Boxwave’s products ship via standard mail – the envelopes are rather unstuffed and don’t contain useless clutter:

The Styra itself ships in a small blister with ‘instructions’ on the back:

Congratulations go out to the product designer – the Styra looks very futuristic. The grey barrel and the transparent tip remind me of Belkin’s famous light stylus…

My E2’s stylus silo was heavily modified while it was customized – but the Styra still fits in perfectly:

Writing on a PDA is comfortable – I used a Boxwave UltraClear screen protector and was astonished by the smoothness (much smoother than Parker 45 on paper). Moving the nib over the Palm Tungsten E2’s screen takes next to no force.

Unscrewing the nib unveils the reset pin. The Styra is unique among styli for its metal pin – unneeded for Tungsten E2(can be reset with nib), but a must for TE… .

Pulling the black cap off the Styra’s should reveal the ballpoint pen – but the cap simply didn’t come off. Three people tried to pull it off..to no avail. It took me 5 minutes to pry it off the first time…

The pen can also be accessed by unscrewing the reset pin to gain access to Boxwave’s custom charge. Writing quality is very good for compacts:

Overall, the Styra is a great replacement stylus for the classic Tungsten E series – but it isn’t perfect. While Boxwave is the first vendor to get paper output quality to a superior level, their annoying cap makes writing a nuisance at first (it improves over time). If you have the time to play around with the cap a bit, you will be awarded with an excellent stylus for just 11.95$.

Brando shipped the Martin Fields stylus traditionally via regular mail – however, the parcels now require ‘personal pickup’.

The stylus itself ships in a nice orange blister. The first thing one notices about the stylus is its ‘glossy’ black finish. The black color reflects the light and looks really good – it somehow reminds me of car paint:

Martin Field’s stylus is rather big – here is a picture next to a few other styli and pens from various manufacturers:

Here is a picture of it next to a Palm Treo 600 and a Palm Tungsten T3:

The stylus and ballpoint tips can be accessed by rotating the bottom of the thingy left or right:

Working with the PDA tip is very comfortable – it slides over the screen protectors well and has a pretty paper-like writing feel which I like very much. Writing on Paper is also possible, albeit the output quality is not exactly on the high end side of things:

The shiniest feature of this stylus design is the laser pointer/torch combo integrated into its back. Martin Fields did a great job here, the integration looks extremely nice. The torch works well on a 5m range, and the laser pointer is excellent too.

Martin Fields made one fatal mistake – the torch switch acts as a toggle. If the torch mistakenly activates itself, you are rewarded with dead batteries.

Taking the stylus apart is easy – pull the top off to access the nibs, screw the back off to access the batteries(and remove the enclosure)

Overall, this stylus is a great choice for everyone who wants a stylus and ergonomic external pointer for his (Palm OS) handheld or smartphone. It would have gotten a perfect score if t didn’t have the fatal flaw with the torch – nevertheless, the price of 19$ at Brando’s is justified(if just for the color).

The stylus itself is packed into a nice blister:

After unpacking, the stylus impresses with its color. It is lighter than my original Treo 600 stylus and doesn’t accumulate fingertips easily. I really like its looks…

The stylus has a reset pin in the front. Accessing it works well, and I had no problems resetting my Treo 600:

Pulling the back off was a real surprise – the mechanics have been greatly improved, pulling the cap off required next to no force!

The pen’s output quality is really good and the charge showed absolutely no signs of leakage. There seems to be a reservoire in the lid, too – so they fixed the darn leakage problem. Proporta never had problems with the fit – the stylus fits into my Treo 600 beautifully, altough pulling it out requires a bit more force.

Overall, what should I say? Proporta’s 3-in-1 stylus division has(finally) grown up and delivered a product that’s worthy of the Proporta name. I searched wide and far to find something negative to mention in this review – but there is nothing. If you need a 3-in-1 or even just a replacement stylus for your Treo 600, get this one for 17.95$ at Proporta’s.

I received my sample from Brando’s. Brando ships its products from Hong Kong via regular mail. Customs seem to leave the parcels alone, and I never received anything damaged yet:

The stylus itself was packed up in a small blister:

The stylus fits into a Palm Tungsten T3 well. Pulling it out is a bit different, you need to pull the top out with your fingernails – this is no problem for me though. My fingernails are very short even for a male, but I still always got the stylus out of my Palm Tungsten T3 easily.

When expanding the stylus, it becomes way longer than the original stylus. One can say that it is the longest stylus ever seen on a PDA:

The pen is hidden underneath the plastic back. Pulling it off allows you to write on paper. Output quality is very good, no need to mention anything negative here.

Writing with this stylus feels very well, both on paper and on-screen. The length makes longer email sessions more comfortable and ergonomic!

Overall, this is the best replacement stylus for the Palm Tungsten T3 I ever saw. If you need a replacement stylus, this is the most comfortable way to go even if you don’t really need the pen. The price of 10$ is a steal for such a product…

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Palm
Palm OS
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Tungsten T3

When it comes to PDA accessories, quality is the characteristic that gets my attention the most. It is always nice to have a product that you know will reward you for your investment.

The Inka Pen is a product designed with this standard of quality in mind. You know it’s a well made product when they offer you a lifetime warranty with it.

The Inka Pen starts with an stainless steel barrel or titanium depending on which model you buy. That said, you know this product will be well protected from any abuse that might occur. If you pull the bottom of it, an O-ring will release a small pen. The O-ring helps keep out water if it was being used in rainy conditions. The manufacturer states that this pen can be used in any condition due to its pressurized ink cartridge.

The design of the pen begins to impress when you screw off the bottom of the pen. A yellow delrin stylus appears. Delrin is an excellent material for a PDA stylus due to its natural lubricity and durability. I have tested this product for over a month now and love how easily this material glides on the surface of a PDA. The stylus does take some time to get to which is the only downside of the design.

Yes, it can even become a full sized pen. It isn’t very much fun writing when it is only half length, but when you put it all together, it assembles a very attractive, sleek pen.

The Inka pen is an excellent choice for someone who has room on their keychain or loves the outdoors. It will withstand any and all of the elements you throw at it…as long as you stay between -30 to 300F degrees. So stay off the surface of the sun, and you’ll love the quality of this pen!

One of those multi talents is the Belkin 4-in-1 Stylus Pen. It comes in quite a big box, one might say, but all out of paper, hence recyclability.

Nomen est omen – the Belkin 4-in-1 Stylus Pen covers four functions:

• Stylus
• Pencil
• Red ballpoint
• Black ballpoint

The technique behind the scenes is quite easy – yet you have to get used to it. There’re are four cartridges in the barrel and the one closest to the ground (or: at the bottom) comes out in most of the cases.

Compared to normal ballpoint pens, like the cheap Parkers, this one looks quite big, but multi-talents don’t imply smallness normally. Though, because of the low weight of the pen, you get used to it’s size without any harms.

Also the writing quality is quite good, and it’s also comfortable for writing at school, where you have to write very fast from time to time – still no cramps, yay! The stylus tip is very soft, so exelent writing comfort on Palm is given too (even for insane coders using SrcEdit, like me).

Here’s a little comparison of a few other pens and the Belkin 4-in-1 Stylus Pen:

It’s securely attached to the opposite end. The clear stylus tip is threaded into the metal body covering the reset pen. The black pen cap snaps off and on with little effort, but stays put.

The Styra features a ballpoint pen, an integrated reset tool, and a very durable construction.

Although the stylus tip itself is small enough to reset my Palm Zire 72, the sturdy metal reset tip will reset any PDA. The clear plastic stylus is a whole lot tougher than I had thought at first sight. The stylus fits into the appropriate slot perfectly.

All in all, this stylus offers well made construction, ink pen cap which snaps onto the clear stylus; model-specific fit; reset pin under the plastic tip. Boxwave made a quality stylus at an affordable price. I even threw out the Palm’s Zire 72 stylus and replaced it with this one.
Well done, Boxwave, well done.

Proporta’s stuff ships via regular mail. Stuff always arrives in a good condition:

The stylus ships in a blister pack. A bit of tea is included with each product to simplify ‘aquaintance’:

Palm’s original stylus is made of a very reflective kind of metal, while the Proporta one looks more like the housing of a T3. It looks very nice and fits the handhelds color well:

Here are a few different styli. From left to right:Stock Vii, Stock TT, Cross MicroPen, Stock TE2, Proporta:

Writing on-screen is comfortable! The tip is very smooth and big, writing with it is easy.

The pen can be revealed by pulling the nib off the stylus-this takes a lot of force though and is not easy. Writing on paper is ok for such a small thing:

The output is quite good for such a small thing:

A reset pin is contained in the back of the stylus. It works for most handhelds that cannot be resetted with the tip. Accessing the pin is a bit difficult though-you need to turn the back around 13 times-a bit too much for my taste.

Overall, the stylus leaves a positive impression! Writing on-screen in very comfortable, and writing on paper works too. However, the mechanics are average. Opening the stylus tip is difficult, and unscrewing the reset tip takes a bit of time. In addition, I received a damaged component at first(was promptly exchanged). But this stylus still is way better than the stock one!

The stylus ships in a blister very similar to most other Belkin offerings:

It is rather thick and long enough for comfortable use. This image shows it next to a few other styli():

The tip can be turned on by turning the back of the stylus around. This video shows the procedure. Once turned on, it is ready for use! Here are two photos that show how the screen is illuminated, this video(3gp, plays in TCPMP or QuickTime) gives a ‘hands-on view’. By the way, the tip is thin enough for resetting a WristPDA and a E2-a T3 cant do the trick.

The stylus locked in the silo of a Palm V, a TE2 and a T3-these images show how it ‘blends in’:

A Palm IIIc had problems holding the stylus in place. It fits in well, but falls out if you turn the handheld around:

The battery can theoretically be exchanged, altough I never saw the model before. The tip of the battery can be used as reset pin:

Overall, this can come in handy. The mechanics are good, and the light is bright. Belkin did a good job in regards to handheld compatibility-you can replace most handheld’s styli with it! If you use your WristPDA much, this stylus definitly is worth its price!

This stylus needs to be assembled before use-it consists of the pen part and an exchangeable nib that carries the screen part AND also connects to the stylus silo. The nib needs to be pressed onto the pen firmly and also in the right direction. My hands lacked the strength for the assembly, and a small gap stayed between pen and nib. However, using a table helped!

This is the thinnest stylus I ever faced in my life. I gathered a few styli in this comparison photo(Cross, Brando TT 3in1, E2 PalmOne, Vii PalmOne):

When using the stylus on a touchscreen, you actually use the rubber cone on the connector of the stylus. This is bad, as the cone will likely be damaged when carrying the handheld around. Using a rubber cone for touch screen input is a new thing for me-but it works well. You have a bit more ‘feedback’ from the Digitizer surface, and writing feels more paperlike. The thinness of the stylus is annoying though-my thumb starts to hurt a tiny bit faster than with a T3 stylus. Also, the stylus lacks a reset pin. A T3 and a TE2 could be reset with the pen tip, but a Vii was not resettable.

Writing on paper always was a domain of Cross-and this stylus makes no difference. You ‘expose’ the pen’s tip by turning the back:

Don’t ask why, but writing with this thing almost feels better than writing with a regular ball pen. The output looks a bit better than the Brando 3-in-1 stylus, here is a comparison photo.

One can use one nib with multiple kinds of handheld-dont ask me how this works. Cross says that the pen is compatible with quite a few handhelds, StylusCentral lists additional models. I tried fitting the stylus into a Tungsten E2. The stylus fits in, but doesn’t completely disappear into the silo:

A Vii prototype exhibited problems with locking onto the stylus-but the configuration was useable nevertheless.

Getting the nib off the pen is hard work though.

Overall, this item is difficult to rate. It does a good job as pen and stylus! It doesnt look or feel bad either. However, the stylus has major constructively deficiencies-the universal concept has a price. The stylus tip is exposed to damages, and the fit is not perfect either. But: 4.99$ is a good argument that compensates those difficulties. And-last but not least-this still is one of the nicest styli on the market…