A little bit of FYI for visitors: the system includes a great deal of technical and specialized vocab in the included Eijiro dictionary, and some other specialized dictionaries can be added for free. You can also add free or commercial dictionaries of other languages–I loaded up a Vietnamese one for a trip recently and it proved helpful (as did the maps I put on it, and the ability to use it with free hotel wi-fi to keep up with email and check out airfares for side trips). Finally, prices on the X51V system have come down since you wrote your review, and now there’s also a less expensive version with the same dictionaries and handwriting input based on a more basic PDA. And if you don’t want to buy a PDA system, it’s possible to download the dictionaries (many for free) to use on your on PDA, SmartPhone, iPhone/iPad, or computer–instructions and links on my site. (Though of all the options, nothing works quite as well as the PDA systems–the hardware is really a perfect match for how the dictionaries work.)

Also, in answer to where I get the PDAs, I buy them in bulk from Dell USA. Big companies leased thousands for their brokers and execs, then return them to Dell at the end of the leases. Dell replaces the screens, battery cells, and often the body, then checks everything and replaces anything that doesn’t perform as new. I test everything again when I get them, then I upgrade the OS, customize it to add Japanese support, and install the software, dictionaries, and other parts of the system.

About the only learning curve there was was how to switch the on-screen keyboard from kanji to kana to romaji and then which dictionary to use to find what I needed (but it’s pretty simple – guess what kanjidic does lol!) I admit that, since I am focusing on communication in learning Japanese rather than writing, I use it more as a normal dictionary (typing words in either English or Hiragana for a translation) and only use it for the odd kanji (so far) but it is fantastic for that because it’s like carrying a massive dictionary in a tiny package. It will grow with me as I hit the kanji too.

If you already have a Japanese denshi and are used to the way they work then perhaps your Japanese is better than mine and another one might do you as well but I doubt you’d regret getting the PDA instead – if you need more technical dictionaries and things than the basic you can always add them to your package.

Of course I use the PDA as a PDA, too – the diary and media player mostly despite the odd looks I get because people just don’t use them here (I think maybe that is how Peter is able to get such good quality reconditioned ones, unless he’s getting them from the States)

You should feel absolutely free to contact Peter via the form on the site without fear of committing yourself to the purchase – my first email to him was actually a straight out order and he emailed me asking if I wanted to ask some questions first lol!

Good luck!

I went on a hunt for an electronic dictionary actually made for those learning Japanese rather for native Japanese speakers – and I found one! This is a review outlining why not a “normal” denshi jisho and a link to where I found mine….