USB Cradle Docking Station Charger AC Adapter for Palm Treo 680 750

• Charges PDA and synchronizes your data at the same time
• Blue LED power indicator
• Keep your Treo sitting in a nice position while synching and charging
• Package comes with cradle base, AC adapter (for base) and USB cable (for base)
• 1 year warranty by the manufacturer

I purchased one of these on Amazon and returned it today.

It charges both the phone and spare battery when both the USB cable and power adapter are plugged into the unit. (The power adapter is not the same as the Treo wall charger and can't be used without the cradle.) One odd circumstance, at least on the unit I received, is that the unit seemed to stop charging if the USB cable was attached and the PC was off, even if the separate power cable was plugged in.

The LED on the front indicates power on, but one must look at the Treo's charge indicator to see how the battery in the phone is doing. There is also a separate red/green LED in the back for the spare battery status. This would be a nice touch, but my unit flashed alternating colors if no spare battery was inserted for charging, which I found distracting.

The Treo itself is held at a comfortable viewing angle, for me at least.

The unit does not have a separate synch button, and the customer is supposed to run the HotSync application on the Treo in order to synchronize.

Generally these are all minor irritations, and would not be deal breakers for me, but the unit failed entirely to synch. I tried with two laptops, an IBM Thinkpad T30 with Windows 2000 at the Service Pack 4 level, and a Compaq V4440US with Windows XP Pro at the Service Pack 2 level. This was tested both directly to the laptops, as well as via an Adaptec powered USB hub. The Palm synch cable included with the Treo works consistently in all these permutations.

If you do not need to synchronize with Outlook, or can do so via a wireless interface, this may not be an issue for you. I found it unworkable. Not recommended.

Note that this is sold under some other names, not necessarily just the Fosmon brand.

To their credit, my seller, SFPlanet, allowed me to return the unit.

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