The Cheap Stylus Gamble

I decided shortly after writing the post “Why it is impossible to get a 5 star review to go ahead and take the gamble and purchase the product. The product had mostly good reviews, except for the silly one detailed in the previous post, and for £2.28 I wouldn’t really feel out of pocket if they did turn out to be rubbish.

Initial Impressions

They are very light. An individual stylus is around the same weight, if not lighter, than an empty juice can. They are just the right length for me, if it was about a centimetre shorter I wouldn’t be able to hold it like a normal pen. Below is a picture of them, along with an iPhone 4 for an idea of their size.

It doesn’t require much pressure to activate the screen, and does not feel rough when dragging across the screen. I did initial tests on my old decrepit iPhone, I was going to test these on something else before letting them anywhere near my iPad. Tried drawing on the iPad in Paper and initially it felt odd. I thought the tip felt a bit on the spongy side. It took a few shots to get used to this, but now drawing with it feels naturally.

Build Quality

It appears that by shear luck, the stylus I pulled out to test was a good quality one. I had left it upstairs and decided to be lazy and take another one out of the packet. This one did not have a spongy tip, it went completely flat with the slightest amount of pressure, meaning more pressure was required to get the screen to register a touch. On further inspection it appears I got two that were like this, so I would say I got six usable styluses out of the eight. I still consider this a bargain.

Final Thoughts

While this is only a review these styluses being used lightly over the space of a week, so far they look to be lasting. The one I have been primarily using is showing no real signs of wear so far. I had been hesitant about purchasing a more expensive (in the £15-£20 range) stylus after all of the ones I had seen having multiple reviews stating that the rubber tip had disintegrated and split within a few weeks, with (where available) tips costing around £4 each. These were clearly a gamble, and to be honest I expected them to be rubbish and go straight in the bin. So far they have appeared to be well worth the gamble, although the two and a half weeks from dispatch to arrival takes some patience. Unfortunately they have not cured my chronic inability to draw, but it is nice to have something usable to sketch ideas with.