Readers schmeeders, how about the opinion of the guy who has to use it a jillion times a day?

Dell Axim X3. It is very low cost, has a really decent screen, you can get it with WiFi for a little more, and it has stunningly good IrDa performance. I recently benchmarked a Sony DVD player and an Orion TV/VCR combo using an iPaq 5455, an iPaq 5555, a Dell Axim X3, and an unreleased Pocket PC I cannot really discuss in any detail. I used all transmission options, where applicable, for each device and PPC.

The Axim X3 hit the Sony DVD player from 42 feet away, and the Orion TV/VCR from 39 feet away, using IrDA. Forget the Total Remote transmitter module on the Axim though, it only goes 11 feet at BEST.

If you are hell bent to use the audio transmitter module, and want to pay lots more for your PPC, then next up would be the iPaq 5500 series. Using the audio transmitter it went 48 feet to the Orion and 42 feet to the Sony. HOWEVER, the audio tansmitter is a far less accurate device than IrDA, so I would always go with the PPC that had a good IrDA port.

Fun story about the power of the audio transmitter:

When Total Remote debuted at the Pocket PC Summit in L.A. in October of 2002 we went to the famous "House Of Blues" for dinner. There is a stage downstairs, and a dining area upstairs. The performance is piped into the dining area over several CCTV monitors. Five of these TV's are in a row, fixed to the ceiling, over a 75 foot long area. All the TV's were the same model, which I just so happened to have in the Total Remote database. Using an iPaq 3630 and the audio transmitter I turned off ALL FIVE TELEVISIONS AT ONCE. I was ROTFLMAO... well, inside. :)

Don Stratton
Product Manager, Primary Hardware Engineer,
Imperious Overlord Of The Infrared, and chief cheerleader - Total Remote