One of the first crowd funding projects that I supported was the XStylus Touch Stylus on Indiegogo. The project was successfully funded and I have been using my XStylus Touch for a couple weeks and am ready to tell you what I think of it.
Note: Images can be clicked to view a larger size.
The XStylus Touch is a capacitive stylus with a unique design that is unlike any other stylus that I’ve seen on the market. It’s made of two parts that are held together with a screw. The outside shaft is made of white plastic with the stylus tip attached to the end. The core of the stylus is made of polished stainless steel which gives it a very nice overall weight of 35 g.
When not in use, the stylus is meant to be in the orientation that you see above.
When you’re ready to use it, you can pivot the core so that it is in the position that you see here. The wide part of the stainless steel core flexes the sides of the shaft so that it can slide in between them.
Although this is supposed to be the preferred way to use the stylus, I almost never use it this way. I just leave it like you see below. I guess I’m a little nervous that the plastic shaft will end up breaking from repeated flexing and it works equally well in this position.
Comparing the XStylus Touch to a Targus Stylus and a Hand Stylus, we see that it’s more compact.
The capacitive stylus tip is similar to the same type of hollow rubber tip found on the Targus and Hand stylus. The XStylus tip is smaller than the Tagrus and larger than the Hand stylus tip. I actually think the XStylus tip is the optimal sized tip. I like the Hand stylus tip because it’s smaller, but I’ve noticed that my strokes are sometimes ignored if I don’t press a bit harder than normal when using it with my iPad. I don’t have this problem with the XStylus, which seems to give me better control. That said, the stylus tip is still larger than a pencil or pen tip, so it does get in the way when you want to do very detailed work. It also doesn’t work well when you try to hold it at less than a 45-50 degree angle. I still recommend the Adonit Jot or Logiix Diamond styluses when you need to be precise.
The XStylus comes with a magnetic clip that you can insert into the iPad’s docking connector.
This clip is supposed to provide an easy way to carry the stylus along with you.
Although this clip works fine, it really isn’t needed if you happen to use a smart cover with your iPad because the stainless steel core of the stylus sticks to magnets in the cover. Also, if you use the clip you will have to remove it whenever you need to charge the iPad, so I threw it in a drawer.
I like the weight and feel of the XStylus Touch and am finding that it works very well for me when drawing and writing. Of all the styluses in my collection, I’m finding that I’m reaching for it more than the others lately. But if it were up to me, I’d ditch the funky pivot design and just make a plastic shaft with a heavy steel insert. The chrome shaft looks cool, but it’s really just inflating the price, which could also stand to change. I’d also offer a cap of some type to protect the tip when I throw it in my gear bag. All this said, the XStylus Touch is one of my current favorites and I’m not just saying that because I spent my own money to get it.
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im glad to see these guys evolve their design.
Their original concept was made all-plastic, much skinier/flimsier and intended to fit into the silo/holder of the nintendo DS. It was quite a neat concept because if you can imagine how small it needed to fold to fit into that tiny slot.
I haven’t had much luck finding cool stuff at Indiegogo or Quirky, but i assume they work pretty much like kickstarter? (which im addicted to)
@anson I’m all for Kickstarter and similar crowdfunding sites. I think it’s a cool way for anyone with the gumption to get a product to market. Here’s a link to an article that explains the differences between Indiegogo and Kickstarter: http://www.filmmakersnotebook.com/are-there-any-differences-between-indiegogo-kickstarter/
i need a thin tipped stylus so where from is the pink one? the name/brand would be nice, even better if someone could include the site