Blast from the past: originally published July 26th 2002.
Now that I’m getting some use out of my HP Jornada 547 Pocket PC, I’m hot on the trail of useful accessories. Since my model came with a serial cable connection I purchased the USB cradle, so I can drop it in and sync up while recharging the battery. This was nice for home, but I wanted something that would travel. The AC adapter that comes with the Jornada is compact and handles power from 110 to 240, so with an AC outlet adapter that’s good for most anywhere.
It was while looking for most anything interesting that I came across the Belkin USB Sync Charger. It’s a USB sync cable for communication between a PDA and a PC. As well it will charge your PDA from a USB port by plugging in the power input. And it has a car power adapter that takes the USB end. This slices, dices and gets the job done.
I put the Sync Charger into use almost immediately, as PDAs with rechargeable batteries can always use a little more juice. Syncing the Jornada over USB works just like my cradle, no muss or fuss. Recharging the battery was slow, to put it mildly. I do see it coming in handy for overnight charging or when overseas without an 220 plug adapter. The car power adapter worked great and had the Jornada fully charged within a few hours.
The is an elegant and simple solution for PDA users on the move. Belkin makes these for Palms and iPaqs as well, so do check them out.
Update: May 5th 2009.
This is working flawlessly for any and all USB charging, including my iPhone.
