Anyone use HP RX5900/5915 and InspectExpress?

[AHI in AR]

I'm considering using one of the little HP PDA/GPS units. I currently run InspectExpress software but do not use the mobile version. If it saves time entering general info in the field which does not require editing it seems like a good product. For comments which need typing, I can't imagine that carrying around a BT keyboard and mouse on site would be better than simply waiting until I got back to the office and synced it to my main computer.

Anyone have any thoughts?

[SonOfSwamp]

The fastest way to get custom-written (not boilerplate) words into a report is to touch-type on a full-size keyboard, using 9 or 10 fingers.

Carrying multiple gizmos and gadgets (which may not have any backup) into the field, then synching gadgets back at the office, is sure to take a lot longer.

Bonus: After a year or so of service in the field, a decent laptop will still be useful as a school-kid or Internet-surfing computer. That probably won't be true of pocket-size gizmos.

Laptop-on-kitchen-table typist,

WJ

[Bain]

I'm with Walter. I bought a Dell XPS 1210 a couple of months ago and love it. It weighs less than three pounds, has an extra nine-cell battery with nearly four hours of cordless power, and a built-in wireless card.

[John Dirks Jr]

I have the PDA set up now with a HP 2495hx and a BT keyboard. Its what I have so thats what I am using. In hindsight, I wish I would have just went with a regular laptop.

If I had a laptop I would still use canned comments whenever possible but I cannot imagine ever being able to produce a quality report without typing some custom comments.

The laptop also has the capability of reading CD's like IRC on site. I'm not sure if I can upload that kind of stuff to the PDA or not.

Live and learn...

[SonOfSwamp]

One can install the digital version of the IRC codes on a laptop. Having the code info on the computer, at the house, is a wonderful argument-settler, particularly on new-construction inspections.

I suppose there's a way to suck all the code info onto a memory card, then put the card in the PDA, and have the code words, tables, charts and drawings available on a little bitty unreadable screen, but why would anybody want to do that.

Real computer. Real display. Real keyboard. Ten human fingers. It works.

WJ

[AHI in AR]

I appreciate the replies, gentlemen, but it appears that I did not state the question clearly enough. I have no interest in trying to generate the entire report on a handheld. I have a laptop already; the keyboard on that is too small for me to want to use it for the entire report. And I don't like sitting in someone else's home for an hour and a half while I write the report. I'm much more comfortable sitting at my own desk later with a full size keyboard given the amount of customizing I do in my reports.

What I was wanting to know was if the data that can be entered "as-is" in the field with a simple touch of a stylus would justify bringing along yet another piece of equipment. Inspect Express software has drop-down sections for such things as A/C and furnace brands, etc., where the info could be entered on the site quickly, (and later -- I think -- quickly synced to my desktop) rather than making a note on site and entering it into the main computer later. That was why I was asking specifically about this software. I am not about to try to produce a quick but vague report on site.