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iPad is an awesome tablet. However, it is designed to be operated with our fingers and does not come with built-in stylus offered by some other tablets. Using fingers are convenient. Most of the time it covers everything I need to do with my iPad except for one thing: to take handwriting notes.

In case you have not tried, trying to do handwriting using finger is far from being comfortable. Most of cheap iPad stylus available in the market has large tip. They are also not comfortable to do handwriting because we can barely see the tip and we are used to see the tip of our pens when writing using conventional writing tools.

When searching for an iPad stylus with small tip, I came up with few options. First I had a look on Adonit Jot Script Evernote Edition. It’s a decent stylus with super fine tip (1.9 mm) and the most popular model in this category. Too bad it is powered by AAA battery, making the stylus’ 12 mm diameter and 29 gr weight is a bit too bulky for my liking, plus I do not want to add AAA battery into my (already) long list of things I need to carry everyday. Next I researched Adonit Jot Touch with PixelPoint. This is another good stylus from Adonit with pressure sensitivity and rechargeable battery. This model is lighter, weighs only 20 gr. It sounded good until I learned that the tip size (3.18 mm) is bigger than Jot Script Evernote Edition, and the diameter of both models are the same, 12 mm. The latest model from Adonit is Jot Script 2. It promises smoother tracking as well as rechargeable battery and thinner design.

Bamboo Stylus Fineline from Wacom offers 1.9 mm super fine tip with rechargeable battery. This product offers a small detail that I could not find in other products: a cap. This might seem small, but the plastic tip of an active stylus can potentially scratch our iPad’s screen. Technically, plastic tip has lower hardness compared to iPad screen so it is not possible to scratch. However, when a stylus tip picks up dirt or other hard substances, it could potentially cause scratch. Having a cap to protect our stylus’ tip when we carry it around is one way to prevent that.

Another interesting stylus with Bluetooth connection is Pencil by 53. This stylus is unique because it has two tips, one for writing and one for erasing. However, this stylus is not really a stylus with a small tip. This stylus is more designed for art drawing rather than note-taking. Similarly we have other styluses with Bluetooth connection, but still large tip, such as Pogo Connect. Alternatively, there are also other models of active styluses, but without Bluetooth connection. Cregle inkR is a good example with 2.4 mm tip, 13 mm diameter and 32 gr weight. It is worth to note that without Bluetooth connection, a stylus will not be able to implement palm rejection unless the iPad app we are using provides its own palm rejection mechanism.

Product Tip Size Diameter Weight Battery Pressure Sensitive Cap Bluetooth
Adonit Jot Script Evernote Edition 1.9 mm 12 mm 29 gr AAA no no yes
Adonit Jot Touch with PixelPoint 3.18 mm 12 mm 20 gr rechargeable, magnetic 2048 no yes
Adonit Jot Script 2 1.9 mm 10.5 mm 18 gr rechargeable, magnetic no no yes
Wacom Bamboo Stylus Fineline 1.9 mm 10 mm (back) to 11.9 mm (front) 24 gr rechargeable, micro USB 1024 yes yes
Pencil by 53 6 mm 15.6 mm (front) 26 gr to 34 gr rechargeable, micro USB yes no yes
Cragle inkR 2.4 mm 13 mm (front) 32 gr rechargeable, micro USB no no no

 

For now, Wacom Bamboo Stylus Fineline and Adonit JotScript 2 seem to be my choice.