One of my favorite holiday gifts to give
is a handheld or PDA. It's a great way
to help a loved one get started right on
a New Year's resolution to be more
organized. But the best PDAs aren't
cheap, so you may have to get creative to be able to check one off your shopping list. One of the best ways to get a deal is to troll the manufacturers' factory outlet stores. Most sell excess or returned units that have been fully tested and/or refurbished to original factory specifications. Some even carry full warranties like their brand-new counterparts.

Low-priced Palm
One of the best deals I found was on an "open-box" Palm Tungsten C at the PalmOne Factory Outlet. Open-box handhelds have been returned to PalmOne and put through extensive tests, including battery, RAM, infrared, LCD, button functions, and more. Not only was the open-box version selling for $124 less than a $399 new unit, PalmOne was also offering a free portfolio case and a 64MB SD card with the purchase of any open-box Tungsten C (worth $74.94 if purchased separately from PalmOne). With free ground shipping, my grand total was $274.99. Compare that to a total of $473.94 when I priced a new Tungsten C, plus the two extras in the regular store (free shipping there too), and you're looking at a great deal.

If you're buying a gift for yourself and don't mind a few scratches, the factory outlet also sells blemished handhelds. These units have passed all open-box inspections except for aesthetics due to small scratches or other external blemishes. When I shopped, I found a blemished Tungsten C for just $259.99 with free shipping, a $139 savings off the new unit. The downside is that open-box and blemished units carry only a 30-day money-back guarantee, rather than the one-year warranty that a new unit has.

Deals for Pocket PC fans
For those who prefer Pocket PCs, I found a refurbished HP iPaq H2215 Pocket PC selling at the HPshopping.com outlet store for just $299.99 with free shipping, a savings of $80 off a new H2215. That's a great deal, considering it carries the same one-year warranty as a brand-new unit.

Make sure you do your homework when you shop at outlets, though. You won't always get the best deals there. For example, when I shopped for a Dell Axim X30 at the Dell Factory Outlet, I found a refurbished model selling for $310, ostensibly $25 off an original price of $335. After adding $8 ground shipping to my New York address, my shopping cart total was $318.

It seemed like a decent deal since the Axim X30 is usually priced at $349 new, but when I shopped for it on the regular Dell site, I found it selling with a limited-time 10 percent discount as well as a limited-time offer for free shipping. That put my out-of-pocket total at $314.10, a few bucks less than the refurbished unit! Still, the new unit had an estimated ship date that was close to two weeks later, while the refurbished unit was in stock and ready to ship the next day, so the truly impatient might consider paying $3.90 for more immediate gratification since refurbished units carry the same 24/7 tech support and one-year limited warranty as new units.