Address Book, Palm and syncing

Question

1. Thinking about adopting the Address Book / iCal / Mail combo for both business and personal use. When I initially looked at this some 2yrs+ ago, there was a limit to the maximum number of Address Book entries possible.
Does anyone know the current maximum?
2. Hoping to sync with a Palm m500 and benefit from cross-app contact info. on my Apple hardware. How comprehensively does the Apple syncing transfer the fields from the Palm? Previous testing showed that at that time, syncing between devices was pretty limited - I have a complex Palm setup with 2,000+ entries and would like to preserve as much of this data as possible.
3. Of the members using the Markware Missing Sync software, is this better than the Apple sync as claimed?
Many thanks for any feedback.
PB 12" 867Mhz, 640MB RAM + G4 400Mhz, 1.5GB RAM   Mac OS X (10.4.6)  
PB 12" 867Mhz, 640MB RAM + G4 400Mhz, 1.5GB RAM   Mac OS X (10.4.6)  

Answer 1

The Missing Sync for Palm OS from Mark/Space is a far more robust and capable program than iSync, even with earlier Palm devices. It does not, however, provide maximum support for handheld organizers or smartphones running any Palm OS release prior to version 4.5, so you will not—with your m505, as I do not with my Palm Treo—enjoy the extended support offered to users of Tungsten E2 and T5, Treo 650 and later devices. Mark/Space explains it in this manner:
"…Mark/Space conduits support syncing extended fields only with the newer Palm applications: Calendar, Contacts and Memos. When syncing a Treo 600 [EDIT: and earlier organizers and smartphones] with the Mark/Space conduits, extended fields such as contacts photos, birthdays, location fields, IM addresses, URLs and others will not sync between the Mac and the device because of the older applications…"
It is important to understand the field mapping afforded by the Mark/Space conduits, and the limitations imposed by the Palm OS. You can find more information about those issues here…
http://www.markspace.com/support/index.php?x=&mod_id=2&root=122&id=2560
…and here:
http://www.markspace.com/support/index.php?x=&mod_id=2&root=123&id=2563
Proper installation of the Missing Sync also requires that you overwrite the contents of your handheld during the first synchronization event, requiring that you synchronize one last time with the Palm Desktop [if that is what you are now using] and then export your records from the Palm Desktop as vCard and vCal files, import those into the Address Book and iCal, then install and use the Missing Sync for Palm OS. You'll want to proceed cautiously and make sure that you back up your contact and calendaring data at each appropriate step.
The iSync Palm Conduit is not nearly as extensively mapped as the Mark/Space conduits are and you are liable to be quite disappointed with the limitations imposed, including the fact that you can synchronize only a single address in each record, and only where such an address is labeled home in the Address Book contact record.
Any reference to maximum record limits that I have seen refers only to those imposed by device manufacturers like Motorola for contact and calendaring records on mobile handsets. The Address Book and iCal seem to have no pre-defined limits.