Try & Byte recently added the Kensington Virtuoso to their inventory so when I saw the extra stylus length, I jumped at the opportunity to give it a go and see if it was an improvement over the Griffin design. At $30 it’s hardly a bank breaker so worst case it goes into my drawer of tech things I never use and my wife hates me for. All it had to do to was perform as well as the Griffin with the extra length.
Quality
The pen comes in a see-through plastic tube and Try & Byte shipped it in a large box that could have fitted 10 pens so there was never any concern about damage. What I will say is that the shipping time from Try & Byte was astounding. Order placed Friday at 2:17pm. Order arrived Monday at 7:30am. Pretty damn quick if you ask me.
The actual quality of the pen itself is really great. It has a greyish finish called gunmetal (Why does everyone call this type of colour gunmetal? Most of the guns I’ve seen are actually black) and has a matt texture that looks and feels more professional than the Griffin which has a shiny black coating. The Virtuoso is also available in black according to the Kensington website. The extra length of the Virtuoso makes it look a little more like a pen than a stylus. Overall, I’d definitely give the edge to the Virtuoso on looks and finish, it just seems like a much better package from a quality perspective.
The Kensington comes with the added perk of having a built in pen. I've don't have the requirement for a pen very often but there may be the odd occasion where a pen comes in handy. Maybe you want to sign that $600,000 check for your new Ferrari or maybe its to write your name on a napkin for the girl of your dreams you just saw in the coffee shop (because writing your name on an iPad and giving it to her gets expensive when its not successful). Either way, there are bound to be occasions when you do need it and having one with you always comes in handy.
How does it work?
The most important part with any stylus is obviously the ability to write on the iPad so I'm going to compare this head to head with the Griffin I currently have, as to date, that's been the best stylus I could find.
One of the big concerns I always have with these rubber tipped styluses is how sticky they are. I've had countless people complain the stylus they have bought is almost unusable because the tip sticks to the screen making it nearly impossible to write so you have to be really careful because all styluses with rubber nibs are not the same. This was never really an issue with the Griffin because the type of rubber used in the tip is fairly smooth and slides across the screen quite easily.
I was expecting similar results from the Kensington and to be perfectly honest, I was pleasantly surprised to find it requires even less pressure and slides more easily across the screen than the Griffin. Whether this is as a result of the Griffin tip getting old and worn over a period is unknown, and unfortunately I wasn't prepared to buy another one just for the sake of the test. I did test it head to head with my wife's Griffin as she uses hers far less than me and the results were the same so my initial thoughts is that Kensington have managed to use a slightly better type of rubber in the tip.
Criticism
If I had any criticisms with the pen it would be the same as all the stylus models I've tested to date including the Griffin, and that's the thickness of the nib. Whilst it doesn't affect the writing ability of the stylus, it's more of a mental adjustment. I'm not sure whether the manufacturers have tried and tested a smaller nib without success, I'm sure some R&D would have gone into this, but if someone could find a way of narrowing the nib, I think this would be perfect.
Conclusion
Until now, Griffin has had the best stylus on the market and in a changing market; it doesn't take much to get knocked off the top. Kensington have produced a pen that's more practical, requires a softer touch, slides better across the screen and has more usable length, which will appeal to those who use their stylus often. The addition of the pen is an added bonus for most business users. If you're looking for an iPad stylus, this should be at the top of your list.
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