Product Requirements:
Device:
Handspring Visor, Visor Deluxe, Platinum, or Prism

FAFileMover Package from Kopsis (must be purchased separately):
FAFileMv.prc 29k
CFATALib.prc 5k
CFFATLib.prc 23k
FAFormat.prc 8k
CFCardInfo.prc 11k

As a Handspring Visor owner, have you ever been jealous of Pocket PC owners that have the ability to increase the storage space of their PDAs by just popping in a CompactFlash card? It's true that Handspring sells an 8meg Flash module and a 16meg module, but those are currently your only choices. And at a price tag of around $80 and $140, you might think twice about the purchase. 

Now you have another option. The Removable MatchBookDrive CF Adapter. This Springboard module will let you use a Type I CompactFlash card (currently available in sizes up to 192meg) in your Visor.

A quick search on Pricewatch one of my favorite price lookup sites, reveals that an 8meg and 16meg CF card can be purchased at around $30 and $50 respectively. So, as you can see, CF cards themselves are cheaper to purchase than a dedicated Handspring Springboard memory module. And, you can always use a CF card in other devices such as MP3 players and digital cameras. So, is the MatchBookDrive and a CF card a better solution? Maybe yes, maybe no. Let's take a closer look.

The MatchBookDrive is a very simple looking Springboard module. From what I can tell, it is basically just a Springboard connector with a small circuit board and a CF card connector attached to it. All enclosed in a transparent Springboard module shell. That's it. No buttons, levers, LEDs, etc. It is just a simple adapter.

The module plugs into the Springboard slot on the back of the Visor. It fits as well as any other module that I've tested in the past. If you insert an empty MatchBookDrive into the Springboard slot nothing happens. But, if you insert a MatchBookDrive with a CF card installed in it, into the Visor, the Visor will automatically power on.

Inserting and removing CF cards from the adapter is not difficult due to the fact that the CF connector inside of the adapter is keyed so that you can not insert a CF card in the wrong direction.

One thing I should mention is that a CF card when installed into the MatchBookDrive does not sit flush with the top of the Springboard module. It actually sticks out approximately .150in (3.81mm). This could pose a problem depending on what type of case that you use with your Visor.

The only quality issue with this adapter that I could find is with the actual opening for the CF card. As you can see from the picture below, the opening looks like it was created by hand with something similar to an X-acto knife. Although this doesn't effect the operation of this module, it does make it look a little more 'homebrew' than I would like.

The biggest problem that I see with the MatchBookDrive adapter is that by itself, it is useless. You can't do diddly with it when you first buy it even if you already have a CF card to use with it. Why? Because the adapter requires a driver in order for it to be recognized in the Visor. The adapter does not come with such a driver. It must be purchased separately from another company. I would hope that the company selling this adapter will come up with some kind of package deal in the future that will include both the adapter and the necessary driver.

So, where do you get the driver? You have to buy it from Kopsis. The driver / application that you need is called FAFileMover and is actually a group of 3 programs. A CF card info program, a CF card format program and the FileMover program.

Files and / or programs can not be accessed directly from the CF card. You have to copy the files to the Visor's internal RAM first. The FAFileMover package makes this possible. 

The CF Card Info program just accesses the inserted CF card to see if it is recognized by the Adapter. If you get an error then you pretty much know that the CF card you're trying to use is incompatible with the FileMover app. Kopsis keeps a list of Compatible CF cards on their site. 

I have 8 different CF cards that I tested in the MatchBookDrive using the FileMover app and only 4 of the 8 cards were usable. The cards that worked fine were a 4mb Sandisk card, 96mb Sandisk card, 48mb Kingston card, and a 128mb Kingston card. The cards I was unable to get to work were a 4mb Pretec card, 32mb Simple Technologies card, 8mb Lexar 4x card, and a 16mb Lexar 8x card.

The actual FAFileMover application is simple to use. You are presented with a scrolling list of files that are stored on the Visor or files stored on the CF card. You can either select all the files or individually select files to copy to the CF card or Visor internal RAM. 

After you select the files and press the Copy button, a progress bar window will popup. This status bar popups up almost instantly when you are copying a file from CF to the Visor. But when you copy a file from the Visor to the CF card, there is a definitely pause before the status bar is displayed. The first time I tried it, I thought my Visor had locked up....

Copying files back and forth is a pretty quick operation depending on the size and number of files involved. I can't really complain about the speed. But I thought it was interesting to note that copying a file from the CF to the Visor is a bit quicker than the other way around.

47 sec to copy a 1.92mb file from the Visor to the CF card
41 sec to copy a 1.92mb file from the CF card to the Visor

So, do I recommend the MatchBookDrive? I recommend it if you already have several CF cards that are compatible with the FAFileMover application. If you don't have any CF cards and think you only need 8mb or less of extra storage needs, then at this point, I would tell you to buy the Handspring 8mb Flash Memory Module instead. Although it may be slightly more expensive, a file mover application is built into the module and you don't have to worry about incompatibilities. If you need more than 8mb of storage, then I would make doubly sure that the CF card that you buy is on the compatible cards list before you buy it.

Price: $35 (plus an additional $2 shipping/handling), $10 for the FAFileMover application

Pros:
Easy to use
Ability to expand memory for a reasonable price

Cons:
Must purchase a separate driver/application in order to use this module
Is not compatible with all CF cards
CF card does not sit flush with top of module
Slightly 'homebrew' look