Rotring Quattro-Pen Data Review

The German company Rotring has created a 4-in-1
instrument called the Quattro-Pen Data. Rotring has been producing high quality writing
instruments since 1928. The Quattro-Pen Data is a stylus, pen, pencil, and highlighter in
one slender package.

The body of the pen is metal and the finish is matte black. At the top of the pen near
the plunger are icons. These icons are imprinted around the body of the pen. Each one
denotes the tip that you wish to use. For some strange reason, they used a floppy disk
icon to represent the stylus tip.  The other icons are easily recognized. To select a
tip, you just rotate the pen so that you are holding it with the desired icon on top. Then
you press the plunger and that tip is extruded. To change retract the tip, you just press
the retract button located on the pocket clip.  This method of selecting the tips
works about 95% of the time. Every great once in awhile I would get the wrong tip but it
was probably because I wasn’t holding the pen quite right.

The actual quality of the pen’s nibs are all fine.  The black ballpoint pen has a
0.5mm tip. It seemed to write like any other ordinary ballpoint pen. The 0.5mm mechanical
pencil was also just fine. The Quattro-Pen Data also includes a orange/pink (not sure
exactly what color it is) ballpoint highlight pen. I’m not sure how large the tip is, but
it’s probably 0.7mm. I found that writing with this tip produced mixed results, most often
the ink wouldn’t be smooth. By that I mean that if I would draw a line or write, parts of
that line would be darker than other parts. The ink tended to skip. I guess this isn’t a
big deal considering that you probably wouldn’t be writing with the pen but underlining
text.

The stylus has a smooth yellow tip. Writing with it is comfortable. The tip seems more
pointy than most other styli that I have seen/reviewed. If I were to compare the stylus to
the orange tip of the PDA Panache Trio-1, I
would admit that I prefer the Trio-1’s slightly softer tip. But, I prefer the feel
Quattro-Pen Data’s stylus over the Autopoint Stylus+’s
stylus. Maybe the main difference is in the weight of the actual instrument.  The
Quatrro-Pen Data and the Trio-1 are nicely balanced and just the right weight while the
Autopoint Stylus+ is noticeably lighter.

Now for the bad news.  First of all, this stylus is EXPENSIVE and hard to find in
the US. It lists for $59. The cheapest I found it was for $51 at Discount Art Supplies.
They also supply the refills which are $1.50 for the black pen, and $2.25 for the
highlighter.

Another bad point about this pen is the finish. It scratches easily and shows grease
marks. I don’t particularly like the feel of the finish either. It sort of reminds me of
holding a piece of chalk. It’s hard to explain…

One other thing… not really a bad point, just funny. The pen comes in a big velvet
lined plastic case that looks like a coffin. Maybe if they left this out, the pen wouldn’t
have to be quite as expensive!

In summary, I’ll say that the Rotring Quattro-Pen Data is a nice stylus. The only real
advantage that it has over other multi-function pens is the addition of the highlight pen.
Other than that, it’s really no better than the others.  If you want the BMW of
styli, then go for the Rotring. But if you just want a great multi-function stylus, go for
the PDA Panache Trio-1 or AutoPoint Stylus +.

Price: $59 (list price)

Pros:
4 writing tips in one package.
Slim design.

Cons:
Expensive.
Black finish tends to scratch easily.