The TruGlide Stylus with a microfiber tip, 4.6 inches long, is just about the perfect size and weight for use with an iPad mini. And it looks great -- if a stylus is That Thing You Do.
The Crusade
My regular readers know that I was on a stylus crusade this summer. I was looking for a great stylus with length, heft and craftsmanship. A fine instrument, like a fine fountain pen. Many of the styluses I looked at were fine products, but they didn’t meet those criteria. That is, until I found the LYNKtec TruGlide Duo Stylus Pen. Here is a link to the review ”TruGlide Duo Stylus: Microfiber, Megafabulous.”
That’s the stylus I use every day now with my iPad 3. However, when I got the iPad mini and wrote my review of it, “iPad mini In Depth: Thin, Light & Charming.,” I noticed that I instinctively was picking up a different stylus -- and I have a bundle of them to chose from littering my desk. This one is the LYNKtec TruGlide Stylus w/Clip.
This stylus is just a bit shorter than the Duo that includes a ballpoint pen. It’s 4.6-inches long and weighs 0.4 oz (11 grams). For some mystical reason, it seemed like the right sized stylus to use with the iPad mini.
Stylus w/Clip (above), Duo Pen (bottom)
One of the things I like about the model I received for review is that it’s black and gold. Every other stylus I’ve reviewed, in its metal highlights, has been silver in color. There’s something extra classy about the gold finish.
Like its big brother, the Duo, it has that megafabulous (my term) microfiber tip that eliminates drag and skipping. Along with the GoSmart styluses with their Teflon impregnated stainless steel tips, these microfiber tips have the very best feel as they glide along the Gorilla glass.
Close-up of Microfiber tip (6 mm)
Because this stylus is much smaller in diameter, its nib is 6 mm. While the nib isn’t customer replaceable, LYNKtec claims that this kind of tip has 10 times the durability of conventional rubber tips. And it will be replaced by the developer under warranty. I’ve been using the Duo on my full-size iPad for months, and it still looks good as new.
The only negative is the pocket clip. It doesn’t have the quality of design that, say, the Wacom Bamboo has. Nor is it removable. Like most inexpensive pocket clips, it’s just crimped in place.
Unlike the Carbon (colored) Duo which has a dull (but handsomely technical) finish, this stylus has a shiny look. Yet it doesn’t feel plasticky or cheap, and the grip is fairly good. I suppose that design goes better with the gold highlights.
Out of the Box
The package is such that the plastic cover is easily removed or replaced from the cardboard. That’s probably why this stylus and its package remained so prominent on my desk; there was little incentive to throw away the package - knowing that I might yet review it. Unlike the Duo, there is no gift-grade box, and the price reflects that.
Package was seductive to keep around
Price
Perhaps one of the best things about this stylus is the price, US$15.95 -- recently marked down from $21.95. Other styluses I reviewed were much more expensive, and they left me wondering how the customer would feel about a $30 stylus. I decided that one is either into cheap or one is into a fine instrument to complement the iPad.
Conclusions
As I said in the introduction, there was some unexplained force in the universe such that when I reached for the iPad mini, I also reached for this smaller stylus. Perhaps my technical intuition reminded me that the pixels on the iPad mini are smaller than a regular iPad, so I reached for a smaller stylus. Yet, the nibs of this stylus and the Duo are both 6 mm. I can’t explain it. Maybe I’m mesmerized by the gold colored metal or how well it matches the black/slate iPad mini.
A nice pairing with iPad mini
Of course, this stylus is also very nice to use with the iPhone or, in fact, any other tablet. However, I don't often find myself reaching for a stylus when using the iPhone -- unless I'm at my desk and have a lot of text to enter.
Another stylus in this class, almost the same size and weight is the Wacom Bamboo Stylus Solo, a very fine stylus indeed, much better made and much more expensive. But I think it’s that microfiber tip that sells me on the LYNKtec TruGlide Stylus. It just feels smoother as it moves across the iPad’s display.
___________________________
Previously Reviewed
The rating is in parens.
TruGlide Duo Stylus: Microfiber, Megafabulous (4.5/5)
GoSmart Stylus Duo: a Technical Leap Forward (4.5/5)
Targus Stylus: Inexpensive, No-frills & Colorful (3/5)
Kensigton Virtuoso Stylus & Pen: a 2-in-1 Solution (3.5/5)
Bamboo Stylus Solo for iPad: Almost Perfect (4.5/5)
Rocketfish Stylus for iPad: The Long and Short (3/5)
Kuel H10 Stylus for iPad: Not so Cool as a Pen (3/5)
Kuel H12 Stylus for iPad: Almost Perfect (4/5)
For The Multitasker: Griffin’s Stylus + Pen + Laser Pointer (4/5)