buy PDAs in China or ship from overseas

[XiKe]

I really need a PDA to run pleco, and since I am no big buisness tycoon, I figure I will be best suited buy a low end palm like the zire 31, or some similar product.

As such I had a few questions: Pricewise, am I better of buying a PDA here in Beijing at Zhong Guan Cun, or should I order one online and have it shipped? I know the palm store sells refurbished zires for under $100, so can I do better than that in Beijing? I have also seen them dirt cheap, under $50 used on Ebay. I could have someone in my family ship it from the states. What do you guys reccomend?

thanks!
Xi Ke

 

[Dan]

Buying PDA in Beijing

I don't know about shopping for cheap or used models, but I bought my Palm T|X at Zhong Guan Cun and got it for within $20USD of the price in the US, walked out with it and no problems. In fact they come with the US English operating system, and are turned over to display in Chinese so you and the sales rep may have to work together to get it switched back to English. They come bumndled with some Chinese recognition software that I had to buy for my old Palm, so actually it comes out to less, and no shipping costs or time to mess with. It takes some time and patience to search Zhongguancun and find what you want but its quite likley there at the same price.