One of the first things that people want to buy for their new Handspring Visor is a new stylus to replace the cheap piece of plastic that comes with the Visor.  The Handspring Stylus 5-pack includes not one, but five styli for use with your Visor that effectively replaces the stock stylus.  The 5-pack comes in the five colors that Handspring offers the Visor Deluxe in: graphite, ice, orange, green, and blue.  The sheer number of styli is great for those times when you lose your stylus, although most people aren’t going to want to use an orange stylus inside a blue Visor Deluxe.  Hopefully Handspring will release a "non-rainbow" version that is entirely one color.

The stylus looks almost exactly like the stock stylus that comes with the Visor, with the exception that instead of there is no set of grooves near the tip.  It fits flush inside the silo of the Visor and poses no problems for any 3rd-party cases.  The aluminum casing is completely smooth, but unfortunately the tip is not.  The tip is only smooth for less than 1mm, then becomes the textured style similar to the stock stylus.  When I first saw this, I was a little worried that the texture could scratch the graffiti area.  I didn’t have any problems though in my testing.

The tip of the stylus unscrews to reveal a reset pen, which can be handy for those times when you don’t have a paperclip nearby.  This stylus is also great for those who like to tinker with their Visor.  Unscrew the top of the stylus to reveal a Phillips head screwdriver that you can use to take the case of your Visor off.  This is the first stylus that I have seen that includes a screwdriver.

Usability

The 5-pack styli really make writing on the Visor easier than the stock stylus.  As I mentioned earlier the tip is not completely smooth, but I haven’t had any problems with scratches.  I like the fact that now I have a reset pin and a screwdriver, although most Visor users will more likely fix their eyeglasses with the screwdriver instead of taking their Visor casing apart.  I don’t have to worry about this stylus rolling off the table, but if I did lose one, I have plenty of backup styli.

The biggest drawback to this stylus is the weight.  The stylus from the 5-pack weighs 0.3 oz, while the stock stylus that comes with the Visor weighs a mere 0.1 oz.  Compare that to the PDA Panache custom stylus that weighs 0.6 oz -- twice as much as a 5-pack stylus.  The light weight could be a problem for users that write a lot on the Visor but shouldn’t be a problem for occasional use.

Conclusion >>

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