After several weeks of using my iPAQ with an almost dead battery, the PGF came in handy. The $100 replacement internal battery was introduced several months ago but due to hardware constraints, its release has been delayed. Well time's up. The PGF has finally arrived.
I chose to get the 2100mAh battery for longer use of the device as opposed to the 1750mAh with vibration function. Both batteries should be about the same as far as the install goes.

Note: I did keep the original medium quality of the pictures (on a 2.1Mpixel camera) so clicking on the thumbnails will link you to a somewhat large view that might take up some time to appear... I figured that more details would be welcome as the Kingrex site only offers a couple.

Kingrex provides with great user tutorials:

• Installation of the PGF: http://www.kingrex.net/installation.htm
• Installation of the Hyperdrive: http://www.kingrex.net/e_hd.htm

The Hyperdrive is a smart board that you will need to solder to the inside of your iPAQ which provides much better battery life. The numbers are simply amazing: PGF alone will last just a little over the battery life of an H3800 (which is excellent for an H3600/3700) but adding the Hyperdrive should nearly double this estimate.

The Package:
Nice effort from the PGF makers to give this product a real professional look. The box came with the Hyperdrive, a CPU cap, a Torx #6 (though only at one end) and of course the battery. Instructions are found online only.

Once the device opens, gently pry out the original battery. This one should come right off (it is only stuck using some double sided tape). Be gentle here. Use a credit card or something that won't damage the case to gently lift the battery out. I personally did it with my fingers only, simply by inserting the finger under the battery and pushing it out.
Inserting the new battery will take 2 seconds.

At this point you could be finished. You can simply put the iPAQ back together and try the battery this way. It won't be offering the best performance but will last longer than the factory unit.
If you chose to proceed with the install of the Hyperdrive, beware, the task isn't that easy.

Prerequisite to install the Hyperdrive:
1) you know how to solder
2) you have decent equipment (small tip solder is absolutely necessary).
3) you have perfect vision in both eyes or easy access to a magnifier (in my case I used my good old eyes... wish I did have a magnifier though).

The two major things to remember before taking the device apart is to 1) disconnect the LCD connector and 2) unsolder the speaker cables (black and red). Both operations can be done fairly easily with a good iron.

Once the speaker wires and LCD connector are unhooked, you'll need to remove or lift the PCB (printed circuit board). In order to lift the board simply pry the bottom of the board (bottom of iPAQ) towards the top. The PGF instructions says that the board will only lift about a 45 degree angle but I did manage to lift it at 90+, thus allowing me to keep the LCD connection and not completely remove the PCB. During this operation you will notice that a flat ribbon is attached to the PCB with some double sided tape. Lifting gently on the PCB should allow the double side tape to unstick and thus enable you to lift the board slightly more. If you encounter any problems doing this, stop and proceed as Kingrex suggests.
Once access is gained to the CPU and other components, the nightmare really starts! The CPU cap should be technically installed. The install will require you to unsolder the original metal piece covering the CPU and replace it with the PGF CPU cap. In order to do this, you will need to unsolder the 4 connecting points of the metal piece while slightly lifting it up. I skipped this step completely; I figured that the cap provided with the PGF would only result in better cooling but quite honestly I wasn't sure.... and removing the original metal piece seemed a little too painful. I also didn't cut the paper part that you are technically supposed to since there wasn't any components touching it. Note: following these instructions might not be recommended and could cause damage to the unit but I did take the risk and these steps look like they could be skipped (i.e. follow them at your own risk).

The biggest challenge was to install the Hyperdrive. The soldering points are extremely small and sensitive to heat so that you do not have much time to apply the solder (nor is that area very big). You should first prep the Hyperdrive as well as its location on the board. In order to do this, I simply applied a small amount of solder on the connection where the Hyperdrive should go as well as on the Hyperdrive itself. Doing so will allow you to solder the Hyperdrive on the board much faster and without making a mess.
There are "only" 4 solder points to make but those are much smaller than connections found on the speaker wires for instance so if you do not feel comfortable unsoldering the speaker wires, don't even bother trying the Hyperdrive.

Once the Hyperdrive is in, check your work (make sure the connections are right) and lower (or reinstall) the PCB. Make sure you apply a small amount of pressure towards the bottom so that the connector will clip on.
Also, make sure that your power button doesn't get lose (BTW, here is the reason why it gets broken on the iPAQs: the power button should be "glued" or "plastic welded" to the front cover but after some use, the plastic weld breaks and causes the power button to move too far).
You're almost done. Solder the speaker wires back in (takes 2 secs) and connect the LCD connector. Make sure everything looks good, reinstall the stylus lock (if needed) and power door (if needed).
Finally, reinstall the back cover (insert bottom part first). Don't put the screws in yet. Turn the power on, plug the iPAQ directly in the AC charger and see if the LED is blinking. If it does, allow 5 minutes to charge, turn the iPAQ on and check the screen for possible deformations (weird colors...). If everything looks good, screw the back cover in (not too tight either or else the stylus lack will not work properly). Once finished turn the iPAQ on again and make sure everything looks good.

Performances:
The PGF will take significantly longer to recharge than the regular battery. So far I've estimated the charging time to be a little over double the factory battery recharge time (sounds about right... double the size, double the time).
Here are some numbers (test was performed with the Hyperdrive installed);
Note: remember that my device is using some higher perf. RAM modules (64MB Upgrade) that consume significantly more than factory units. Also for this test the IrDA autodetect option was turned off:
1) programs installed as usual, device was not used and left with backlight off (sound warning on) Note: I had TaskPlus running on the Today's page and later noticed that the program was progressively writting to memory (slow rate): 15 hours.
2) same test performed using the original battery was down to roughly 7 hours.
3) device playing mp3s from IBM 1GB Microdrive, screen off, volume at 1st marker through headphones: 3:30 hours until stopped playing (batt level at 40%).
4) regular use with most apps installed on IBM Microdrive, backlight set to auto: 4-8 hours; the usuage greatly varied depending on the application I used (I was able to manage about 3:30 to 4 hours running mp3s for about 1 hours, playing games for another hour and using PIMs for the time remaining). As a note, using CF installed Multimedia programs or games will put some stress on the battery and tremendously diminish the battery life.

Conclusion:
The PGF can be installed fairly easily and will litterally transform your old iPAQ into the longest lasting device on the market. Don't miss on it and order it today on the PDAorDie website.

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