Griffin Capacitive Stylus Review

I’ve always been hesitant about using styluses. They’ve always not worked properly, they don’t have very good designs, and they are just plain not useful. My opinion hasn’t been changed much with the Griffin Capacitive Stylus.

First things first, this stylus has an amazing design. When I first picked up this product, it felt amazing in my hand. This truly is a very well crafted product. This stylus is perfectly weighted, which makes it really nice to hold during extended writing sessions (notes on the iPad). I got sent the red version to review, and I have to say it looks very flashy. For people that want a low profile, there is a black version which is subtle, but still very sleek. The Griffin Stylus comes in many other colors, so don’t feel you’re stuck with just red or black. The attached clip on the stylus is very sturdy, and makes carrying it round a lot easier.

I’m still in school, and using the Griffin Stylus for notes was the thing I wanted to try most when I got it. I was most disappointed when I used it for the first time. For this test, I used the program Griffin recommends: Penultimate. First of all, you can’t write very much on one page, which makes it very hard to view the notes afterwards. Second of all, it’s actually really difficult to write with this stylus. I’ve attempted it many times with different applications, and it just isn’t a fun writing experience. If you’re looking to get this stylus for writing notes with an iPad, you might want to stick with pen and paper. It is useful for drawing though.

Using the Griffin Stylus with devices such as the Apple iPad or Blackberry Playbook may seem, like the obvious choice, but you can actually use it for a whole range of phones, including the iPhone. I would not recommend this because you go from “That cool guy with an iPhone” to “That guy who has a phone with a stylus”. That and the fact that it is almost pointless using a stylus with a phone. Although this is the case for most people, there are business people that would find this stylus quite useful with a phone. For those select few, the iPhone happens to be a perfect compliment to the Griffin Stylus in design and size.

So the big questions that everyone wants to know is: Is it worth dropping $15 on a unnecessary accessory for your capacitive device? My answer is no. It really is not a “toy” product for you tablet. Only certain apps take advantage of it, one that I like is Zen Brush. Griffin really makes some awesome products and if you’re looking for a stylus for you’re capacitive device (maybe if you’re an artist), then the Griffin Stylus is a great way to go.

I give the Griffin Stylus a 3 out of 5 stars.

Get it here on Amazon for $7

I received this product free or charge from Griffin. Here is their review policy: http://bit.ly/griffinreview