When the iPad's were first released there weren't a whole heap of options when it came to capacitive touch pens. There was the Pogo Sketch and there were imitations of the Pogo Sketch. The imitations were generally pretty poor and so the Pogo Sketch owned the market, which started largely from their product for the iPhone market. For a little while there were some rumours of patented capacitive touch styluses from HTC and I held out hope for the HTC design because the tip was finer than the Pogo. The design in the patent picture promised a pen-like design with a magnetic tip that would make it more usable for capacitive touch users but unfortunately when HTC did eventually release a stylus, it was simply a rebadged Dagi so I’m not sure whether something is still coming or whether there were problems with the design.
Griffin recently released their capacitive touch stylus called the F45 Griffin Sketch Stylus (Targus also use the same design so I'm not sure who licensed it from whom). In the usual fashion, Australia is ignored by the rest of the world so I was forced to place my order via Ebay. Subsequent searches at the time of writing this article revealed that it still wasn’t available in Australia so if you’re looking for one, you’ll have to go to Ebay to get it shipped from the US for now. *Cost of the stylus was a paltry A$24 including shipping from the states. The shipping was A$8 so the actual stylus cost is pretty reasonable if you compare it to the $22 local price for the Pogo (www.pogosketch.com.au), but to be fair, the Pogo Sketch is only priced at about $12 in the US and the Aus price includes express shipping (or it did when I ordered it). If you don’t mind waiting, Ebay is probably the cheapest option for any stylus, whatever the brand. As is normally the case, if you buy from Ebay, buy from a reputable seller with a a good sales history. The one I purchased from had over a 100,000 sales and 99.6% score so unless he’s taken the time to fake a 100,000 sales (in which case, he deserves it for pure effort), it was a pretty safe bet.
Compared to the Pogo, the packaging is a little more impressive but ultimately I wouldn’t let a box influence my decision to purchase a product. For buyer who doesn't know either product, and if the two were side by side in a retail store, the box may be enough to push people towards the Griffin as it does seem like the more professionally packaged of the two options. The Griffin also comes with a single sticker (don’t ask me why).
The look and feel of the Griffin is very different from the Pogo. The Griffin looks much more professional leaving the Pogo looking a little sparse and underwhelming. Like the Pogo, it also has an aluminium shaft but the Griffin is finished in black with a shiny silver pocket clip while the Pogo has a plastic one. I've only seen the Griffin in black while the Pogo's come in variety of colours. Overall, I say the Griffin is the better looking and better finished of the two products with a more executive feel to it and you can see where the minor price difference comes into play.
No matter how good a stylus looks and feels in the hand, unless it actually works, it’s pretty useless
When it comes to a stylus the real test comes down to how well it works. No matter how good a stylus looks and feels in the hand, unless it actually works, it’s pretty useless. As an example, I purchased a compact no-name brand stylus which came with a great little earphone jack clip so it was always attached to your iPad but it didn't work without you have to keep it perfectly upright or pushing down so hard it scrapped the screen so when it comes to styluses, a stylus is not a stylus. My understanding on why the Pogo works as well as it does (vs the imitations)*is that it has something to do with the Aluminium shaft being polarised (I'm not quite sure on the exactly technology but if you have a look at this*review on youtube, you'll see how the ipad reacts to the shaft rolling on the screen). At this stage, I'm assuming the Griffin must use some sort of similar technology. Here is a screen dump from the video showing the screen reacting.
I had major reservations about the Griffin when I first saw the design. The primary reason for this is the rubber tip as I expected to have issues with the tip sticking to the screen. The use of rubber in a stylus just seemed like a really dumb idea. In reality, I couldn’t have been further from the truth and if it hadn’t been for Mactalk user “gtext”, I would probably would have ignored the design altogether. The rubber used in the tip reminds me a little of a squash ball. It’s a non-stick rubber that slides as easily across the screen as the Pogo, or better in a lot of cases.
In the hand, the Griffin is noticeably thicker than the Pogo and feels more pen-like
One of the things I really like about the Griffin design was the fact that the rubber doesn’t bend to one side like the pogo does. The big issue with the pogo is that over a period of time the tip bends to one side, particularly if you’re taking a lot of notes in a meeting. Although it doesn't impact the functionality too much, it is a major annoyance more than anything else, but I’ve never had issues with the metal hitting the screen. The material used in the tip also makes a soft scraping sound on the screen which can be heard in some applications which have voice recording combined with note taking as the material has a slightly rough texture to it. This noise problem is barely noticeable on the Griffin and the Griffin also seems to require less pressure to work on the screen, which is great improvement on the Pogo.
In the hand, the Griffin is noticeably thicker than the Pogo and feels more pen-like. I think part of the issue with the Pogo is its roots stemmed from the iPhone and so the design has remained a little too thin for people used to using full size pens. That was the sacrifice that most iPhone users wanted because the idea of carrying around a full size pen just didn’t seem functional for the iPhone. Unfortunately, this design works against them in the iPad as the device is large enough to benefit from a full size pen and I think that Pogo has rested on its success a bit because very little has changed on the design since its initial release. In some respects this full thickness pen does work against the Griffin because the thick nib is far from perfect ideal, and I would hope that Griffin R45 version 2 design comes with a pen shaft that narrows and a smaller rubber tip at the end because this would really improve their design substantially.
The Griffin is the best note taking stylus currently available for the iPad
Conclusion
Is the Griffin R45 perfect? Probably not but I do believe is the best stylus available for the iPad, particularly when it comes to note taking. Its definitely a big improvement on the Pogo Sketch and I think Ten One should be worried about the impact this stylus may have on their market unless they come up with considerable improvements to their design. Some people may argue the Dagi is better for more accurate art work, but its just not practical for every day note taking which keeps the Griffin ahead of the pack as far as I'm concerned.
I would love to see Griffin change their design to a fine nib with a shaft that starts narrowing about 2cm from the nib, but even in its current form, its still the best stylus the market has to offer, or until HTC release their rumoured magnetic tip patent (if it actually works).
F45 Griffin Sketch Stylus for iPad & iPhone