Digital Stylus Pencil for iPad, iPad Pro, and iPhone - Graphite

I love this stylus. I bought it initially to use with the Astropad mirroring app on my Mac and iPad to have an inexpensive graphics tablet for Photoshop and Illustrator. However, using the companion Paper app from Fiftythree is awesome. The stylus works great with the app and gives so many options. I use the app on my iPhone and iPad. The stylus takes some getting used to. It will be frustrating at first, but stick with it and you learn how the stylus acts and what you need to do to get the most out of it.With the stylus in the Paper app I am able to draw with the tip, erase with the end and blend with my finger. The size and shape of the stylus is perfect for me because I have big hands. I saw that a lot of people complained about that. So grasping the carpenter's pencil shape of the stylus works well for me at all angles. I rotate and reposition my pencils a lot when I'm drawing conventionally so, the shape and size of the stylus is great for me in that aspect.The stylus has "ok" palm rejection. Sometimes my palm will read on the screen - which is a bit annoying. The more I use the stylus and app, the more I learn how to position my hand and stylus for the best functionality. The nib (tip) is larger than a normal stylus and is difficult to use at first, but just like everything else you need to get used to it and learn how to make it work for how you hold it and use it.I'm really please with the construction, which seems really sturdy. I'm also overall very pleased with the stylus. The price is great and I love using it with the Paper app from Fiftythree.

I really want to love this, because its functionality is great. The tip has a natural feeling drag, it's pretty accurate, and pressure/side works great. I can write naturally and legibly.That said, it has a couple of issues.- I blew out my first tip quickly. Like, 3 hours. Replacements are out of stock on Amazon and have been for a bit now.- Eraser end sometimes paints, tip end sometimes erases. I need to shake it to sort it out.- Battery/USB connection feels very fragile.

ProsThe weight is nice.The aluminum feels great in the hand.Easy to remove tip when you need to replace it.Easy to charge.ConsConnectivity! When using it with the 53 app it connects maybe 30% of the time. I've never had it connect on the first try. I've tried the trouble shooting tips and changed the physical tip but it seems to be up to luck if you get it to work. Shouldn't the product work out of the box without having to try all these different things before getting it to work with its own app?I'm not an artist. I like to doodle and sketch prototypes of things I will probably never build. Being able to flip over the pencil and use the eraser is great... except half the time it doesn't recognize that it's the eraser. Same goes for being able to change the angle of the pencil and have the thickness of the stroke change. It's cool when it works but it doesn't always work.I bought this while it was on sale for about $30. For that price I think it was worth it. Even though I don't us it while paired since it's more accurate when it's not paired, it's still a nice stylus.I would not recommend this if you are hoping to make the 53 app better or use it with another compatible app to maximize the features that the pencil is supposed to be capable of. In my experience it makes using the app more frustrating. If you just want a nicer stylist and the price is around $30 then I would go for it.

Update 14 Jan 16:So I left my initial review for the 53 digital stylus. It was an honest review of a product that I thought was great, but I had a poor experience with it. I don't leave reviews to get attention from the vendor. I leave reviews on amazon to give customers a honest assessment on the product they might potentially buy. Within a day of my review, I was contacted by a REAL PERSON from the company. This wasn't an automated response to three star review, but a real person contacting me and asking me what they could do to make me happy. This meant a lot to me. A product can be good, but if there isn't a great customer service team attached to it, it will never be great. Not only did FiftyThree send me (no questions asked) replacement items for my stylus, but they offered in-depth advise on how to prevent my experience from happening again. This is a company with a very impressive device, who obviously cares a lot about the customer too. This makes this stylus a five star product. I look forward to FiftyThree's next generation stylus.The pen seems to be a great concept. After a few days of light use, the eraser side stopped being recognized as the eraser. I fiddled with it like the instructions said, but ended up having to replace the eraser tip with the one that was included. I was kind of disappointed with that. A few days later, the pressure sensitivity on the pen/pencil side started working intermittantly. So like the eraser, I cleaned it, and did the trouble shooting. After having to use the test portion in the 53 app overtime I needed to use the pen, I ended up replacing the pen tip with the included replacement. I was a little disappointed that I had to use the tip replacements within the first week of owning it. This was just light use, a few sketches and drawings getting used to the app. The app and pen are solid when they work together. I like being able to angle the pen to get that "pencil shading" effect. Overall, a great product, but having to use both of my replacement tips in the first week knocked it down to three stars for me.