Xircom Rex-3 Personal Organizer

List Price: $69.99

Features:

• Credit-card size
• Weighs just 1.4 ounces
• 256 KB RAM, rated to store up to 3,000 entries
• TrueSync desktop and synchronization software
• Leather carrying case and batteries

Customer Reviews:

Smaller is better [Posted on 1999-07-14]
If you want a PDA that you will never lose, a PDA that you won't drop or feel like you are sick of lugging around, this is it. Unlike the palm type PDAs, this is tiny, it fits in your shirt pocket with minimal weight. Data entry is via a PC but on a day to day basis that is not a big negative. I use mine for business and personal contacts and schedule and it works great. I used to use a Sharp palm top and this suits me better.

I'm sorry I bought it. [Posted on 1999-10-22]
I have been using a Sharp Wizard for quite a while, but was attracted by the small size of the Rex. I thought for $50, which included a docking station, I couldn't go wrong. WRONG! The Rex is fine if phone numbers and appointments are all you care about. The "To Do" list is pretty much useless, unless you enter everything in the software that comes with the Rex. But what really irritates me is that you can only put in one memo at a time! The True Sync software lets you have different memo folders: for example, I had one with French translations (from the Franklin site) and one with passwords. But they won't go into the Rex at the same time, unless you mish them all together. Then it's impossible to find anything, because there is no way to do a search. That sounded so dumb and useless to me that I called the Rex people, but that's the way it works. That makes the Rex useless for me. It will be in the auction very soon.

What you get is much more than what you see! [Posted on 1999-11-18]
This device has solved one problem for me superbly. How can I maintain a truly pocket-sized notebook of appointments, names, and addresses, without ever having to re-write the entries when it comes time to replace it, because of age or space? More popular PDAs, like the Palm Pilots, are just too cumbersome: You either carry it on your belt, in a brief case, in your coat pocket (if you wear a coat), or in another notebook! I would rather copy my entries by hand into my pocket-sized Week-At-A-Glance (paper) organizer, or transfer pages with paper clips.

Unlike these more cumbersome PDAs, I can carry the REX-3 almost anywhere in my shirt or pants pocket. And, like any electronic PDA, it has alarms to notify me of important events.

The lack of data entry is no real problem, especially using the business-card paper provided in the REX-3 wallet that comes with the device. I generally only need to do data entry with the well-designed TrueSync Desktop software that I have installed on my PC, and there is an added bonus.

The price of the device ($50) makes replacement relatively trivial. I managed to break the crystal on one that I kept in my pocket while stacking wood (one place not to take it!). Aside from the low cost of replacement, I suffered a near zero cost in data loss because it was mostly stored in the TrueSync Desktop software used to update the card. (I only had to reset the password and basic operational settings on the card, about two minutes of work.) Plus, the broken card is a nice work of dynamic art: The cracked crystal displays an infinite array of colors around the basic crack design when pressure is applied--a nice stress reliever.

Similarly, the low cost of the docking station allowed me to get two, one for home and one for work. So, I can update the card in either location and transfer the backed-up update on a Zip or floppy disk.

There are some draw backs. Memo formatting does not transfer between TrueSync Desktop and the card. You basicly have to format any tabular data by trial and error, using spaces. It's hard to find business card-sized paper to immediately replace the stock that comes with the wallet. You can get business card stock to replace the paper at a cost in volume. (Maybe Xircom or Amazon.com can help us a bit, here?) And, of course, you cannot update the card 'in vivo.'

This last point might make me want to move up to the more expensive REX-5 Pro, which I gather offers additional software management features as well as data entry on the card. However, the REX-3 is a great start and gives me a chance to figure out how to (and how not to) use it, before I decide to 'move up.' And if and when I do, I won't have to recopy or convert all my data!

reveiw of rex [Posted on 2001-02-23]
this pice of equipment is very helpful just hook it up to your pc upload your day and your on the go. If you have troble organizing your day this is the item for you. I always had troble remembering things until I got this item

Why spend the $ on a Palm? [Posted on 2001-10-05]
Most people use their Palms as address books. $... for an address book seems like a lot of $ to me.

The Rex is a fine electronic address book (and calendar, to do list, etc.). It fits easily in your shirt pocket and is easy to sync with a PC.

The only drawback is you have to enter the data in a PC and then sync it to the Rex - you can't enter data directly to the Rex. This is not a problem for me, but it may be important to some.

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