Pilot Pentopia Chameleon One Universal Stylus

Gadgeteer Hands On Review by Julie

October 29, 2002

Product Requirements:
Device:
Many PDAs.

The Chameleon line of styli from Pilot Pentopia have been popular with PDA owners for quite awhile now. In the past, we've taken a look at several of versions, including ones for the Sony CLIÉ n700 series, Palm m100 series, and Palm III series. Pilot Pentopia now have a brand new version of their stylus that is called the Chameleon One Universal Stylus.

The difference with this new stylus is that it hasn't been created for any one specific PDA. Instead it can fit in a wide variety of PDA silos. Some of the devices that are listed as being compatible with this stylus are:

Palm III series, V series, VII series, m100 series, m500 series, i705 and Zire
Handspring Visor, Prism, Deluxe, Platinum, Pro and Neo
Sony CLIÉ S300, S360C, S760C and N700C
HP Jornada
Toshiba e570
Sharp Zaurus

I personally tested the Universal stylus with the following PDAs (some of which were not included in the listing of compatible PDAs on Pilot's site):

Palm III, Palm V, Palm m100, Palm m505
Handspring Visor, Prism
Sony CLIÉ T615C, NR70V
Toshiba e570
HP Jornada 565
Compaq iPAQ 3600, 3800
Zayo
Zaurus SL5000D

More about how the stylus worked out with my PDAs in a sec...

The stylus is a combination of metal and plastic. The entire .183in (4.67mm) diameter barrel is made of a silver metal with the Pilot Pentopia name silk-screened in thin red letters along the side. The barrel is smooth and straight while the finger grip area is slightly molded with ridges. The stylus has a nice weight and good balance.

The stylus tip is red in color and smooth in feel on all PDA screens I tested it with. The only disappointing fact about the stylus tip is the fact that it is NOT the typical Chameleon spring-action tip. Instead, it is a stationary tip. I'll admit that I was bummed with this revelation. I was also not too happy to find out that a reset pin was also not included.

The top of the stylus has a grey plastic cap. The cap has a soft plastic bulb at the top which can be used to press the application buttons on your PDA. Removing the cap reveals a black ballpoint pen tip. I found the pen to write smoothly without any skipping or ink blobs.

The cap is actually the most important feature of this whole stylus. It is what gives the stylus its universal capability. Two small spring loaded metal buttons protrude out of opposite sides of the plastic cap. These buttons enable the stylus to fit into stylus silos that would otherwise be too large for it.

I tested the Universal with a pretty good selection of PDAs to get an idea of just how 'universal' it really is. Here are my results...

Palm III - Fits but can be shook out with medium force. Not long enough to fit properly in silo. Looks too small.
Palm V - Good fit. Slightly short.
Palm m505 - Best fit of all the PDAs I tested.
Palm m100 - Wouldn't use with this PDA. Doesn't fit as intended. Wants to twist in silo so that only one button is holding it in place.
Handspring Visor, Prism - Fits very well, but short in the silo.
Sony CLIÉ T615C, NR70V - Didn't fit at all. Too large.
Toshiba e570 - Loose fit and rattles.
HP Jornada 565 - Fits but is slightly difficult to remove.
Compaq iPAQ 3600, 3800 - Loose fit, rattles and sticks out of the top of the PDA too far.
Zayo - Fits, but is too short in the silo.
Zaurus SL5000D - Fits, but sticks too far out of the silo.

Palm m505

Handspring Visor Prism

Sharp Zaurus

Palm III

After all those tests, I came to the opinion that this stylus is best suited for the Palm m500 series. It works with most of the others, but doesn't REALLY look stock enough to appeal to me. Maybe if it had the spring-action tip, I'd overlook the fact that it is too short in most PDA silos. But as is, I'd pass if you're not a Palm m500 series owner.

Available at StylusCentral and other retailers.

Price: $12.95

Pros:
Compatible with a wide variety of PDAs
Ballpoint pen included

Cons:
Doesn't have the famous spring-action stylus tip
No reset tip
Too short for most PDA silos