I doubt that it is possible to count all of the different styluses available for the iPad, but broadly speaking, they can be divided into two categories. First, you have the newer, active styluses that have a very fine tip, such as the Adonit Jot Script with its 1.9 mm tip, but require a battery. Second, you have the more traditional styluses that have a larger tip, typically around 6 mm but anywhere from 4 to 8 mm. Active styluses have awesome tips that resemble a pen but have drawbacks: you need to keep them powered, which means replacing batteries or charging them; they are thicker and thus feel more like holding a Sharpie than holding a pen; and they often have trouble drawing a straight diagonal line, instead producing something that is more wavy or even jagged. I still love and use active styluses all of the time, but I am just as likely to opt for a non-active stylus so that I don't have to worry about those drawbacks. And when I do reach for a traditional stylus, one of the all-time best is the first generation version of the Wacom Bamboo Stylus duo. I gave it a favorable review in 2012, I have been happy using it for years, and I cannot even count the number of attorneys and others I have told me over the years that it is their favorite stylus. You can still buy it on Amazon; the part number is CS110K (where the "K" indicates the color — K for black, B for blue, etc.).
Wacom came out with a second generation Bamboo Stylus duo in 2013 (part number CS150K, with the last letter again indicating a color), which you can still get on Amazon. I did not try that version myself, but I heard that it was lighter and had a smaller tip. The original Wacom Bamboo Stylus duo weighs 0.85 oz and had a 6 mm tip. I understand that the second generation weighed 0.6 ounces and had a 5 mm tip.
Last month, Wacom came out with the third generation of the Wacom Bamboo Stylus duo:
All three generations have a similar look, are approximately the same length, and all have the same feature of a cap on the end that you can remove to reveal a normal pen. You can place the cap on the pen end while you are using the stylus, and vice versa. Here are promotional pictures of the first generation (top), second generation (middle) and the new third generation (bottom):
Wacom sent me a free sample of the new third generation model soon after it was released, and I have been trying it out for the last few weeks. Here are my thoughts.
Size and Weight
What do you want first, the good news or the bad news? Let's start with the bad news. The one thing that I like the least about this third generation of the stylus is that I think it is too light. The original Wacom Bamboo Stylus duo that I have been using for years weighs 0.85 oz., and as noted above the 2013 second generation weighed 0.6 oz. This third generation weighs only 0.49 oz, and it really feels substantially lighter. For many items — such as iPhones and iPads — it is a good thing to have new generations that are lighter. But at some point, a product simply gets too light and can even feel cheap because of its low weight. When I go back and forth between my first generation and this third generation, I always prefer the weight of the first generation. The lightweight third generation feels more hollow, more like a cheap pen instead of a quality writing instrument.
Here is the first generation (top) and third generation (bottom):
It occurs to me that perhaps I am being unfair in preferring a slightly heavier stylus. After all, my current favorite pen — the Zebra Sarasa Push Clip Gel Ink Pen 0.7 mm (available at Amazon or JetPen) — weighs far less at almost 0.4 oz, and I've never felt that it was too light. I suppose that I have a different expectation for a plastic pen than I do for an iPad stylus.
As for the other dimensions of the third generation stylus, it has essentially the same great length as the previous generations and the size and aluminum barrel feels good in your hand, very much like a pen. I've also grown to really like the hexagonal barrel and the knurled collar on the Hand Stylus, but the Bamboo Stylus duo also feels nice, and the one that I prefer changes from day to day.
If the weight difference was the only difference, then I wouldn't be a fan of the new version of the Wacom Bamboo Stylus duo. However...
Tip
After starting with the negative, let me move on to the best part of this stylus: the tip (or to use the more technical term, the nib). The size remains at the same 6 mm as the first generation Bamboo Stylus duo, and slightly larger than the second generation's 5 mm tip.
In general, a smaller stylus tip is better. A lot of cheap styluses have an 8 mm tip, and I've long thought that the original Wacom Bamboo Stylus 6 mm tip worked better. Having said that, I didn't notice much of a size advantage when I compared the Hand Stylus with a 4 mm tip to the original Bamboo Stylus duo (although I do really like the Hand Stylus). But to the extent that a 6 mm tip could possibly be a disadvantage compared to a 5 mm or 4 mm tip, Wacom more than makes up for it with the improvements to this tip.
Unlike the previous generations of the Bamboo Stylus which had a rubber tip, this third generation has a carbon fiber covering on a rubber tip. The carbon fiber makes a huge difference. Here is the first generation tip (left) and third generation tip (right), and if you look closely at the third generation tip (click the picture to enlarge it) you can sort of see that the tip has a carbon fiber covering on it:
I've previously used styluses with tightly woven conductive fibers on the tip, such as the BoxWave EverTouch Capacitive Stylus. Those tips provide less friction, meaning that they are smoother against the surface of your iPad, which feels nice, but you typically have to press harder for the iPad to sense the stylus. Somehow, Wacom has managed to get the best of both worlds with the tip — it feels better against the screen than the rubber styluses used on so many other styluses, including the previous generations of the Bamboo Stylus, and yet I don't find that I have to press down any harder to use it. The Wacom website calls this a "unique and responsive carbon fiber nib" and I agree with that description.
I cannot yet comment on how the carbon fiber tip holds up over time. I used the tip on my original Bamboo Stylus for about two years before I needed to replace it, which I thought was excellent considering how much I used it, and I didn't mind replacing it because replacements are cheap (three nibs for under $5). I've seen other folks suggest that mesh-style tips need to be replaced more often, and I'll just have to see how this carbon fiber tip does, but even if I need to replace it once a year, that wouldn't bother me since the new nibs are cheap.
Etc.
Other than the difference in weight and the improved tip, the other changes are quite minor. You cannot remove the clip on the third generation Bamboo Stylus duo like you could on the first generation (and I believe the second generation) models, but that doesn't bother me in the least because I don't see a good reason to remove the clip. Not only does the clip make it easier to put the stylus in a shirt pocket or other compartment, the clip stops the stylus from rolling around on a desk.
The third generation comes in different colors — blue, gray, green, orange, pink, silver — but no longer comes in black.
The pen side of the stylus works the same as the pen on my first generation Bamboo Stylus duo. It's nothing special, especially for someone like me who prefers the larger, darker ink that you get from a gel pen, but it means that you can just carry your stylus with you but you also have a pen in case you need it. Even if you don't think that you need a pen, I've always told folks to get the duo version of the Wacom Bamboo Stylus because it is a little longer (130 mm) than the two other versions of the Bamboo stylus that don't have a pen — the Bamboo Stylus alpha is 122 mm and the Bamboo Stylus solo is 126.8 mm — and I think it is better to have a stylus that is over 5 inches (over 127 mm) because it feels better in your hand and more like a real pen.
Conclusion
I wish that this stylus was heavier to give it a more substantial feel in your hand. But other than that, this is a fantastic stylus. The carbon fiber tip works and feels better than any other non-active stylus that I've ever used, but otherwise the stylus keeps the same length, circumference, clip and ballpoint pen that made the prior generations of the Wacom Bamboo Stylus duo such a big hit. And after several weeks of going back and forth between my first generation with a weight that I prefer and this third generation with the tip that I prefer, I'm going to stick with this third generation of the Wacom Bamboo Stylus duo going forward because I like the tip so much. I've used this stylus to take notes in meetings, to jot things down in a deposition, to navigate my iPad screen when I felt like a change of pace from using my finger, and to highlight and annotate cases that I downloaded from Westlaw, and it has always worked really well.
Of course, one of the reasons that there are so many styluses on the market is that lots of folks have different preferences. I generally like the reviews on The Wirecutter, and I see that they recently concluded that the Pogo Stylus (which I reviewed earlier this year) is their favorite, with two models of the Wacom Bamboo Stylus in second and third place. Note, however, that it appears that The Wirecutter was looking at the second generation version, so we'll have to see if they update their review after trying out the third generation with the improved tip.
If you are in the market for an iPad stylus, the third generation Wacom Bamboo Stylus duo should definitely be on your list to consider. It is a really great stylus, even if it is not as heavy as I would like.
Click here to get the Wacom Bamboo Stylus duo on Amazon ($29.95)
