Review of the Wacom Bamboo Stylus

The Bamboo stylus is amazing to say the least. I have been using my iPad to take notes in class recently but was using a Targus capacitive stylus to draw diagrams and things I just couldn't do with a keyboard. After about three days of using the stylus I was ready to ditch it, quit using my iPad for notes and just switch to pen and paper. My friend let me use his Bamboo stylus to see if it made any difference and it absolutely did! It's almost as fluid as using a real pen; it glides so smoothly across the screen that it just feels normal. Using my old stylus, it felt like writing with a stick with tape attached to the end. Don't get me wrong, it's great for avoiding fingerprints when you're just playing around but it's a far cry away from being a good handwriting tool. The Bamboo stylus is excellently weighted and feels great in your hand. Its length is a little shorter than my old stylus but I don't seem to notice any problems with that. It also features a removable clip that can be there when you need it and out of sight when you don't.

Now, I did some research before I went out to my local Best Buy and picked one of these up, and the top con across the board is that the nib (the rubber tip of the stylus to the non-pen fanatic ) is very sensitive and needs replaced rather quickly. I have read varying reviews on the time period before needing to replace the nib unit - some said a week, another said 5 months. I won't know until I have to replace it myself, but hopefully that won't be for a long time. Unfortunately, Wacom does not provide any spare nibs in the packaging so if the nib does tear, a new set of 3 must be ordered from Wacom's website.

The other con of the stylus is its price - $29.99 is a bit out there when you can go on eBay and pick up a pack of three from China for about a buck, but I think it's worth every penny, simply because I can actually read what I write with it.

To summarize -
PROS:

• Well weighted; feels great in hand
• Features a removable clip
• Nib unit is replaceable
• Smoothly glides across iPad screen allowing for crisp, non-jittered text

CONS:

• Price
• Reports of the nib unit easily tearing

To those who may have had a torn nib unit -- DO NOT BUY A REPLACEMENT FROM AMAZON OR OTHER RETAILERS! Wacom sells the nib units in a set of three on their website for $4.95 and about 5 bucks to ship it USPS. Amazon is charging about 4 times that amount for the same product PLUS shipping. People say to order in advance though because apparently Wacom is constantly out of stock and does not allow backordering.

All in all, the pros outweigh the cons for me. To anyone looking for a stylus that gives great handwriting results, get the Bamboo stylus.

I used the stylus today to take notes during a lecture and it didn't let me down! Handwriting looks great and drawings/diagrams turned out nicely too. I also used it to work out calculus problems last night instead of using pencil & paper. Very pleased so far...no signs of tearing yet.

I've been using this stylus for almost a month now to take notes and the quality definitely went down. It feels like the nib unit isn't gliding across the screen as easily as it was initially. None the less, it still writes better than my old stylus. The nib unit has also not shown any signs of tearing like most reviews on the stylus said it would.

All in all, it's still good...just not as great as the first few days/weeks of using it. Would still recommend it.