From the start it was intermittent at performing a HotSync, or even at charging. Eventually (2 weeks)it stopped working at all. Since I had lost the receipt, I decided to take it apart and see what I could do.

The problem is that the connector block itself (that mates with the bottom of the Palm) is only seated by a (very) shallow "ledge" in the base and the flanges (!) of two screws. Since this arrangement is not very resistent to the frequent in-and-out that a Palm is subject to, the connector block worked loose. This initially caused problems in seating the connector block, requiring more force be used to make the connection and downward pressure on the block broke two of the wires, from the PC board, soldered to pins in the conector block.

At some point I'll take a soldering pencil and reconnect the wires, and put two slim screws through the block to the cradle base to hold it in place.

In the meantime, I've purchased a hotsynce/charger USB cable (instead of the cradle) and we will see how well that one fares.