OT: Replacing battery in handheld PDA

Just had to vent - I use software on my Palm Pilot (PDA) to track my food intake, daily weight and exercise.  I've have my PDA for about 6 years now and the battery doesn't hold a charge for crap any more.  So I call Palm to ask about replacing the battery and get this -- they don't offer replacement batteries!  You can send the unit in for repairs for $149 and they will assess what the problem is and, if it is the battery, they'll replace it (for an additional fee, I'm sure). 

You can buy a brand new entry-level Palm unit for $99 or the new version of my old model for $199, so why would I pay $149 for repair service.  Just chaps my a$$ that I can't just have them put in a new battery.  And I tried looking for instructions online, but it requires soldering and I'm afraid I'd screw it up and lose the three years of data I have in the unit.  Wonder if I can get the data from the Palm uploaded to my computer though and then try to replace the battery??? 

Am irritated by all this and just had to vent - all I want is a new battery...

Kellie

that's stupid. I just replaced my pda with a palm phone a few months ago and it doesn't hold a charge long - don't get the treo 800w!

Thanks for the tip, Jen.  I've thought about replacing my pda w/ a palm phone, since I'll probably spend $100-200 for a new PDA and could probably get a new palm phone for about the same price.  But I really don't want more problems w/ electronic devices that don't hold a charge - that's a real pain to deal with on a day-to-day basis....

My Palm committed suicide (the tapper failed, so you tap on the screen and nothing happens).  I wasn't about to pay $149 to have it repaired when the stupid thing only cost me $90 to begin with.  I was using Calorie King, not to mention a boatload of fun games.

I think Palms are junk nowdays.  The one I had years ago wore like iron; the one I had that failed was only a year old (and just past warranty, naturally).

Kix

got ebay and put in your model number an battery, you'll find plenty aftermarket batteries for under 20.00.  they work just fine

I know how ya feel! My first PP lasted almost 7 years when it suddenly would just freeze up and you'd have to let the battery run down before it would come back up. I'm on the second in 3 years now and it has a blank strip down the center of the screen! I Love my Palm and depend on it daily but I'm leaning more and more toward the blackberries. Only 2 programs keep me with Palm....my eReader to read books and Splash Money for my banking.  I found out that eReader is working on a Blackberry version so that only leave a checkbook program of some sort. It really would be nice to have Palm conveniance and Phone combined. After reading the Palm message boards I decided agains the phone combos.

Good luck, whatever you decide. I do know that I had to install very few of my old programs on the new one when I got it. I just beamed the old programs to the new.

I have a Motorola Q and I sincerely HATE the thing.  this is my third one in a year and I can't wait to get rid of it.  I also have an iPod touch which does most of my PDA stuff for me which I dearly love!