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Best iPad Stylus

Best iPad Stylus

  • Total voters
    56
LadyX

LadyX

macrumors 68020
Original poster
Mar 4, 2012
2,374
252
Boxwave Capacitive, Bamboo Capacitive or Griffin Stylus?
 
ridiculous - styluses keep the screen clean and are more accurate for selecting - I would not be without one

went the adonit route, nice but too hokey to use

I'm a faraday "artist" customer now....a great stylus...
 
I got the Acase Capacitive Stylus from Amazon. I use it mostly for handwritten notes and it works just fine for me.
 
I use the Bamboo stylus for normal use, just because my hands are often dusty and dirty during the day and I try not to gum up my screen by touching it directly when I've got grime on my hands. For handwriting notes, particularly in meetings with clients, I switch to my Adonit Jot Pro...which is the best I've found for taking notes. The Bamboo works for that but things look like they were written by a first grader with a crayon so I don't like it as much for that purpose.

My dream stylus right now is an Adonit Jot Pro with a double-ender, putting a rubber nib at the other end of the pen. Not sure that's possible but that's exactly what I want them to make for me.
 
ReallyBigFeet said:
I use the Bamboo stylus for normal use, just because my hands are often dusty and dirty during the day and I try not to gum up my screen by touching it directly when I've got grime on my hands. For handwriting notes, particularly in meetings with clients, I switch to my Adonit Jot Pro...which is the best I've found for taking notes. The Bamboo works for that but things look like they were written by a first grader with a crayon so I don't like it as much for that purpose.

My dream stylus right now is an Adonit Jot Pro with a double-ender, putting a rubber nib at the other end of the pen. Not sure that's possible but that's exactly what I want them to make for me.
Click to expand...

I just checked out the Jot Pro stylus and it looks pretty cool. When taking notes with it, how's the performance? Is there a lag?
 
I have a lot of them and I usually use the Bamboo due to the weight and comfort. I also like the Faraday very much. I gave my wife the iPad 2 and told her that she could pick whatever stylus she wanted except Bamboo and she took my Faraday...DOH! I guess I need to order another one.
 
LadyX said:
I just checked out the Jot Pro stylus and it looks pretty cool. When taking notes with it, how's the performance? Is there a lag?
Click to expand...

I've seen users who have claimed that lag happens as the little disc gets used/dirty but I've had mine for a few weeks now and have taken notes 3-4 hours per day using it and have yet to experience any lag at all. No screen damage either (not sure why they would but again, a few users have claimed that). I don't use a screen protector and, as I stated, I'm in VERY dirty environments all day long. In an office/classroom setting, have to imagine performance would be as good if not better than what I've experienced.

Really the best in the market currently for taking handwritten notes IMO.
 
Kensington Virtuoso or Metro pen/stylus combo. If the Metro had a high-quality metal barrel, it would have my undying devotion :cool:
 
ReallyBigFeet said:
I've seen users who have claimed that lag happens as the little disc gets used/dirty but I've had mine for a few weeks now and have taken notes 3-4 hours per day using it and have yet to experience any lag at all. No screen damage either (not sure why they would but again, a few users have claimed that). I don't use a screen protector and, as I stated, I'm in VERY dirty environments all day long. In an office/classroom setting, have to imagine performance would be as good if not better than what I've experienced.

Really the best in the market currently for taking handwritten notes IMO.
Click to expand...

What do you mean screen damage? Have you read somewhere that the screen gets scratched? And does the stylus work on a screen protector?
 
I've seen a few reviews from Amazon users claiming the Jot scratched their screens. I can only see that possible if some gritty, abrasive agent somehow got trapped between stylii and screen. And if that did happen, you'd notice it as it would impair writing. So I don't believe that to be true.

And yes, all stylus will work with screen protectors. If the screen protector doesn't impair use of your finger, it shouldn't interfere with a capacitive stylus either as the stylus is simply a replacement for your finger.
 
All stylus that end with the giant rubber ball are the same when it comes to performance. length/shape/weight will make some more comfortable than others but in the end everything you write will end up looking like giant crayon scribbles.

I think at the moment Jot Pro is the way to go.

And once it's integrated into more apps the Jot touch with it's pressure sensitivity will be the best.
 
You are missing the big players here.

Jot Pro by Adonit.
Jot Touch (coming soon) by Adonit
iPen by Cregle
 
Any iFaraday. I've used several rubber tip stylii and the iFaraday tips any of those junkers.
 
I use only the jot pro after trying about 10 different ones.

I also like the bamboo one but I use that one more for sketching and the jot for note taking.

The lag that you are talking about doesn't come from the stylus but from the app you are using. Penultimate in particular is very laggy.

For note taking I highly suggest checking out the bamboo app - doesn't matter if you use a finger, any stylus or their stylus but it definitely has the best hand writing engine IMO.

After that is either upad or noteshelf. All 3 are excellent and I would recommend any of them depending on what your needs are.
 
Since the majority are recommending Jot Pro, I thought I'd order one to use for taking notes on my iPad. However, I have one more question. Will my notes look like a first grader handwriting? Because I've seen videos on Youtube and the notes taken by a stylus looks like that. Though, none of the styli used were Jot Pro. Is it the same with Jot Pro?
 
LadyX said:
Since the majority are recommending Jot Pro, I thought I'd order one to use for taking notes on my iPad. However, I have one more question. Will my notes look like a first grader handwriting? Because I've seen videos on Youtube and the notes taken by a stylus looks like that. Though, none of the styli used were Jot Pro. Is it the same with Jot Pro?
Click to expand...
i like the jot pro too. and use it to take notes. The Goodreader and Noteshelf apps both have a magnifier function where you could have a larger space to write on and your text will still be small enough to fit into a 1 cm line.
;)
 
I don't have an iPad at the moment, but that will (hopefully!) be rectified by Friday when my new one arrives.

I currently use a Lamy tri-pen which has a stylus as one of its functions:

http://www.cultpens.com/acatalog/Lamy-st-multipen.html#a9800

Has anyone else used one of these with an iPad/iPad2 before? The stylus is much more pen-like than some of the others that I've seen (which seem to replicate a finger) and I'm worried about responsiveness and scratching the screen.
 
Jot Touch

My girlfriend just got the Jot Pro with her iPad pre-order. This is top notch if you're just taking notes and writing etc. However, as an artist, I am personally waiting for that Jot Touch. Pressure sensitivity for the iPad is the way to go! Unfortunately it has to do with software apps but a lot are on board with this new feature. Should come out soon and I can't wait! It will be on the expensive side though. Most likely $99.
 
LadyX said:
Since the majority are recommending Jot Pro, I thought I'd order one to use for taking notes on my iPad. However, I have one more question. Will my notes look like a first grader handwriting? Because I've seen videos on Youtube and the notes taken by a stylus looks like that. Though, none of the styli used were Jot Pro. Is it the same with Jot Pro?
Click to expand...

Well if your handwriting normally looks like that of a first grader, the stylus isn't going to help there. LOL.

The answer to your question really depends more on the note taking app you are using. If the app doesn't support wrist protection, for example, you'll be forced to hold the Jot Pro in such a way as to not be able to rest your hand anywhere on the surface of the iPad. This can feel awkward in my opinion and lead to bad handwriting. Try it with a normal pen on a pad of paper and you'll get the same result.

However, if the app in question supports wrist protection, your handwriting should be as good as that with a normal pen and paper. It may take a little getting used to but after a page or two you won't be able to tell the difference.

Personally, I like apps like Noteability or NoteTaker HD that allow for both wrist protection AND something called a "Zoom" function. Zoom basically gives you an automatically scrolling window at the bottom of the page to write in. This lets you write very compactly but the app then expands what you write a bit onto the page above that zoomed portion. Go watch some Youtube vids of the various iPad note taking apps and you'll see how this works. Using that feature, my handwriting actually looks BETTER than it does in my Moleskine as I'm able to write very compactly, very straight and very legibly while the app itself blows it up a bit. Great feature.
 
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