Belkin 4-in-1 PDA Stylus Pen Stylus > Reviews > A Gimmicky Pen

Author's product rating:   

Reliability	Poor
Ease of Use	Average
Quality	Good
Durability	Poor
Value for Money	Very Poor

Advantages:	None once the initial gimmick wore off
Disadvantages:	Fails frequently to select the correct function

Recommend to potential buyers:

no

Full review

I had already purchased some spare styli for my PDA, whilst in Maplins I noticed a pen for £9.99 which had a red and black biro a mechanical pencil and a stylus all in the one package. I did think that £10 was a bit much, but was feeling flush so I purchased the Belkin 4 in 1 pen. The sleek silver shaft which split in two to refill was nice and shiny. The bottom portion of the pen was of a black plastic nature and the tip once again being silver did add a little style to the overall look of the pen which to be fair did look quite good.

It seemed pretty much like a normal multi-colour except for one knacky little feature. On the top of the pen on the outside there were 4 symbols one for each of the functions. To operate you turn the pen until the option you want is displayed then press the button on the top as normal and the function will be activated. Not doing this will result in a random choice of the 4 functions.

I found that the red and black pen were just as you'd expect red and black. I did find it very awkward to use the mechanical pencil it seemed to have a mind of its own, plus there were only a few leads supplied.

The stylus part which was probably the main reason for the purchase was simply a plastic stick made the same size as the red and black ink refills. It worked pretty well but the fact that there was only a little of it showing whilst in use did not give me to much confidence that it was not actually damaging my screen.

After a while I also got pretty bored and fed up with having to twist and tilt the pen to select the option I wanted. Now faults have appeared with the mechanics of this function and I find it hard if not impossible to change from the current option.

All in all if I had paid £5 for this I would have been most disappointed, having paid twice as much I am well *****ed of. It was a nice idea that was too expensive and didn't really work.......................well for me at least.

In future I'll stick with the 3 pack of plastic styli which are cheaper and far less hassle.