Yesterday I got my first stylus for the iPad. I didn’t go with the very popular Pogo Sketch, instead I got the TouchTec Pen. When the item arrived I have to admit I was pretty disappointed by what I saw in the box, but I decided to keep an open mind, and reminded myself it only cost 14 bucks and it was free shipping, no tax.

The TouchTec pen is exactly what it sounds like. A ballpoint pen on one end and a conductive stylus on the other. It works with all capacitive screens like the one found on the iPhone and iPad. My disappointment came from the fact that this looks like a pen with a piece of leather glued to the end of it. It’s a pretty straight forward device, use it as a pen, flip it over and use it as a stylus on your iPad. What I wish I had done was a bit more research, because I’m thinking I could have made this myself. I’m not exactly sure how its is working, but if I shield my hand from the metal pen shaft, it still works.

So lets talk about the stylus. On first use, the leather tip has a tendency to stick, but after using it for a couple of hours, it moves smoother across the surface of the iPad screen. There is a bit of latency at times from the click/touch to applications opening, or with click-able functions inside of an application but it isn’t all that bad.

The one app that I have actually spent time using the stylus with is, “Brushes”. I did one digital sketch last night in about a 45 minute time frame. This is where a stylus has the most potential, and where everyone that I have used falls short. The stylus end is simply to damn big. I don’t know if this has something to do with the capacitive screen, or if these are being designed by non-artist, but at the end of the day I want a stylus with a pencil point tip. Something like a Wacom tablet stylus. The TouchTec is good for quick sketching, but in order to refine and get maximum control over the stylus you have to zoom in and out far to often. Since I have an extra Wacom stylus, I really think I am going to try to hack it with a piece of leather and see if I can get it to work like the TouchTec.

This stylus is far from perfect, but then again all of them are. Until someone comes up with a Wacom style stylus, I think we are all going to have to get used to working with fat sluggish input devices.

Oh one last note. I used this on my iPhone which has an invisishield screen cover on it. Ummmm, not good at all.