Affordable 3rd party stylus for iPad

Apple Other Apple hardware
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From The Verge, an affordable third party stylus for the iPad:

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Perfect for my iPM6. Thanks Joe.

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“… outside of Logitech’s Crayon, the world of third-party Apple Pencil options doesn’t really seem to exist…”

The Verge. :roll_eyes: Of course they’re ignorant of other options, such as the Adonit Note Stylus that’s been around for years and also dips below $30 at times. It works quite well for note taking (no pressure sensitivity) and is the size, shape, and weight of a nice ballpoint pen. With clip if you wish. It was my go-to pen for my iPad mini for a good long time.

https://www.amazon.com/Clip-Free-Aluminum-Rejection-Accuracy-Compatible/dp/B07R9HPSYN

The Verge :roll_eyes: also didn’t mention whether or not that stylus has hover on M2 iPPs. I suspect it didn’t occur to them to try. :roll_eyes:

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Big The Verge fan I take it? :vb-grin: I’m actually surprised it can inductively charge when snapped to the iPad (was sure Apple reserved that for their own devices) and that the iPad can report battery percentage in the iOS battery widget. I wonder how legal this near-clone is.

If I didn’t have the official one yet, I would have tried this one, especially since Amazon offers free returns. @Bishop let us know how you like it.

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Actually there’s many many Chinese knock off that can go as low as 20$ now, and they actually work the same as the Logitech Crayon. I believe those manufacturers reverse engineering the Logitech Crayon function after Apple introduced 3rd party pen support in 2018 that doesn’t need pairing to work. All of those device only support ipad manufactured from 2018 and up, which is exactly when the Crayon was introduced.

My friend was looking for a cheaper alternative for his iPad Pro 2015 because his pencil broke, luckily I spotted the 2018 requirements early before he bought it.

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Pretty sure the verge reviewed that one many years ago.

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After an order delay and reship debacle, and the intervention of the :poop: they call life, I finally opened this pencil.

Physically: Indistinguishable from the original, except that it lacks the Apple logo. Weight, balance, etc. are the same.

Tip: The tip that shipped with it is just as hard and clacky as the original. I put one of the soft nibs on it.

Pairing: It is a blue tooth device. You’ll have to go through pairing like any other BT.

Charging: 1.5 hours on the side of the iPad 6 Mini = 10 hourse of use time. It does go to sleep if not used for 5 minutes. Reattach it to the side magnet, remove it and it’s awake.

Writing: With the soft nib on, just the same as the original. Maybe a few less tails on strokes. Of course, you do lose the “double tap to switch” functionality. It does work with Apple Pencil scribble. Swipe from the corner gestures work.

Disclaimer: I tried it with OneNote. I haven’t run through all the pencil enabled apps. Based on what I recall of their menus, some of them may care about it being the actual Apple Pencil; I don’t know.

Conclusion: For a cheap emergency backup/spare, it beats paying full Apple toll for the original.

YMMV.

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