Originally posted by Gidora
[B]I got the PDAir one as well, but am cruising for an alternative as you might guess. Too bad the other two apparent choices have niggles as well.

The PDAir Stylus/Pen I got from Brando has thick milled stainless steel tube finished to match the Palm’s TT Stylus. It feels as solid and and balanced as the stock stylus. The only thing that bothers me is that the spring loaded extension pops out unpredictably at times.

I’m back to using the stock stylus. You need to be able to whip the stylus out without any impediment whatsoever. [/B]

My PDAir stylus works fine, and does not popup unexpectly like yours. But my stock stylus is getting flaky. I have to click it a few times to get it to stay “down”. I think the catch that’s holding it down is getting worn out.

The PDAir Stylus/Pen I got from Brando has thick milled stainless steel tube finished to match the Palm’s TT Stylus. It feels as solid and and balanced as the stock stylus. The only thing that bothers me is that the spring loaded extension pops out unpredictably at times.

I’m back to using the stock stylus. You need to be able to whip the stylus out without any impediment whatsoever.

It has a built-in black pen, and is spring loaded. The built quality is not as good as the stock stylus ( the spring action is not as smooth ), and it feels lighter. When extended, it is slightly shorter ( it’s only 4″ when fully extended ), so this might be an issue if you have big hands. But I reckon it’s the closest you can get to the original stylus.

I agree with Judie, it is a nice quality stylus. I will miss the spring action but to me it is a trade off and on balance having the additional length (which makes it extremely comfortable to use) and the pen are worth the loss.

My only complaint so far is that the black tip that covers the pen does not fit onto the stylus end while writing. Although I do not see as a design issue how that would have been possible.

Judie :0)

Oh well… the stock stylus isn’t pretty, and it doesn’t have a pen, but *darn* that spring mechanism is clever.

I agree with you about missing the spring-loaded function of the original stylus – but I felt the loss a bit less than you did because for the last 5 months (at least), I have been using a PDA Panache replacement stylus that also has to be manually extended. I got over missing the spring when I first starte using the Panache.

I respectfully disagree with you about the feel of the P-i-v-o-t, I found it to be neither cheap nor nasty. This replacement and the stock stylus both weigh exactly the same: 7 grams.

It could be that because the center of gravity is different, due to the extra legnth when extended, that is just felt lighter to you. I wouldn’t go so far as to say that the P-i-v-o-t feels “luxurious” (channeling Bobby Trendy there), but then for the price I don’t expect it to.

Hopefully, there will be a manufacturer that makes an even better spring loaded stylus, but until then, we at least have two other brands to try that include ball-point pens.

Judie :0)

In my opinion, any quality replacement stylus for the T|T has to make use of the spring loading mechanism, otherwise it’s not going to appeal to most owners who like the ease of use that the supplied stylus offers.

Of course if you’re going to produce a stylus that has to be ‘pulled’ from the silo, as the Pivot does, it would help if the barrel has been engineered well enough so that it can then be extended easily. Unfortunately the Pivot that I have is so stiff that it takes two hands to extend it, and even then the cheap plastic top, which covers the pen nib, comes off in my hand unless I squeeze it very tightly!

I also expected the Pivot to be weightier than the supplied stylus, but if anything it’s lighter (possibly due to the ommission of the spring loading mechanism), which, allowing for it’s extra length when extended, makes it feel cheap and nasty.

Come on manufacturers, there’s money to be made for somebody! I and many others are looking forward to aquality replacement stylus being engineered for the T|T.

And if it was discontinued, does that mean that current TT owners would just toss theirs into the trash the next day? I doubt it… :p

But back to the topic, this is a welcome accessory. I have the PDA Panache stylus, but it suffers from the same thing all of my PDA Panache styli suffer from… unscrewing itself. I think I’ll give this one a go and see how it works out.

http://www.the-gadgeteer.com/pivot-tungstent-3in1-review.html

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