Pencentra 130

Who has one? I picked one up but the unit I have is really hard to see. The backlight has 3 levels of brightness and then off. The screen contrast works up and down, but it is difficult to see...very dim.

I am assuming that this is unusual...probably I have a burnt out inverter or ccfl...but not sure. Anyone have one that is nice and bright?

I saw on eBay someone selling a lot of Pencentra 200s, I guess those are the ones with HPC2000 instead of HPC Pro. Anyway, a lot of 10 with batteries, a/c adapters, and cases was selling for $140 shipped. $14 a piece...not too bad really.

I'm not sure if it's the same thing, but i had a outdoor model of the pencentra 200 @ one time, and i hated the screen ..yeah great outside, but washed out bad in any other kind of light... perhaps your 130 has the same type, is there like bubbles in the screen, they made some kinda crazy liquid layer on the outdoor screens.

No bubbles or anything. I took it outside...it was actually better there than indoors, but still crappy. Held it in direct sunlight, the transreflective DSTN screen did its thing. Tried it back inside...marginal in a totally darkened room, same thing in artificial lighting.

I think I just have a bad one because this would be pretty useless otherwise....

I dunno, I like my reflective-screen PenCentra (though it is a 200 running H/PC 2000). I find the screen reasonably easy to read under indoor lighting as long as I hold it at a slight angle to eliminate glare. (I actually turn off the frontlight for this.)

I picked up a Pen Centra 130 last week it was new in the box with battery, stylus and PSU for $60. I found a Cisco aironet 350 WIFI card on Craigslist for $10. I finally got all the drivers installed and configured and I have been able to control my XP pro laptop with Terminal Service Client and an Ad-hoc Wireless network. Believe it or not the performance of remote desktop (terminal services) in this situation is very reasonable.

My Pencentra 130 screens are pretty dismal anywhere indoors except in darkness. Seems to be intentional. Outdoors is ok at night; never took it out into the sun (shiny brightface it hurts us it does..).

Of note, Don't expect a 48 mb Pencentra 130 if you find a 32 mb RAM upgrade. I bought a Fujitsu RAM upgrade for Pencentra "130 & 200" at "32 mb" off eBay. Both my Pencentra 130s and the seller's 130 recognized only 16 mb.

Even with 32 mb RAM, I have to turn off browser "show images," or else the 16-32 mb Pencentra (or 32 mb Clio 1000) locks up while browsing most sites. A 64 mb Teampad allows images on for most places.

Edited by ricercar 2010-04-03 7:56 PM

Yeah, I think the 32 MB upgrade is for the 200 only (which has 32 MB to start with). My 200 came with the upgrade already installed, for a total of 64 MB RAM.

CE you are correct it is for the 200 model.

Almost a year late but I responded.

S/F,
CEYA!

Nice to hear from you again, Ceya.

Unfortunately, in the interim, someone broke into my car and stole it, as I believe I mentioned back when it happened a few months ago. I've been having a hard time finding a replacement unit with a reflective screen. (It was the reflective screen that made me choose it as a dashboard-mounted H/PC that I could also use as a big-screen GPS.) I've since picked up a transmissive-screen 200 and a reflective-screen 130, but for some reason the touchscreen from the 130 doesn't seem to work with the 200.

I had a 130 for a day. Ebay deal, supposed to be transflective model. you couldn't even see the screen properly in a darkened room at full brightness.anyway, ya, I've stumbled across other 130's since and they are all dark, very dark. they must have a component that ages badly and inhibits the light transmission.

ebay vendor was reluctant to deal with me or offer a refund. He insisted all was well. Come the think of it, that was the straw that broke my ebay back. cost me $20 to ship back an item that never should have been listed as 100% functional in the first place....

it is hard to see on the 130 but 200 works well.

If you want one let me know.

I'd seen that they still using the 200 in stores in Japan.

The guy had the scanner and wifi to transfer stuff to the office.

S/F,
CEYA!

Edited by Ceya 2011-02-28 7:37 PM