| Official
Gadgeteer Hands On Review: Yafa 4.Palm Stylus by Julie Strietelmeier Last date revised: 05/31/2000 |
The Yafa 4.Palm stylus is a trendy iMac styled translucent 4 in 1 multifunction pen that is available in 5 colors: Green, Blue, Orange, Grey and Clear.
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Each 4.Palm pen has a black ink pen, 0.5mm pencil, neon
highlighter and a stylus tip. To select a tip, you hold the pen at about
30 degrees and rotate it till the icon for the tip that you want is on
top. The icons are printed around the top of the pen near the plunger.
Then you press the plunger and that tip extended. This method works
surprisingly well and I rarely had the wrong tip selected using this
method. The black ink pen and pencil tips are pretty much standard. The ink pen has a medium point and writes as smooth as any regular ballpoint ink pen. The 0.5mm pencil also works fine although to refill the lead, you have to unscrew the pen, pull out the pencil tube, and insert more lead. If you plan to use the pencil a lot, this could be an annoying chore. |
| The neon highlighter tip is actually an orange ballpoint ink
pen that has a heavy point (just a little thicker than the black ink tip).
As highlighters go, I'd rather have a felt tipped version...
The other tip is the stylus which is black. I'm not fond of black colored stylus tips because they don't stand out enough from the other tips. It would be easy to think you had the stylus extended only to have the black pen instead...eek, wouldn't want to use that on your PDA display! That said, this tip is smooth and easy to write with. Using it with my Palm IIIc and Casio E-115 felt just fine. This stylus is worlds better than the stock styli that come with the PDAs. |
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A small white eraser is housed under the plunger cap.
When no tip is extended, the pen does rattle quite a bit if you shake it.
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The only real negative aspect of the 4.Palm stylus is its
size. It is really thick. As you can see by the picture to the left,
it is almost twice as wide as a regular BIC pen. But, the Yafa 4.Palm
didn't seem to be uncomfortable for me to hold and use. Its size and color
makes it seem more juvenile than corporate. I can't really picture an
executive with one of these pens clipped to his shirt pocket.
Other than that, the Yafa 4.Palm is a nice inexpensive stylus / pen combo. |
Price: $20.00
Pros:
4 tips in one pen.
Smooth stylus tip.
Interesting colors.
Cons:
Too thick.
Black stylus tip.
| Let me know your comments
on the Yafa 4.Palm Stylus and read what others have to say. |