As I reported a while ago, premium brand pen manufacturers are at last catching on to the message that styluses are an increasingly popular, and stylish, commodity. Luckily for those of us not in the One Percent, though, they also seem to be improving at the bottom end of the market, with increasingly cheaper and better choices available for the normal user. I’m not getting paid anything for endorsing these, because who would do that for such cheap items? Rather, they’re just stylus options that I found outclassed the opposition as anything other than status symbols.
One option is the Bic Cristal Stylus, from the same Bic that fills stationery stores and classrooms everywhere with generic plastic ball pens. The catch, if you can call it that, is that the Cristal Stylus writes more smoothly and easily onscreen than almost any other more expensive brand. This is partly a question of personal preference, and what type of device you’re using, but I’ve found this to be true across multiple devices, and I’m one of the most inveterate stylus users I know.
A couple more options are in the photo in this article. The black and green Monteverde stylus with clip retails for only £2.99 ($4.86) for packs of two in the UK, and is almost as fluid and easy to use as the Bic Cristal Stylus. And the plastic Milan stylus from a Spanish manufacturer costs only $1.60, and is just as usable.
For anyone who uses handwriting recognition as part of their writing routine, or any form of onscreen writing, or Evernote’s hand-jotted note capabilities (including the also-branded Evernote/Moleskine combo), these are perfectly functional and economical options. So next time you feel tempted by a ludicrously overpriced purpose-built stylus, or even a Bluetooth keyboard, think of the alternatives.
