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-   -   iGo Stowaway keyboard: $44.95CAN (https://talk.maemo.org/showthread.php?t=16254)

Betty Woo 2008-02-06 20:55

iGo Stowaway keyboard: $44.95CAN
 
Yeah... well... believe me, that's the *best* price I've found for the iGo in Canada (vs $140 at TigerDirect, last time I checked and $84 at some other online Canadian store).

It's on the front page at: http://www.blankmedia.ca. Shipping costs depends on speed (naturally). About $14 for eXPress Parcel Post. Cheaper than buying off of eBay once the shipping costs are included.

And I grabbed me one before they go forever :::sigh:::.

everythingsablur 2008-02-07 05:26

Re: iGo Stowaway keyboard: $44.95CAN
 
Sweet deal indeed! I might have to jump on this one as well.

TA-t3 2008-02-07 10:45

Re: iGo Stowaway keyboard: $44.95CAN
 
Yep, that's the ultraslim.. the ultraslim seems to be available (for very good prices) several places. I haven't yet succeeded to find a Sierra (the 5-row).

Betty Woo 2008-02-07 19:59

Re: iGo Stowaway keyboard: $44.95CAN
 
Quote:

Originally Posted by TA-t3 (Post 139343)
Yep, that's the ultraslim.. the ultraslim seems to be available (for very good prices) several places. I haven't yet succeeded to find a Sierra (the 5-row).

They seem to be available for very good prices in the States. I don't know why they're still so damned expensive up here in Canada. This is at least 40-50% cheaper than I've found on other Canadian sites.

And I haven't been able to find any in brick stores in Vancouver (not that I tried looking outside the downtown core - if I'm going to have to travel out of my usual haunts, I might as well just order it online, I reckon).

I guess the Canadian stock was bought when the $CAN was worth $0.78US?

I thought of places like eBay, too, but once you take into account the shipping costs (usually in the $24+ range), it just becomes nutty.

Once mine arrives, I'll see if I like it. If I do, I may end up buying a backup from the same place.

As for the Sierra keyboards... haven't found *any* Canadian sites or stores stocking it from my 10 minute search. And TheNerds.com has 'em for $80US but doesn't ship to Canada (that's an old refrain I read often :( ).

I don't know what people are going to do in the next few months when they go looking for portable bluetooth keyboards... not much of a reasonably-priced selection out there, it seems... .

everythingsablur 2008-02-11 20:20

Re: iGo Stowaway keyboard: $44.95CAN
 
Did you receive your's yet Betty? How do you like it?

I just checked Canada Post and it looks like mine is out on delivery. Not too shabby considering I think I ordered it on Thursday, and picked the cheapest shipping option I could find. :)

polossatik 2008-02-11 20:26

Re: iGo Stowaway keyboard: $44.95CAN
 
I'm still wondering why every electronics is so damn expensive in the EU.
Damn...
this is really the only thing I hate about living in the EU...

Betty Woo 2008-02-11 20:43

Re: iGo Stowaway keyboard: $44.95CAN
 
Quote:

Originally Posted by everythingsablur (Post 141141)
Did you receive your's yet Betty? How do you like it?

I just checked Canada Post and it looks like mine is out on delivery. Not too shabby considering I think I ordered it on Thursday, and picked the cheapest shipping option I could find. :)

Haven't received it yet. I ordered it early last week but reading the return policy was really confusing (mostly 'cause it was based on the premise that you'd be ordering blank media). There was something in there that basically said if you want to return something, it has to be in it's original, prestine box. Um... these things come in that Gawd-awful plastic bubble stuff so I wanted to know if I returned it if it would be accepted.

I got back a very nice email saying, yeah, returns wouldn't be a problem. I sent back an equally nice email saying continue with the order and... that was it.

I just phoned them to find out why I haven't received a tracking number from Canada Post. Turns out they were doing me a lovely favor by upgrading for free and shipping it out by Purolator. But they didn't tell me, Purolator didn't tell me and, of course, I'm not home and now have to redirect it to an agent around the corner from my office once I get the tracking information :)

The salesmans said that the keyboards have been flying off the shelf ever since someone said they'd been read on some forum that the keyboard had been discontinued.

I bet! :rolleyes:

UPDATE: apparently, they *did* send it Xpresspost but Canada Post seems to be lagging on updating their website so, according to the site, the keyboard hasn't moved since Feb. 5th. But when Blankmedia.ca called them, they're saying it's actually somewhere close to me in Vancouver. My luck: a little notice will be sitting on my door when I get home today telling me to pick it up tomorrow from my postal outlet half a block away. Seems lots of packages are delayed because of the weather conditions.

Laughing Man 2008-02-11 22:46

Re: iGo Stowaway keyboard: $44.95CAN
 
Quote:

Originally Posted by polossatik (Post 141146)
I'm still wondering why every electronics is so damn expensive in the EU.
Damn...
this is really the only thing I hate about living in the EU...

Taxes on them. If it's classified as a computer it's not taxed though. Which is partially the reason why Sony advertised the PS3 as a PC as well (you can install Linux on it, even though it has almost zero access to the locked down PS3 hardware!), so they could avoid the taxes on them.

TA-t3 2008-02-12 13:46

Re: iGo Stowaway keyboard: $44.95CAN
 
No duty, but the VAT makes up for it.. several times.

everythingsablur 2008-02-12 16:42

Re: iGo Stowaway keyboard: $44.95CAN
 
Quote:

Originally Posted by Betty Woo (Post 141158)
UPDATE: apparently, they *did* send it Xpresspost but Canada Post seems to be lagging on updating their website so, according to the site, the keyboard hasn't moved since Feb. 5th. But when Blankmedia.ca called them, they're saying it's actually somewhere close to me in Vancouver. My luck: a little notice will be sitting on my door when I get home today telling me to pick it up tomorrow from my postal outlet half a block away. Seems lots of packages are delayed because of the weather conditions.

I got mine last night. Canada Post had locked it up in the special Parcel Pickup box in my corner mail box and left me the keys. Pretty sweet. I've never had them do that to one of my packages before. So much nicer than trudging all the way down to the Post Office.

The keyboard itself it quite nice. Feels very solid when closed, and pretty solid when open. The first time you open it up you will be a little put off by some rather loud snapping like sounds. I'm pretty sure that's just all of the locking mechanisms and I couldn't find anything broken. I find it a little odd that the right side feels a tad higher than the left, or that it's sloped downward from right to left. Typing on it is very easy, except when you need to throw in numbers or special punctuation. Then it becomes an exercise in figuring out which Fn key to press (green or blue) and where they moved the key you want. I could see the desire for a 5-row keyboard now so that numbers would be easier to enter, but overall I think it's an acceptable compromise for most users.

The only software problem I found was after I disconnected from the keyboard, I couldn't for the life of me figure out how to get everything back to automatically popping open the on-screen keyboard. I was tired and gave up, fixing the problem with a quick reboot. I'll play with it more later. Overall though, great deal!


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