it in place.

Another minus point is that for all the additional options presented by the jacket, you must trade off against portability and weight. With the expansion pack attached, the iPaq more than doubles in width and weight and no longer fits comfortably into any pocket. I can just sit mine in my back pocket, but the wireless card protrudes and is vulnerable to accidental damage whilst sitting.

I would strongly recommend any iPaq owner who has a compatible model to buy this accessory - suddenly your iPaq does become a useful tool and no longer a geeky executive perk. Although the system gets bigger in size and weight, the increase in usefulness of your device will make it worthwhile.


© ben-lloyd 2009. This review appears on other websites under the same user name.

Summary: Turns the useless older iPaq into something worthwhile

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